Category Archives: garden experiments

Garden Experiments Revisited

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In February and March, I posted two garden experiments .  The titles of these were Compost Hits and Misses and Spinach Experiment.   Follow the links to get a quick refresher.  Basically to sum it up the compost experiment was to see if an anaerobic compost pile is easier to keep than an aerobic compost pile.  The spinach experiment was testing the germination rate of  mulched seeds.

One was a success, one was… in Myth Buster lingo, we will call it plausible.  We will start with the success.  The anaerobic compost pile.  I was pretty happy with the end product of the pile.  I put in almost all the contents of my “after winter” compost pile.  Which is basically kitchen scraps, pumpkins, landscape material from last fall, all not really decomposed because it sat all winter.  So I took all that plus some manure and made a pile where my herb garden is going to be.  Then I threw a black tarp on top and secured it with rocks.  Every week I would dumped a 5 gallon bucket of water or two on it and once gave it a good stir around with my pitch fork.

This is the anaerobic compost pile after 3 months. It is pretty well decomposed. The farmer ran over it with the tractor.

Pros

  1. The pile decomposed fairly quickly.
  2. Almost no management except adding the water.
  3. Lots of worms when the pile was used.
  4. The pile did not really stink.

Cons

  1. The black tarp was an eye sore in my yard for a few months.
  2. The farmer ran over it with the tractor when we were getting other garden areas ready for spring.

I would use the anaerobic method again.  I would suggest, I guess with all compost methods, put it somewhere out-of-the-way and out of sight.  It was nice to put it on my future herb garden spot, because the farmer just tilled all that compost right into the ground and it is now part of my herb garden.  Over all, a good experiment.

Now the spinach experiment.  I mulched one of my raised beds with hay and made rows to plant spinach seeds.  I did not have a great germination rate.  Maybe somewhere around 50% or less.  Some rows did better than others.  I believe they just did not get enough sunlight to really pop up.  I do have spinach though, and we enjoy a spinach salad just about every night so it was not a total loss.  Also it took longer than normal for the spinach to really get going.  Again, because of the lack of sunlight right when they were emerging from the soil.  I don’t think I will do this again.  I will just plant in rows and hoe in between.  Then when spinach is done, I will do consecutive plantings or if not in the mood just mulch the whole bed, to keep weeds down, until fall when I can plant more spinach.

Since I now read a lot of garden blogs, I have noticed that many gardeners will have an experiment going in one form or another.  It’s just not enough sometimes to hear someone tell you something works or does not work.  You have to see it for yourself.  I had books and others warn me about trying an anaerobic compost pile.  It would stink, it takes longer, maybe I didn’t do it right, but I sort of liked it.  It gave me some quick (3 month) compost.  It’s worth it to just try something and make your own conclusions.  Those are this farm wife’s thoughts on the subject.

The Farm Wife

Spinach Experiment

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I have a few raised beds that I plant the “early” stuff in.  Onions, garlic, spinach, lettuce these are usually my choices for my raised beds.  About halfway through the summer I move my interest from the raised beds to the actual veggie garden.  Consequentially, weeds start growing in the raised beds.  This year I am going to remedy this problem.  A few days ago, I planted my spinach and I am testing out a new technique.  I am a little afraid… oh we will get to that later.  Here is what I did.

First, I dumped in all the compost that I have left after my compost experiment (check out compost hits and misses).  Yes, there are pieces in there.  Some eggs, pumpkins with seeds, coffee filters, other odds and ends.  No, it is not completely composted and that is ok because it will finish decomposing right there where it is.  I have lots of worms in this bed.Next, I started applying mulch.  This will stop any pumpkin seeds from germinating along with blocking any weeds from popping through.  Then I took my pruning shears and cut 3 rows in the mulch.  This took a little time and effort.  I had to tuck, squeeze, and separate mulch as much as I could to make 3 distinct rows

Pros:

  1. There is no way a single weed is getting through that mulch.
  2. I can use compost that is not completely decomposed.
  3. All the other benefits of having used mulch, soil moisture, hay will decompose and add to the fertile soil.

Cons:

  1. I am worried that the seeds will be shaded too much by the mulch to germinate.
  2.  I would have room for 4 rows of spinach instead of 3, without the mulch.

If it works, I will be thrilled and I can keep planting spinach and lettuce using those same rows.  If it doesn’t work, I will have learned another gardening lesson (mulching seedlings is a must, mulching seeds does not work).  You have to experiment sometimes.  Whats a garden without an experiment or two in the works?

I will have an update soon!

The Farm Wife