Day 11: Composting

Sorry Day 11 didn't go up yesterday, it wasn't ready and I was too sleepy. I'd rather give you something that's quality than rush to get a half-a$$ed post up too early. Forgive me? I will make it up and have 2 posts in 1 day sometime this weekend, hopefully.

We're going back to basics! Composting basics, that is! Did you know that organics compose more than half of the waste that ends up in landfills? And once in the landfill, it decomposes without oxygen (anaerobically), creating methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas, and I don't think I need to tell you that those gases a B.A.D.



Here's the thing, composting is SO easy, and we can save all those organic materials from entering the landfill and producing methane gas. Ok, maybe not ALL, but we gotta start somewhere.

First, organics are your kitchen food scraps and yard waste. There is more to it than that, which I will get to in a minute. But first, I want to show you how easy it is to compost.

We've been composting for a year and a half. We started out with just a shovel. I kid you not, that is all we really needed! We just wanted to prevent those food scraps from going in our trash, and weren't so much interested in making fertilizer.

At first, we just had an old ice cream tub to collect our food scraps in the kitchen. Then last Christmas my parents gave us this kitchen food scrap container. It's really large, maybe a little too large, cuz we don't need to empty it very often, and stuff starts getting yucky inside.



So once it's full, or whenever we feel like it, we go to our back yard, dig a hole (we always go to the same stop), dump the food scraps in, cover it, and that's it! See, nothing fancy!



It just looks like freshly dug soil.



The soil does the rest of the job. To actually decompose the organics. They do get a little help from these guys: worms! See how big they are? That's cuz they love our compost :) There are SO MANY in the hole, they really are attracted to the scraps.



This is what it looks like once it's had 2 weeks to decompose, and after turning the soil:



Barely anything left! The arrow points to a piece of pepper that was not completely decomposed that I found in there. But really, about 80-90% of it was decomposed. And it's not even magic! Haha!

And composting done right will not attract any pests! Which is why we always cover the fresh food scraps we put in the hole, just in case.

But back to my compost container. I try to always line it with a piece of newspaper, so it doesn't get so yucky so quickly.



The first thing I put in it this time was:



Coffee grounds! WITH the coffee filter! Yup, coffee filters is organic and decomposes really quick.

Here's a list of things you can compost:
~ Food scraps: leftovers gone bad, fruit and veggie scraps, bread, rice, etc
~ Yard waste: leaves, branches, plants, grass
~ Eggshells (though they take really long to decompose from my experience!)
~ nut shells
~ non colored paper, newspaper, cardboard (actually really good to add even; decomposes faster if shredded)
~ paper towels! (though not the ones you use to clean with chemical cleaners)
~ coffee grounds, tea bags
~ CLEAN kitty litter
~ dog, cat, bird, etc food
~ saw dust and wood shavings
~ dryer lint

May be added but use caution:
~ milk products, including cheese and yogourt (be sure to put in the middle of the pile so it doesn't attract pests)
~ deseased plants (ok if pile gets to 135 degrees F...)

And what you shouldn't put in the compost:
~ meat, fat, fish, oil, bones; these are the things that will attract pests, too
~ leftover salad with dressing (which contains oils)
~ cat litter, dog poo
~ charcoal ashes
~ nonbiodegradable materials
~ toxic waste

For a more complete guide, check out this article from Earth911.com.

I'm sure you're thinking now that you CAN start composting, it looks so easy! Right?! But you may be turned off by my compost in a hole idea, I know I'm getting tired of it. So here are other nicer options for a composting bin. Evaluate how much you think you're going to put into the compost bin, and get one/ make one accordingly (how much yard waste, how much food based on your family, etc).

Oh and, you'll want it on the ground or grass, not cement.

First up, and easy to build compost made out of chicken wire or hardware cloth and pressure-treated 2x4s, from Birds and Blooms.


I want to build something similar to that (above), but I've got no corner to put it in... Still trying to find a solution though. I really like that idea because it leaves a lot of aeration room, which is really great for faster decomposition.

Option 2


I think that is the mother of all composting bins! 3 compartments, netting around 3 sides for good aeration, removable slat front to collect the compost when it's done, and to hide it a bit. Only thing is the plans are no longer available :( But if you're crafty I'm sure you can figure out a way to make something similar ;)

Or else there's a very similar one on Lowe's website, with plans. Though I would really make one without a paneled bottom.

Option 3: all wooden paneled


Hides more the compost, but less aeration.

Option 4: Tumblers

130$ at Clean Air Gardening, or here's a DIY version, but I can't take the pictures from the site...

Option 5: Garbage can turned compost bin

Instructions for this one, if you need them, at The Happy Housewife.


Here's a great article to help you troubleshoot your compost pile, if it's not working as well as you'd hope.

If you're not satisfied with the options I've provided here, turn to Pinterest. But whatever you do, just start composting!








I party at these parties.

Continue Reading...

Gardening: 2 Months later

Two months ago, I started my first ever garden. I had no clue what I was doing or what I was getting myself into, but I’ve learned a lot already and enjoy the time spent watering, weeding and just plain admiring!

Last week I showed you how I started my seeds in pots and how they grew after 3 weeks, when I decided to transplant them into the garden. Now it’s time to see how they have done since then! This is about 1 month after transplanting.

I have 6 types of plant this year, which were chosen on what was available at the Dollarama at the time. I really didn’t want to spend a lot on the first year not knowing what I was doing.



When Seedlings Become Plants

Most of my garden is composed of cucumbers. They are the plants that did the best from seedling and I didn’t have the heart to kill them off. They’ve almost run over my yellow beans, but not quite. I did not expect them to overrun everything like that.


This picture was taken a little over a week after the previous ones, so the cucumber had time to grow up on the fence a bit more

There has been a LOT of flowers for the last 2-3 weeks. Let's take a peak under the leaves, shall we? So many beautiful flowers! (I know only the male flowers give cukes, but still...)



Unfortunately, I've lost a couple of plants since these picture were taken. I've got cucumber beetles :( I didn't know they were bad bugs at first, so I didn't kill them off from the start. Now I'm killing them every chance I get!

On the left, below, you can see a leaf that's been eaten by the cucumber beetles, and on the right, you see that dead/sad looking leaf? It hasn't really been eaten by the beetles, but it is dying because of a plant virus coming from the stomach of the beetles. I really don't know if they will make it through. I cut some leaves every 2 days about.



Nonetheless, the cucumbers are growing!! I just hope my plants survive until they fully mature.



My yellow beans are in the middle of the cucumbers. (Well not anymore, I had to remove the 2 plants on the other side of the yellow beans).



I got some flowers a few weeks ago and actually got some yellow beans after!! I am sooo excited about that, my first vegetable!



Only thing is I only have 2 plants, so I didn't have a very much.



I still got to make a small sidedish out of them, so I’m still happy. They accompanied my fish meal last week, which I shared earlier on Facebook. (If you want to see my Facebook updates live, like the Color Me Domestic page!)


Don't mind the burnt garlic and pine nuts, please, I'm not the best cook, but I am trying!! And learning! Must remove the pan from the heat as soon as garlic becomes slightly golden ;)

I know now that they are very easy to grow, that I have to start seedlings every couple of weeks if I want to eat some regularly, and I need maybe 6 plants, or more, to have a good portion at a time.


My carrots did not transplant well, as I mentioned previously. Why I thought starting them as seeds in individual pots is beyond me right now. You can laugh at me, I know I am! I’ve just got a tuff there, which {was} hidden by some cucumber leaves. We’ll see later how they do, how they grow in the soil I have which is laden with rocks.



Next is my lettuces. I got 3 of them. I thought they would grow bigger, but my grand-ma told me I should harvest them already. I’ve now harvested some by cutting the leaves (that were more open and falling) an inch or so past the stem part. It was enough for one salad. I’m excited to see how well they will regrow, and how fast. I’m not too sure yet how many I need to grow for next year because of that. To be continued...


These look incredibly sad compared to what I have now. But at the time, I was super excited!

My peppers are quite sad looking, as in so tiny still! I know beyond a doubt that I will not get anything from them this year, but I’m still keeping them to see how they grow. I will have to start the seedlings WAY early, like March or even Febuary, inside, if I’m to get anything.



I got 1 plant that is bigger amongst them (front left), and that one I transplanted before the others (when it was just an inch tall, if you remember from last post), at the same time as the other vegetables. I was afraid they were too small at that time to transplant, but I still wanted to test. Seem like they weren’t too small and it grew so much better!

Next year I will also just keep 1 seedling per pot, and get bigger pots, to give them the best chance to grow big and strong before putting them in the garden.

Lastly, I also have some broccolis, about 7 of them (out of 9) survived thus far. Some are bigger some are smaller. But most grew crooked, I don’t understand why. As in they grew horizontally a bit before shooting upwards. They seem to be growing stronger stems as time goes by, but no flowers and nothing that resembles a broccoli head has surfaced between the leaves. I read they like soft soil, maybe that’s my problem? I’ve got to do more research on broccolis...



Oh, and I think a squirrel got to this one, I hope it was not the only one that was actually gonna make a broccoli!



Watering

Living in an apartment building, an old one at that, we do not have an outdoor hose. I have to take my watering can inside to my bathroom and fill it up in the bathtub. At least we live on the first floor and we don’t have to climb too many stairs. I need to fill it up 4-5 times to water everything, including my flowers.

And I just HAD to get the orange watering can :) (FYI orange is my trademark, apart from being short)



Sometimes we do leave for the weekend. We have very generous neighbours who water our garden if it's not raining, on top of their own. But I always worry and try to water extra before going.

I want to finish by showing you my flower garden, I don’t want to do an other post just for that, so here goes.



I got some marigolds and some lobelias, yellow and purple, from the store. I planted them in the small corner garden in front of our balcony. I didn’t want to plant my garden there for a couple of reasons. One, there’s about 2-3 hours of direct sunlight there. Two, there’s about 8 inches of soil there, which I didn’t think it would be enough.

I don’t have much, and it looks a little empty, especially since the squirrels have a fun time snapping off the stems and leaving them to die. I started some marigolds from seeds, too, and have replaced some of the bought marigolds that were not doing so well, but I don’t know when they will start blooming (they are a bit lighter in color).



Next year I want to do a nice arrangement here. Maybe start a few flowers indoors earlier (if I have the space), or else buy some more. Definitely will need a gardening budget of some sort for next year with all my plans, hein?!

I’ve got a couple of stock flowers that are in my vegetable garden. Again, dunno when they will flower.



There’s 4 Morning Glories up on the fence to the side. They’ve grow up to the top of the fence (5’) and are still trying to climb! They are wrapping around each other because it's the only thing they are finding to climb, it's kinda funny. I hope to get flowers by the end of summer! Only 1 month left :( Maybe more with the wonderful weather we've been having this year (knock on wood, hope I didn't jynx us!)



Lastly I got a couple of Lantana plants, bought, planted in this big pot. This is one of my favorite flowers, but unfortunately, my plant it not flowering too well. They are suppose to be yellow, orange, pink flowers all in a bunch (like the other that are blooming), but they last a day or 2 like that and quickly turn dark pink, so I dunno what’s wrong with them, but I’m kinda bummed. And right now they have completely stopped producing flowers, even though I am sure they have enough water. I'm kinda really sad :(



Alright, that concludes my garden tour, I’d love it if you linked up your garden post if you have one, or several!

I’ll come back in a month’s time and give probably the final rundown on how my garden grew, and what I want to do for next year. I already have bigger plans for next year, and can’t wait to give this gardening another go!

FYI, I am in zone 5a. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)





I party at these parties.

Continue Reading...

Gardening- Starting from Seeds

I finally decided to start a garden this year. I was playing with the idea when we moved in to our it current apartment back in September. By the end of May I had bought some seeds at the Dollarama (I didn’t want to dish out a lot on the first try), but still hadn’t planted anything. I was procrastinating...

The first week of June I took the plunge, because I had waited long enough!. I went to buy little pots to start the seeds and started my garden. I know what you are thinking, I started it WAY too late for anything to come of it, even for the zone 5a weather we get here in Montreal (which has been really warm and sunny, without too much rain fall, btw; one of the best summers I can ever remember!). And you are right, for some things.

I’ve still learned a LOT from my practice garden, as I call it. Let me show you.

I'm kicking myself in the butt for not taking step by step pictures, though! Wasn't really planning on being able to share it...

Starting from seeds

I started my seeds in little pots, at the beginning of June. I didn't start directly in the garden because I didn't have the space ready.

Some seeds grew really fast, others were really slow. I got my seeds at the Dollarama (3 packs for 1$) and wasn't sure if I should completely trust them, so almost all my seeds I made 3 holes per pot and put 3 seeds in there. It'll be nice to know for next year what I need to start extra early and how much I should plant!

When I planted the seeds, I used moist soil, but when it came to watering, all the seeds just floated up and I was so sad! After that I watered by placing the pots in a water basin so the water would absorb through the soil instead. That worked very well, and that’s what I did about every 2 days, or as needed, until I transplanted.

Preparing the garden

I had to get some sort of enclosure before planting anything, I didn’t just want to do it in the middle of the yard without any delineation seeing as it’s a common space for the apartment building. I used pallet wood to build myself a small square (6’ by 6’).

Then I turned and worked the soil inside the square area. It wasn’t very good soil, except for the spot where we had done our compost hole for the last 6 months, and there were a lot of rocks. I added some garden soil I got at the grocery store on top, too. I got 6 bags for 9$, but I really should have gotten more while my parents were over (and hence had transportation)!

3 weeks after seeding I transplanted the seeds in the garden. Some of them had grown quite a lot during that time, others... not so much.

Seedlings

Cucumbers did the best, and even though I knew I should kill some seedlings off, I just couldn’t. So I have a LOT of cucumbers (probably 10+ plants). I can't be afraid to kill the weeker ones next year! And maybe plant less of these since almost all seeds gave me a seedling.



The yellow beans were the first ones to sprout, really early on (like less than 1 week). I came back one day from school and I had a 3 inch seedling! But in the end I only got 2 viable seedlings. So I need to plant more; this was the only type I only planted 1 seed per hole.



Lettuce did about as well as the yellow beans, which is I got 3 plants in the end, but took longer to sprout. They started out as little itty bitty things, and more on the yellow side rather than green. Everyone was telling me they grow fast, so I'm thinking I did something wrong...? I deninetely need to plant more next year, and maybe different variety.



Next, I planted some broccolis. We like broccoli quite a bit, so I was hoping to have a lot and maybe even freeze some. They grew moderately fast and I got a good number out of the seeds I planted. I think they are super cute at this stage!



It was a bad idea to start carrots in an individual pot and planning to transplant. They did fine, but they were hard to transplant! My bf did a better job than me, he managed to remove the carrots in one big clump, but now they are growing all bunched up... I was trying to transplant them all individually!

Next year, I will just put them directly in the garden patch, and plant some every couple of weeks for 2 months or so, I think. I got too lazy to try and plant from seeds directly in the garden this year.



The last plant I tried was bell peppers. Even though the package said to start the seedlings indoors 4-8 weeks in advance, I started them in June. I KNEW I wouldn’t get anything from them from the moment I planted them, but I wanted to test how they would grow.

They took about 2 weeks and a half to see anything, maybe 3 weeks. You can see they are starting to sprout at this point. I thought they were all dead seeds, but then I saw some green things peeking through, and was super happy! Because they were so small, I was afraid to transplant them at this stage. Instead I tried transplanting just 1 to compare.

I'm curious, has anyone ever tried to start bell pepper plants from the seeds from fresh bell peppers? I could save myself 33cents...



Flower Seeds

I tried planting a few different flowers. Same way I did the vegetable seeds.

These are gonna be Marigolds.



These are Morning Glories.



And these are Stock Flowers.



I realize now flower seeds need to be started WAY WAY in advance, like the peppers...

Building a Fence

The next morning after I planted, I could see the squirrels were getting at my plants, so I had to build a fence, and fast! The best option I found at the dollar store was chicken wire fencing, which I could hold up with branches, or bamboo sticks once I could find some.

I like this way because even if it’s not high, the squirrels can’t climb it without falling over (they don’t try as far as I can tell). And I’ve never seen them jump over. I think they might be finding holes between the pallet wood and the wire fence at the bottom, though, because I am seeing something that is nibbling on some plants, which are not bugs. I was suppose to get a stapler from my dad, which would close all holes, but I forgot last time I was there.

Other thing is that it’s quite see through so you can still see your vegetation from afar. I LOVE admiring my garden from my balcony! The only downside I see really is that they advertised it as galvanized, but it is not. There is already rust after 2 months of use. I might have to get new one next year... Not that it's very expensive, I got 4 rolls (6 feet each) for 8$, but it's no fun.

I'll keep the pictures of what my garden looks like now for an other day, I think this is getting pretty long. If you've started a garden, have any experience and want to share, I'd love to hear it. Link to a post if you want, too!

Edit: Want to see how my garden grew after a month? That post is up!



I party at these parties.

Continue Reading...

Peeking Tulips

Guess what greeted me last Friday as I came home? These:



Yup, my tulips are finally poking out of the ground!! I realize it’s probably late, my parents are saying their’s are 4 inches tall, but I think it’s because of the lack of sunlight we get in our backyard.

Anyway, I’m super thrilled, because I was really afraid they wouldn’t grow at all, that I had waited too long to plant them last fall. It was end of November that I did so. The ground was of course not frozen yet; we got a very short winter this year.

This is our little plot of soil in our backyard. I know it’s not super great, but better than what we had at our last place, and for a apartment it’s not bad.



So what I did last fall was just dig a trench about 4-6 inches deep.





I had LOTS of bulbs, as you can see. Some seemed rather rotten, though...



I just lined them up in the trench, pointy side up...



...and then I buried them. (that's half way buried btw) I don't know if I buried them a little too deep and that's why they took their time sprouting... But it might also have prevented them from being dug up by the pesky resident squirrels we got around. They seem to dig only an inch then get tired. And they never dig right where the tulips are either...



Here’s the story of how I got those bulbs for free. Every year in Ottawa (my home town), there’s the Tulip Festival in May. They plant thousands of tulips. It’s kinda sad I’ve never actually went to see them, I really should.


source: Ottawa Tulip Festival, photo by Frank Scheme


source: Ottawa Tulip Festival, photo by Frank Scheme

After every festival, they dig up the bulbs and dispose of them :( Somehow, our neighbor manages to get ahold of them, and gives them a second home. That is how I came to have these bulbs.

I’ve got 3 rows on my plot, I know you can’t really tell, but yeah, there are.



Only thing is I was scared they had gotten too humid and had rotten. I’m sure they won’t all bloom, but most of them should.

I have no idea what color they will be. Ready to be surprised with me later in the season?! I’ll post pictures when they bloom.

There's only 5 out right now, I'm hoping to see more soon, but with -5 degree C weather (24 degree F) here this morning I dunno when that will be really. Canadian weather is such a tease; 25 degree C last week (77F), and now -5C (24F). Only in Canada people, only in Canada... (or are there parts of US that are crazy like that?!)





One got crushed, as in stepped on, most likely by me or my bike. Must put up some sort of barrier or fence around.



Are you excited to see your tulips bloom?! How tall are they now if you have some?

Thanks for reading, have a great week everyone!



I party at these parties. If you would like to invite me to your linky party, please do so on my linkies page, thank you!

Continue Reading...