Some random, scattered notes from the gardening workshop, not necessarily all accurate: for indoor gardens, sunflower and buckwheat give you a lot of food (sprouts) in a few days. Red winter hard wheat makes the best wheatgrass. Ryegrass isn't as sweet. To grow grass on a cafeteria tray, use one cup of grain sprouted, 1 inch of soil on the tray. Spread the grain evenly. cover with an inverted tray 3 days, then water every day for 3 to 5 days. Chew all day instead of juicing, spit out afterwards, you won't grt gum disease.
Parsely good for kidneys. Sorrel excellent antioxidant, perennial. Dill attracts ladybugs, which eat aphids. Using short pieces of PVC tube, 3/4 or 1 inch diameter for strarting, reduces transplant shock. Schedule 200 PVC can't be found at Home Depot, have to go to irrigation supplier. Soak all seeds overnight to 24 hours before planting. Carrots sprouted in 2 days. EM is primarily lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and photosynthetic bacteria. EM fermenting composts food waste faster and not so completely, breaks down into proteins and enzymes which can be used right away by plants, less heat and gases generated. You can make bokashi but must buy EM liquid. Use 9 to 12VDC zapping to kill enzymes from any toxic bite.
Acres Magazine is the source of a lot of arcane gardening info.
Main soil mix is equal parts sawdust. manure. sand (gravel), and screened native soil. About 6 shovels each to a wheelbarrow full. Then for nutrients, add about a pint each of cottonseed meal, bokashi, and alfalfa pellets. Adding about 1/2 cup sea solids (evaporated seawater) improves wheatgrass growth. Paramegnetic rock, if you can get it, helps also.
Use grow bags rather than trying to grow in desert soil. The 7.5 gallon (1 cu. ft.) bags can be used for about anything.
Stack bottomless buckets around potato plants, keeping 4 inches of green above dirt. Keep doing this till end of growing season, knock over stack, and pick up the potatos.
Indeterminate tomatos can keep giving fruit all year, but you have to keep pruning suckers. All nightshades are wind pollinated, so if you have them indoors you need to tap or shake them.
If you insist on growing plants in poor soil, use sheet composting. Pre-wet the soil for 3 or 4 days. Then add the same nutrient mix mentioned above. Wet them, then add a layer of newspaper or cardboard. Then another layer of nutrients, leaving out the sea solids. Next, a layer of manure. Water, mulch with "bricks" of straw, and wait a month or more. Pull back mulch, poke a hole through the cardboard, and plant.
Use foliar spray to directly give plants nutrients directly. Songbirds increase plant growth. OriginalSonicBloom.com sells foliar spray and music for plants. Apply in the morning while plants are still cold. Sonic Bloom is kelp, fish emulsion, and gibberellic acid, among other ingredients. You can make your own foliar spray with fish emulsion and uric acid.
Don't use hybrid seeds; use open pollinated heirloom seeds.
last updated 2013-01-10 21:20:43. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com