February 12, 2008

Tonight was an internet night.  I didn't have much of a chance to do anything garden related today, but I gave out my blog site to a few folks, got a compliment on my Build-As-You-Grow bins, and said hello to some new folks on Ft2Garden.com. 

Oh, and I found out folks from all over like Washington State University (in Eastern Washington, 5 hours away).  They're a big agg school (among many other fine degrees they offer) so their agg department puts out great stuff.  Besides it's gonna work here because they're close to me.  

I also found out that corn can be planted in 8 inch rows with 4 inch spacing.  So I can get 6 rows in my 4 foot wide beds, with 33 stalks per row.  That's a whopping 198 plants!!!! That's way more than the 44 stalks I hoped to grow at 1/SF.  

Well, I got to thinking, would planting that close work in Seattle's mild summer climate?  It doesn't get over 85 here (maybe once a season it hits the mid 90s) and our springs are mild and wet.  I'd hate to get nothing from that spacing.  I sent the poster an email and will report back what I find.  It's exciting none-the-less!

I got interest in composting from a post on Ft2Garden.com and found good information on the WSU composting site linked there.  It isn't as simple and easy as I'd like it, and I'm not sure how well it would work for a quick hot compost. But eventually I would like both a compost and worm compost bin.  I have far too much grass clippings than leaves in the summer so that leads me to think cold do nothing compost is best for me (my family does this type), but I would still need to recycle tons of grass clippings.  And even then, would a cold process kill of the dandelion seeds in the weeds I mow up.  Hehe, eventually I'll be weed free, but not for several years at the rate I'm going.  Composting is very interesting and compelling, but we'll have to see.

To end, it's with sadness I report that I just cracked open the very last of my blackberry jelly. You haven't lived until you've tried home made blackberry jelly. I know it's not in my SFG, it's not even in my yard, but it's 5 feet outside my yard.  I have GOT to figure out how to increase the yield from those naturally growing blackberry bushes without having them invade my backyard. 

All in all, a good night.  Very relaxing and educational.