coyotegardens

[coyotegardens]

Speaking about alternative ways of growing things, have you seen the bottle tower gardens invented by Willem Van Cotthem? His youtube videos are a bit amateurish but the plant results look amazing. I prefer straight up recycling plastic bottles but that IS a neat upcycling idea and it's a water-efficient and space-efficent way of gardening 8D

Oh nice, I hadn’t seen these before, but they look ingenious!

A great way to repurpose waste plastic too, especially as not everywhere has plastic recycling facilities. The water efficient part is appealing too. Solutions like this would be helpful for people living in more arid climates!

Here’s a quick DIY guide for anyone who’s interested.

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After a cursory search, I realised I couldn’t find a single easy table online where USDA Hardiness Zones and AHS Heat Zones were pictured together, easily readable, and in centigrade. So, I made one, using the charts available on wikipedia.

Feel free to download, share, and use on your website.

Knowing which climactic zone you are in is vital to choosing the right plants for your garden. There are a number of other factors to consider, of course, such as rainfall, soil, snow cover, drainage, acidity/alkalinity, altitude, and latitude, but many of those factors can be manipulated either with labour, or the creation of microclimates.

#bioregionalism #garden science #infographics

[coyotegardens]

An Acrylic Roof for a Mini-Greenhouse

We got our hands on some free recycled panels of acrylic glass, which was perfect, because my mini-greenhouse needed a new, more permanent roof: I’ll soon be insulating it, and converting it into a permanent home for dwarf citrus, olive, and pomegranate trees to live in year-round.

The greenhouse isn’t sealed, so it comprises more of a sheltered microclimate, where I can push my zone 8 Danish weather to allow for zone 9 plants.

I needed the top panels to be lighter than the real glass panels used for walls, because I have to lift up the entire roof to move plants.

My partner used a bench grinder to modify a flat head screwdriver into a tool for scoring acrylic glass. This DIY tool works for materials of about 6mm.

He cut the large panels by making a series of deep grooves, then snapping the panel along the weakened line on the edge of the table. He then sanded the edges.

The acrylic panels are attached to the wooden frame of the hinged roof with screws, using the plastic parts of roofing nails as a barrier, and to allow for some “give” between the head of the screw and the panel. 

Everything ends up covered in algae here, so it is important that the wood is sealed with varnish or paint, especially when there are close joints between plastic/glass and wood, where water can collect.

This project was completed in stages, but accomplished with very few significant costs. The biggest expenses were the real glass panels, and the fixtures (screws, hinges, etc.). Otherwise, things like the timber, paint, and acrylic panels were acquired second-hand.

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I tore my plants up today because we are going to get snow tomorrow and they had stopped producing anyway. I took my calendula home and they brought a friend

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garden specs

Okay, if I don’t do next year’s garden as a raised bed and instead amend the soil that’s already in the ground and then do a fence, that would be easier for me and would be much less soil. Plus I would need the fence anyway to keep out my dogs. I’d have to have like a 4 foot raised bed in order to not need a fence for the dogs.

Luckily, my stepdad has a rototiller and tools to dig up the soil. 

I need more money for this haha 

[coyotegardens]

And once I get better at being a gardener, the veggies will be all fresh!

Autumn is for making stock

Since we’ve reduced our meat consumption, we just buy one rotisserie chicken, shred it, then do whatever with the bones. I’m no stranger to making bone broth, but today I added the bones, a ton of veggies, mushrooms, seasonings, and Apple cider vinegar. I’m so excited to see how this turns out. If nothing else it is a good-smelling way to use up veggies in my fridge.

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I just calculated how much soil will be for a 100 cu.ft garden.......

We’re going to make it 50 cu.ft. I don’t need that much space to begin with anyway :’D 

[coyotegardens]

Next year

Okay, I’m not near my community garden plot but my co-owner is already tearing her gorgeous garden down since our plots have to be cleared completely by the middle of October. She’s been hinting that I need to just tear mine down since I haven’t been really doing my part. I’m out of town for this week so I’ll tear it down next Monday when I get back in town. 

However, while I’m out of town, I have time to think. My husband and I are buying a house and all day today I’ve been estimating the backyard’s square footage so I can start planning a raised bed that I don’t have to drive to. 

I’m thinking it’s going to be 5 feet by 20 feet for a total of 100sq ft. It will be along the Eastern fence, running North/South. 

Plants I would like - not necessarily next year but in the future - are: 

Flowers/herbs: 

Sunflowers

Calendula

Chamomile

Bee Balm

Rosemary

Mint

Oregano

Cilantro

Parsley

Echinacea

Yarrow

Lavender

Dill

Fruits:

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Currant

golden

Gooseberry

Melons

preferably a short-season mini watermelon since this is Colorado

Elderberry

Oregon Grape

Peach tree

Apple tree

Veggies: 

Spinach

Onion/Garlic

Cucumbers

Carrots

Corn

Squash

yellow

Zucchini 

Pumpkin

Acorn

Peppers

Serrano

Poblano

Bell

Banana

Tomatoes

Broccoli 

Lettuce

Sweet/Potatoes

Rhubarb

Peas

Green Beans

Raddishes

Now that we won’t be moving every year I can actually invest my time in long-term plants, winter growing plants, space-taking plants, etc. I’m very excited. 

Now I can start budgeting to save up for the soil, the tools, the seeds, the fencing (yay dogs) and the wood to make it raised. 

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Garden update!

This is a late update as this was like a month ago. 

We had our monsoon season and I didn’t visit my garden for about 3 weeks. In that time, the torrential downpours made my weeds grow HUGE. It took me 3 hours to remove them all. However, the weeds created a nice effect and my plants all grew tremendously well underneath of them! Not to mention all the bug life and fungi that were growing underneath. 

This is my first harvest. I gave the cucumbers away for good luck. The carrots were delicious and the calendula is drying nicely. 

[coyotegardens]

It is that time of year where you start to clean up the garden from your summer harvest and get the beds ready for the next season. Master Gardener Yvonne Savio shares some great tips on what you should do in Issue 41. The Dirt on Organic Gardening Magazine is for urban organic gardeners everywhere. Like our feed? You’ll love The Dirt! IG friends use link in bio, or go to www.TheDirtOnOrganicGardening.com. …

#digitalmagazineforipad #digitalmagazineforgardeners #urbanorganicgardening #organicgardening #groworganic #growfood #growyourown #urbangardening #homegrown #learntogrow #organicgardeningmethods #growfood #growsomethinggreen #groworganic #homegrown #growyourownfood #growtherevolution #TheDirtOnOrganicGardening

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Self Sufficiency, 1970s

[coyotegardens]

Okay so my plants are not doing well. We are well into the growing season and the seedlings thay have sprouted are stagnant and the ones I put in the ground haven't added any growth aside from a leaf or two in weeks. So, with the help of some neighboring plot owners, I cleared the rest of the weeds out of my plot, dug more holes and filled them with compost, manure, and bagged garden soil, then added various seeds. Here's hoping I get SOMETHING by the end of the growing season. To be honest, this was a huge eye opener for me. If I'm working full time, I don't have the energy to manage a community garden plot. Especially one that's not close to my house. I'll probably stick to container gardening for a while after this season. Not to mention I won't have to pay plot fees nor special tools to work the soil.

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I love being part of a community garden but the bossiness of some who are trying to help really gets to me

[coyotegardens]

gardening has this reputation as a gentle and chill hobby but you know what?? gardening is actually a constant and brutal conflict between the human need for control and the will of life to spread - a battle between life and death itself, even. in the garden I am the Overlord Supreme, Peerless Queen of the Dirt, Arbiter Above All, the ultimate and final judge over who gets to live and who must die. I drowned an entire anthill today for daring to exist in my realm, and the blood of hundreds has soiled my soul. my thumbs may be green but my hands are black and deadly.

[coyotegardens]

@echoofalltrades Yeah! I'm seeing so far it's best to cook them. So I'm gonna do that with some mustard greens from my friend's garden

So, I learned that one of the main weeds in our garden is actually a species of amaranth, commonly called pigweed, and it’s edible! So as I was weeding the aisle today I took some home to try it. Peep those pink roots!

Food is all around us, we just need to identify it.

[coyotegardens]

So, I learned that one of the main weeds in our garden is actually a species of amaranth, commonly called pigweed, and it's edible! So as I was weeding the aisle today I took some home to try it. Peep those pink roots! Food is all around us, we just need to identify it.

[coyotegardens]

my plot co-owner showed up and helped me a ton in my garden. bless her. She also gave me this raddish! it was delicious! I might need to grow some...