molly jones

My boyfriend started some seeds but didn't label anything so now I don't know what growing in my window boxes. I'm a little embarrassed because it clearly came from a seed packet but it's also obviously something I haven't grown before because I have no idea what it is. Any ideas?

link to photo (couldn't figure out how to imbed.)
http://fromsowingtosalad.tumblr.com/image/53714459074

I found this mushroom growing under a few plants in my veggie patch. my instinct it to dig it out. should i be happy or sad about this fungal activity? i have a thick layer of composted wood as my mulch so i;m not super surprised to have these fungi popping up. i feel like its good that these guys are here - this is my first attempt at gardening in these raised beds after the yard was untouched for 5 years. i'm in SF near the beach so my soil is literally sand. i had to add A LOT of compost to up the organic matter - so these mushrooms make me feel like the soil is alive and making some progress.

This is very interesting. Raccoons or possums have been terrorizing my yard lately. First they killed 2 of my chickens and now they're digging up my raised beds and veggie patch. They haven't really gotten to any veggies yet but I don't want to wait around to let them start.

I recently purchased some solar powered string solar lights to brightened up the inside of my chicken coop at night - the chickens seem to like it, they run right into the coop as soon as they turn on at dusk. I was thinking that maybe purchasing some of the solar string lights that blink could work to scare some raccoons off. The string lights cost the same amount or cheaper as the nightguard - but you get a lot more lights. my problem is that I have lots of planter boxes, and benches and I'm worried that could block a couple of nightgaurd lights making it difficult to place them. I'm thinking an entire string of lights is harder to block... in theory - any blinking light should do the trick, right? I'll look into this - it seems like a better option for me. I do 2 strings around 2 planter boxes (3x8) and leave them on to blink around all night. most of the lights are supposed to stay on for around 8 hrs.. My boyfriend thinks maybe they'll be ineffective because one light looks like a predetors eyes and the string lights are obviously not eyes... but I don't think raccoons have that kind of critical thinking capability... I think that a ton of blinking lights will freak them out.

Any feedback?

I am still new to composting - I live in the city so I have a compost bin in my back yard and have been filling it with yard clippings, some chicken coop litter/poop and kitchen scraps that the chickens don't eat. Recently i decided to put sand in my chicken run instead of wood chips because I have read that its easier to clean - like a kitty litter box, you just rake the droppings out. So I did a chicken coop cleaning day and took all the dried leaves and pine shavings out of the coop and then shoveled the old wood chips and dirt from the run. I tossed everything into a garbage can because there was too much for my compost bin.

That happened the day before yesterday. Today I went to plant some blueberries so I was going to throw some of the chicken bedding/wood chips towards the bottom of the blueberry pots. When I stuck my shovel in there I was shocked by how HOT and really smelly that stuff was. But mostly i was impressed by the heat - I'd guess 90' and it's sitting in the shade. I did not expect for it to get that hot that quick! So now I'm not sure what to do with it. It's in an old garbage can that I use to store yard clippings when I'm figuring out what to do with them - so I don't NEED this can. What should I do with it now? Should I just mix it up (it hasn't been mixed at all) and let it do its thing? The garbage can does not have an drainage holes because I never intended to use it as a compost bin. I guess I just mix it up and drill some wholes. Right?

Very interesting! I'm going to do 2 blueberries in pots in my city lot and I've just discovered that my soil is around 7+ so I've been worried about how to cheaply lower the PH. I live on the coast so maybe I'll try adding a good amount of dried kelp and old cornmeal to the soil when I go to pot them.

Molly

Paul Gutches wrote:

I bought a sophisticated pH tester last year and tested just about everything I could think of while the sensor was still viable.

They only last a year or so.

I was testing the pine needle theory, coffee ground theory, and tea theory, plus lots of other stuff.

I'd mix the material with a small amount of water. I did not let it steep long, though in retrospect I probably should have.
Still, the differences in pH readings for these materials does suggest it was working.

Assuming the results are instructive, here they are.
Note in particular the corn-based kitty litter (unused). WoW. It blew away the sphagnum for acidity.
No idea how safe it is for growies, but a selling point on the product is biodegradability.
Note also the spent espresso coffee. Much lower than I'd anticipated.

You might also want to restrict your blueberry water source to (acid) rain.


Acidity

fresh black tea
6.7

fresh green tea
6.2

spent medium roast coffee grounds
6.4-6.5

spent espresso coffee from local coffee shop
5.75

fresh ground dark roast (unused)
6.9

fresh ground light roast (unused)
6.2

World's best ground corn kitty litter
4.4 - 5.2 (!!!)

Well Water (700 feet down into the Taos Plateau)
7.6

Rain Water
5.5-6.0

Diatomaceous Earth
7.6

Sphagnum Peat Moss
5.2

Chopped pine straw
6.3

Wood Ash
10.00

Ace potting soil 7.5

Walmart Steer manure compost / topsoil
8.7 (Yow!)

kelp
5.6

worm castings
7.5