Gardening & Environmentalism

As you may or may not know (depending on whether you have been with us from the beginning) I really actually don't know that much about Donna Reed - I know, shocking. I do know that she was the mother and wife on a wholesome family television show, always wearing pearls and heels while she cooked and cleaned her way to perfection. She's my idol, I want to be like her ... but as I've discovered, it's much harder then it looks.

Anyways, I digress. My point was I don't know a lot of the specifics about her. For example, was she a gardener? Would she have been concerned about the environment? I don't know. I think, probably she would have been if she lived (not that she really did live, don't worry, I am not THAT deluded) in 2008 and/or lived in the country.

By now you're probably asking yourself what's your point? What does it matter? Patience, I will get to it. However, because this is my blog you are just going to have to suffer through my ramblings first. Because I said so that's why! And there is nothing you can do about it. Though I suppose you could stop reading ... but that's just a risk I am going to have to take (PLEASE DON'T STOP READING MY BLOG).

Back to the topic at hand. I do live in the country, and I am concerned about the environment, as I am sure Donna Reed would be. So when I started honest to goodness gardening this year I wanted to make sure I did so in a way that would have as little an impact on the environment as possible. I already had a good foundation in place: we have several rain barrels around the farm, so no need to use/waste more water and we have composters, so I could get some of my soil from them. Also, there was a pile of wood behind one of the shops that used to be pallets, you know the kind the stores get their stuff shipped on. And it's just sitting there, sometimes being used for firewood. So I made a bunch of wooden planters out of it. Again, no environmental impact there.

Now, however we come to the question of soil and fertilizers. As I've previously mentioned, D's grandparents have a ginormous garden. Turns out they are not using a bit of one end this year, so they offered that I could get my soil from it. "Wow, sure, that would be great" I said (yes, I really did say that - stop laughing!). The soil was dark, looked rich etc. Turns out it's not so hot. It's really kinda sandy and full of clay, doesn't hold water well and I am not really sure how much nutrient value it has. As I'm complaining to husband over the dinner table about my issues he says: "I could have told you that.". ARGHHHHH, well then why didn't you!? Dork! Some days ....

So now what? Either I have to water my plants a million times a day, or find another solution. I could always mix in some peat moss or potting soil. But I am a little hesitant to do so. Especially since I recently read about where peat comes from and some of the environmental issues surrounding it's harvest. Turns out that peat wetlands are home to many rare and specialised organisms that are found nowhere else and the large-scale removal of peat from bogs in Britain, Ireland and Finland is destroying wildlife habitats. Also, it takes centuries for a peat bog to regenerate. Ack! Somehow using peat now doesn't seem like a very Donna Reed thing to do.

So now what? (boy I've used that questions a lot today, note to self: expand vocabulary). Well, I decided to use some of my own advice. First I shredded a ton of newspaper, then I soaked it in water. The next day I mixed it and some of our compost, along with a bunch of coffee grounds into the soil in my planters. Hopefully that will help with the nutrients, and somewhat help with retaining moisture. We just had a few days of rain so the plants have been watered pretty well, and I will just have to break down and keep watering them in the am and the evening. Turns out that being environmentally friendly, and Donna Reed conscious of everything often means having to do things the hard way - who knew?!

Oh, hey, I almost forgot the whole reason for writing this post today. I have found this great product made by an amazing company that I wanted to tell you about. Don't worry, you didn't read through all that for nothing, it relates to what I have been talking about. The company is called Terracycle, you can find them at http://www.terracycle.net/. To quote their website: "TerraCycle is trying to eliminate the idea of waste. To do so, we must find great uses for objects that used to be considered waste." They do this through all sorts of neat ways, unfortunately if I tried to tell you about all of them you would spend your whole day reading my blog (hmm .... ) so I'm just gonna focus on the one that relates to gardening. Remember I teased you a couple days ago that sometime in the near future I would be talking about worm poop? Well today's your lucky day!

Terracycle makes worm poop fertilizers! I know, how oddly weird and cool at the same time. See they started out making and selling worm composters, then moved onto other things. One of those things being their all-purpose plant food. It's liquefied worm poop, all natural ingredients, packaged in a ... wait for it ... reused soda bottle, or milk bottle (depending on the size you buy) with an end-run sprayer. "The entire product is made out of garbage - from the contents to the packaging. As a result Terracycle plant food is the first mass-produced consumer product to have a negative environmental footprint." Everything about this product is good for the environment! And it turns out that my local home hardware carries it!

I am soooo happy, I feel like singing. Cue music - "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it, I know, I know, I know, I know I want you, want you". It's also so simple to use, you just spray it on the soil until damp once a week, or even right onto the plants leaves. it's won't burn your plants, won't cause salt buildup, doesn't mean that you are eating some icky chemical fertilizer that contradicts your whole reason for growing your own vegetables in the first place! Phew, being this excited and passionate is tiring - how do those green peacers do it all the time?

I also love this product/company for a few more reasons. First off, they help schools/charities raise money by getting them to collect the used soda bottles, juice containers, computers, fax machines etc. that are used in their products. Secondly, they give a lot of how to advice re: gardening, composting, re-cycling their products when you are done with them. Thirdly, they were sued by Scott's - Miracle grow people because they were making them look bad - go little guy! and finally, be case, as as CBS Evening News puts it: " [their] story is a reminder about following your dreams. The pot of gold may require dealing with a ton of crap.". Hahahah, how funny is that.

Okay, that's it, my ramblings are done. Go check out Terracycle. I am going to check out my laundry and the dishes that should get done, after all - the ultimate goal here is to become Donna Reed and she probably would have done her dishes first and blogged second. TTFN.