Starting From Seed🌱

I’ll admit I was never overeager about helping my mom or grandma in the garden, but in the last couple of years I have grown into the idea of learning more about gardening and growing my own little harvest. So after starting to compost last spring during COVID quarantine, I decided this year would be the perfect time to sow my very own seeds.

Let me tell you how it’s going.

First, I started composting again on my new apartment balcony in my compost tumbler. I started this batch of compost in early March.

Then I did my research, a lot of it. I of course went on Pinterest, visited a few helpful sites (click here and here) and I looked at what types of plants are good for balconies and containers. Here are the plants that are suggested in containers on balconies:

• Beans
• Tomatoes- probably the best and easiest to grow in containers (from what I’ve learned)
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Herbs
• Peppers and chilies
• Carrots
• Radishes
• Peas
• Eggplant
• Onions
• Beets
• Strawberries

I decided that the best plants for my balcony (and for my tastes) were cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, beans and hopefully strawberries. I will buy strawberry plants, not seeds, and plant the bean seeds directly into the soil later.

Then I bought my seeds and seed germinating dome containers. I decided to go organic even though I don’t worry about buying organic produce at the store, but I figured I would start as clean as I could growing my own food. Here are the seeds I bought:

I planted my seeds (peppers and tomatoes) two weeks ago (March 20^th). The germinating container has little soil pellets wrapped in netting. To loosen up the soil and prepare it for the seeds, water was poured in the base and the pellets soaked up most of the water and the excess was discarded. Then I unraveled and broke the netting open on top of the pellets and made a divot to insert the seeds and replaced the dome on top. The dome holds the moisture in so the plants can germinate well. No, I do NOT have a grow light but all of the packaging and some sites I read recommended the container to be in a location away from direct light but a warm location. So I left them on my kitchen counter. I might decide later on that a grow light would be helpful but for the time being, natural light it is.

Within a week my baby tomatoes were sprouting much quicker than the peppers. I took the tomato plants out of the container and replanted them in a bigger pot. I added seed soil and watered the soil until the soil was very saturated with water then inserted the whole plant pellet. It has now been a week and they are still moist and have not been watered again. I put them now in a sunny location and once they grow more leaves I will snip back the shorter ones to let the stronger stems grow better.

I am excited to see how my plants turn out and how successful I will be. It really does bring a sense of excitement and pride when growing one’s own food and plants. But, like I said, I shouldn’t speak too soon as to my future success.

Wait and see the fruits (and maybe misfortunes) of my labor! 🌱

Visit this site for more general seed starting tips!

Compost Diary Part 2

This is a long overdue update to the composting diary.

I have completed two batches of compost in my compost tumbler. It is still a work in progress, one of the batches being larger and drier and the other being smaller and more wet and clumpy. I can see that my parents’ dry, clay-like soil is more rich now and will be ready for planting in the spring, with the addition of more compost. I have decided to clean out the compost tumbler for the winter, even though I did start my composting adventure in the late winter/early spring this past year.

Below are the pictures to illustrate the final product from my composting tumbler this fall:

Alternative to at-home composting:

There are other ways in which you can add to the compost pile and not the trash heap even if you don’t have your own composting area at home. We also utilize a city compost dump site, which happens to be at a county police station, in which they also have a community garden that I believe the compost is used for. That way you can feel good about contributing to the right pile without the responsibility of maintaining it yourself. Below is a link to learn about community composting:

What is Community Composting?

Composting 101

April 5, 2020:

This week I started on a new adventure…composting! I have never really thought I would compost but recently I took a community class with some fellow interns and was inspired by how I could do it at home. After this class I started subconsciously becoming more aware of just how much waste I create that could be composted. So, I started off on this journey. I read other composting blog articles, ventured into Pinterest and various educational materials I’d been given through my internship. One booklet in particular I got through a gardening group at an elementary school in Grand Rapids during my time as an intern with the Grand Rapids Public School District has been useful and realistic, “An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food on Your Balcony”. I will be referencing the advice in this booklet throughout this post.

What is compost?

Some of you may wonder first of all, what is compost and why go through all this work for some dirt?

Compost is the process of breaking down (or decomposition of) food waste and other decomposing materials such as leaves and paper into nutrient-rich soil. This soil can be used to nurture plants, vegetables, or flowers and be a great way to reuse natural food waste and reduce its buildup in landfills.

What do I put in my compost?

Your compost, as I’ve been taught recently, needs both green and brown material to generate the appropriate amount of nitrogen and carbon and produce a not-to-wet and not-to-dry soil. The green and brown materials are outlined below:

Add to the pile:	Avoid adding to the pile:
Greens: ·         Fruits & Vegetables ·         Eggshells ·         Coffee grounds, tea ·         Plain grains ·         Nut shells	·         Meat, dairy (can be added and decomposed but will create odor and attract some animals) ·         Animal poo (turns into manure but takes excessive amount of time) ·         Plastic, Styrofoam, metal, glass, stickers, tags, twist ties ·         Diseased plants ·         Glossy or color-printed paper ·         Coal, charcoal ash ·         Black walnut tree leaves and twigs
Browns: ·         Dry leaves, yard trimmings, grass clippings, hay, straw ·         Shredded newspaper (and some regular paper, shredded without too much ink), cardboard ·         Sawdust or wood chips (untreated and un-coated) ·         Dryer and vacuum cleaner lint (no plastics!) ·         Hair and fur ·         Fireplace ashes

How I started the process:

1. I researched all I could and was going to use an old container and poke holes in the bottom for ample aeration. I decided instead that a composting tumbler would be my best bet on my balcony. It’s fairly cheap and makes it easy to turn and in addition it is compact and a closed system that keeps pests and odor out. I bought mine from Walmart for about $60. Although worm bins are useful as well since the worms do a lot of the work for you and they can be clean and compact as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Buy some soil or manure to add to the mixture as a base. I was advised at Walmart to get some manure as they didn’t have any compost starter.

 

3. Have a container ready to add your kitchen scraps until you can dispose of them in the composter. I’m currently using an old protein powder canister since it has a lid and the smell isn’t escaping so far.

In my kitchen scraps this week: avocado skin, bell pepper tops, banana peels, a lot of eggshells, apple cores, lettuce pieces, and coffee grounds.

 

4. Lastly, I’ve added about a 1/3 of the bag of the manure with my (about a gallon) food scraps and shredded newspaper and paper. I gave the tumbler a few turns to get the process going, and will continue to turn it daily until I get the consistency I want. The compost you be warm after awhile of the process and be moist but not dripping. My balcony is on the south side in the sun, which is good for producing compost.

*Stay tuned for my composting adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources:

1. “An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food on Your Balcony” By: Lara Lucretia Mrosovsky
2. “Build a Backyard Composter”, KVCC Food Innovation Center, By: Chris Broadbent & Amelia Stefanac
3. https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/how-to-compost-in-an-apartment/