Corn gluten test 1 update

A little less than a week ago I started a little test to see if the corn gluten I had purchased as a pre-emergent herbicide would have any effect -- there have been some studies done that produced conflicting results. I made up a little tray of soil, applied the corn gluten product to half of it, then sprinkled grass seed over the whole thing.

Remember that I had some doubts about my test, mainly that the corn gluten wouldn't  have time to break down before the seeds germinated. Those doubts appear to have been quite reasonable.

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Starting to empty the greenhouse

Although it's been pretty cold lately, at or slightly below our normal temperatures, I decided not to procrastinate and I started removing the potted bamboos from my temporary greenhouse. Last year I remember it being pretty warm when I did this, and it took at least an hour to get the pots out. Since it's above freezing but definitely not warm right now I'm not going to dawdle this year.

There are on the order of 50 pots in here this year, and I don't have a well-defined plan on where they're going to go, but too much thinking and I'll end up putting this off for another week -- I really don't want to do that.

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Update on cactus seedlings and semps

That "best of the year" post I did the other day took a lot of time, and took a lot out of me. So today it's short and to the point. Time for another update on the cactus seedlings and sempervivum.

The cactus are really starting to look cactusy, not in overall form, but definitely in the spine department.

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Wanna buy a garden tiller?

Yesterday's post was a look back over last year's posts, but today I take a look back even further to show you how things have changed. Have you ever considered buying a garden tiller of some sort? Do you own one already? How did you choose it, from an ad in a gardening magazine perhaps? If so, then I can probably take a guess what you have: either a Mantis tiller, or a model from DR. Why would I guess those? Because they're just about the only advertised tillers I see these days, or are certainly the most widely advertised.

Back in 1977 though, a gardener who had time to read about their hobby or home farm had more choices. Many more choices. Last year my neighbor cleaned out part of his basement and found a 1977 issue of Organic Gardening magazine and gave it to me. Although the articles are still relevant today, the ads are what caught my attention.

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One year anniversary: INWIG best of 2010

According to Blogger I made my first blog post on March 5, 2010 which means today is my one-year anniversary! Although I had some trouble the first week or so posting correctly and missed a couple of days, I quickly got into the swing and posted every day after that. One of the main reasons for creating this blog was so I'd document everything I did in the garden, and I have to admit I've done a pretty good job of that. Did I list every detail of every task I did? No, certainly not. I missed lots of stuff, including some important details such as what exact varieties of veggies I planted, spacings, fertilization schedules, etc. but I also shared a lot of things that I would normally have just observed and enjoyed for myself, and have hopefully given some entertainment and knowledge to my few loyal readers.

Today I'm going to take a look back over the past year and list my favorite posts in chronological order. If you haven't seen them before please take a look. If you have seen them already, then think of it as a rerun of your favorite show... or better yet a "best of" clip show. There's a lot here, so take your time.

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My "casual" garden shoes

A while back I wrote about my new work boots, what I'll be wearing when digging, mowing, essentially doing anything other than strolling around the garden. When I am just walking around though I wear something more casual. Actually they're not that casual, as they're shoes made of leather, not the colored spongy plastic that is so popular in the garden and everywhere else these days (for good reason).

I didn't purchase these to be garden shoes, but one day I realized that they might be quite good for that purpose, and I never wore them anyway. They ended up being great shoes for the garden. Because they're leather they're quite durable, but do take some care. Today I'm giving them a long overdue polishing.

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An experiment starts: corn gluten

Yesterday I posted about a lawn care task, specifically applying corn gluten as a pre-emergent herbicide. It's organic, safe, prevents weeds from growing, smells like corn-based snacks -- what more could a gardener ask for? Well, maybe that it actually works. You see, it was pointed out in the comments that another study was done, and its results questioned the utility of corn gluten as a pre-emergent. In fact, that study concluded that it had no herbicidal properties at all.

Although it's difficult or impossible for most of us to duplicate those studies that universities do -- we have everything except the time, experience, equipment, manpower, and funding -- in this case I think I can do a simple test to satisfy my own curiosity. So today I'm starting an experiment to see if the corn gluten works for me.

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Time to corn up the lawn

I want to get serious about my lawn this year. Last year I didn't take very good care of it, and I regretted it later. Right now is the right time to put down a pre-emergent herbicide to keep any weed seeds that might be in my lawn from germinating. Since I'm almost entirely organic here, using harsh chemicals (both natural and man-made) only in the most extreme cases, I'm spreading corn on my lawn:

It's not whole grain corn, but a product made from corn gluten, which contains chemicals that prevent seeds from germinating. It also smells a little like corn chips.

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On the ground, brown comes down

It's that time of year when I have to start thinking about cleaning up the yard, removing all of the dead foliage from last season's annuals, perennials, vines, grasses, and ground cover bamboos. I have mixed feelings about these tasks, because it means my yard gets "flat" for a while, and really opens up. Loses its privacy.

It also means that I lose all of the interesting textures and different shades of brown that I've been seeing for the last few months, like in this photo. Of course this cleanup makes way for this season's new growth, but it still makes me a little sad to see all of the browns go. It's a lot of work too, so I'll start with something small and simple today: the ground cover bamboos.

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