Tea Bag Fertilizer

This is actually Liz's idea, and I wanted to try it, I thought I would do it today so I did. Tea bag Fertilizer, -very cool The idea is basically make a fertilizer "Tea Bag" and let it seep in water and use that to water your plants with. Its an organic way to fertilize and it doesn't burn the plants. I used a big old plastic garbage can, and filled it with water, then used a pillowcase and filled it with composted steer manure that I got from Lowe's ($1.26 a bag) and it was so quick and easy. Instant yucky water! Anyway, I just needed a little fertilizer and it seeped and kept me from having to try and work more fertilizer into the soil, and was so super easy. Its a winner idea in my book, so way to go sis! I had to remind my son to keep his hands out though... yuk.

Oh and guess what? I was so excited.. I have baby pumpkins, squash, and potatoes, and peas... so much more fun the spinach and lettuce ! yeah, love it when I can see the cool little veggies.

Put down the slug bait today.. trying to keep the snails and slugs off of my pumpkin patch... the pumpkin patch is on of my favorite parts of my garden. I get the warm fuzzys of the holidays all summer long watching my pumkins grow! LOVE IT. I just treated the outside of the patch, and wow does that stuff work, although i have to admit, I do feel slightly guilty about the poor snails, but what is a gardener to do, let the buggers eat you right out of gardening, or go on the offensive? I wish a sign of NO SNAILS would work... sigh. So, I am living with the guilt.

Grow Boxes of all shapes and sizes part 2

Wow, I don't think I've ever dug that much dirt! I did add about 7 bags of composted steer manure, which FYI, don't leave in the sun cause wow, does it stink to open a hot bag of compost! It is so much better to plant in a raised bed, so much time off. I do like making the raised bed out of the fencing and the weed blocker. It was really a quick easy way to make a big bed. It is a bit wavey since its old used stuff I found, but it worked great.

My raised beds worked great, but the dirt falls down the sides and I could only plant on about 2/3'rds of the bed since the sides slant so much. But it makes weeding a bit easier since I trample between the beds and it helps keep the weeds from growing. My tomatoes in my growbox are a lot bigger then the ones I put straight into the ground, and are already flowering. My corn is not doing much...

Next I'm trying out Lizzy's idea of a teabag fertilizer to keep my garden more organic..

Grow Boxes of all shapes and sizes

Diana- I am trying raised bed gardening this year and since I didn't want to invest a few hundred dollars into it, I came up with these different ideas. My first idea was after I found some old galvanized steel laying about and decided to make it into a growing box. They were actually pretty easy since the steel sheets had been laying out in the weather for about 30 years anyway and were all pretty much the same size. I used some wood 2"X2" natural wood to have some posts to attach the steel sheets to. I used little screws and a powerdrill to put them together. And, bam. easy peasy grow box. They are about 30" square which makes them easy to move and put about anyplace in the garden. Plus, since its natural wood, not treated, its easier to keep up with the whole Organic thing.

I found some smalled steel sheets that I used to make some flower boxes, and I used one for my Herb Garden which hopefully will be as cool as useful in cooking summer stuff. I spraypainted the outsides of those a dark bronze color and fitted a bottom to them. It wasn't anymore work then the others and has the same benfits. Any kind of sheet of wood or steel would work the same. Cost is about 5 dollars a growbox with the steel sheets I got free.

My next grow box attempt is underway. Today I tilled up the ground and used old wire cages, part of them anyway, to form the sides. I staked them wire fencing stuff down with wooden stakes and next I am going to cover the insides with landscaping fabric. I will fill it with dirt most of the way and then we'll see how that one works.

My plants did come up earlier in the raised beds I made this year, but I have problems keeping the dirt in place and with weeding, so I'm hoping that these growboxes will solve those issues.