Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

PVFS Brand Organic Compost

I’ve had the privilege of attending a free composting class sponsored by Nevada County Recycles which took place at Fulcrum Farm in Penn Valley. It was taught by one of the owners of Fulcrum Farm, Marney Blair (Fulcrum Farm produces the very same compost we use at our local store to brew our fabulous compost tea!). I came away from this class excited, inspired and just generally feeling good about how amazing composting can be!

I knew a bit going in but came out with that “I know nothing” sense on this subject… however very excited about learning so much more about the process. It can seem complicated but it’s not and it’s ALL natural, it’s the ultimate recycling program. I picked up a couple key points, like most residuals, i.e., pesticides, fertilizers, etc., will be neutralized through the process. I learned about how to touch and feel for moisture content and bulk density, what is carbon and what is nitrogen… then how to combine the various materials just by knowing what you are looking at and feeling. I learned what good compost should look like, smell like and feel like. If it’s black… NOT good, it’s been burned. I never knew that!

Anyway, there’s another class coming up next week and I CAN’T WAIT to go! Once you’ve gone to one of these classes, Marney will come out and do a free consultation to. She was a wonderful and inspirational teacher. You can always tell when someone has passion for what they do. Marney’s got compost passion. If you want to get in on this party:

Contact Lynne Cody Lacroix
Recycling Technician, Nevada County Recycles
950 Maidu Avenue
Nevada City, CA 95959
530.265.7119
NevadaCountyRecycles.com

You’ll be glad you did!

Here at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply it’s raining and raining quite hard.  Hopefully any cover crop seed that’s been planted in recent weeks has some roots holding those little guys down so they don’t wash down into your neighbors drainage ditch.  Otherwise, after this storm passes it should be prime time to put in that cover crop.  The soil should still be holding above 45 degrees being warm enough for the seeds to germinate and now that the ground will be nice and moist… PERFECT!  So don’t wait to get that soil builder mix in this month and you will be pleasantly surprised how well your vegies grow and produce next year.  Not to mention loaded with nutrients provided by all the cover crop goodies left after breaking down in your soil.

Read about it here:

I recently moved to the midwest (Illinois)  I have raised beds in my yard for vegetables/flowers.  When do I put on the compost—in the Fall when I close down the beds for the season or in the Spring?

My husband is concerned about placing a compost bin in the back yard.  he thinks this might attract rats or other animals.  Three  years ago neighbors had a problem with.  They had garbage cans outside. Can this happen?

PVFS Customer Email with Staff Response

Question:

I am an avid home brewer of compost tea. I use to rid my water of chlorine by running the pump 1 hour prior to brewing. However, I have now moved to an area that has chloramine treated water. It is my understanding that chloramine cannot be removed using the same process as the chlorine. Will the subject Gard ‘N Gro Garden Filter remove chloramine to the extent that it will not kill off the microbial activity in the “soil soup” or compost tea?

Thanks for your help! I need to find an answer as I don’t want to have to buy bottled water to make the tea!

Answer:

I spoke to the manufacturer of the Gard ‘N Gro Dechlorinating Filter about your question. Although that filter does remove some of the chloramine (maybe about a 25-30% reduction), to remove more requires slower flow rates and more of the media in the filter. They make a product called the Green Knight Hydroponic Dechlorinator made for your type of situation. It is designed to reduce the chlorine and chloramine in tap water when filling hydroponic nutrient tanks. It removes 85-90% of the chlorine and reduces chloramine over 60%. It uses a much slower flow rate and has twice as much filtering media and surface area than the Gard ‘N Gro Dechlorinating Filter. It does not use replaceable cartridges, but has a 30,000 gallon capacity. It reduces more chloramine if the water pH is in the low sevens or lower and the warmer the water, the more effective it is. We haven’t offered the Green Knight in our catalog, although we may in next year’s catalog. We can get one in with our next order, if you want to order one. They are approximately $10 more than the Gard ‘N Gro Dechlorinating Filter. We will be placing an order with the manufacturer within the next week or so. Let me know if you want to order one.

Thank you for growing organically!

This correspondence Continued:

Reply from Customer:

Wow!  Thanks for all the research!

I do think I may want to order the Green Knight Hydroponic Dechlorinator.  However, before I do I need to know more.  Does this filter hook up “in-line” between your faucet and a hose, or is it bigger than that requiring some sort of installation?  And I still don’t know if the 60% reduction is good enough for brewing compost tea.  Do you have a sense of that since you are offering compost tea brewers now?  Is this something that you would recommend to customers buying your compost tea brewers and supplies?

Many, many thanks.  This issue with chloramines in the water and compost tea is a tricky one.  A google search on the internet indicates that there are a LOT of people looking for answers but there aren’t any out there really.  Humic acid and fish aquarium neutralizers are the only suggestions.  The fish aquarium neutralizers are all sodium based…..not good for the soil!  All this is food for thought for a New Product Development Manager………….

Response From our Staff:

The Green Knight comes with the same 3 foot vinyl reinforced hose saver that comes with the Gard ‘N Gro Dechlorinating Filter.  It attaches to the hose bib and then to the filter.  The Green Knight also comes with a built in pre-filter for particulate matter, so you don’t have to buy a separate pre-filter.  I am trying to find out from some compost tea experts if 60-70% reduction in chloramines is adequate.  If I get more info, I’ll let you know.  I’m also not sure if the amount of sodium in the aquarium neutralizers is significant enough to be a detriment to the soil or the compost tea itself.  I am not familiar with what is in them or what chemical reaction occurs when it eliminates the chloramine.  If you know, please let me know.

A Question from a PVFS Customer – with employee answer.

Question:
I recently got some inexpensive compost at the local green waste dump in San
Juan Capistrano. The compost looks good, but when I watered it, it got very
sticky and heavy — clay-ish, I think. This seems strange for compost, but
that’s what the guy said it was. I know that the soil test you offer says
not suitable for compost, but I want to know whether this compost is any
good and what I should add too it to improve drainage and tilth. What do
you suggest I do?

Thanks so much,

Answer:

Usually well decomposed compost is moist and crumbly, not sticky. It sounds
like something was added to the green waste. It’s hard to tell what it might
be without seeing it so I suggest you take it to your local county farm
advisor’s office to see if they can help you. You may need to add a
different compost or soil conditioner to this to be improve its friability.

Hope this info helps,

I have a lot of creeping fig vines. Is it ok to compost the vine and the pods?

A PVFS customer email – with staff response.

Question:

I have made a raised bed garden past month. The soil needs preparing for Spring. What do you recommend? I would like to get something planted down to get some nitrogen fixation and to make the soil more loamy. I live near Pasadena and the soil in the raised beds is more sandy with little clay component. I am currently growing several fruit trees in the center of each raised bed. Plenty of .

thoughts? I do have plenty of Azomite, sun and non-chlorinated mountain water for irrigation

Answer:

Our most popular cover crop is called the Soil Builder mix. It’s a mix of vetches, peas, bell beans, and oats. It provides a lot of growth for organic matter and fixes a lot of nitrogen, especially when you use an inoculant. The part number is SCM120, the inoculant is ISE350.

Since you have trees in the beds, be careful when incorporating the cover crop into the soil in the spring. You might consider not tilling in the crop inside of the drip line of the trees, but pull it out and compost it instead. Outside of the drip line, you can dig in the crop manually or with a rototiller. Wait 4-6 weeks after incorporation to plant anything in the beds.

Hope that helps! Thank you for growing organically!

Question from a PVFS customer sent by email and an answer from our staff.

Question:

I heard of liquid fish and other kinds of plant aids a few days ago and would appreciate your advice. What would you recommend for Fescue grasses, Bermuda grasses , Kentucky Bluegrass, and a variety of clovers grasses? And approximately how much should be applied to an acre? What would be approximate cost?

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

Answer:

Yes, liquid fish is great for grasses as well as other plants! The rate is 10-20 gal/acre, the cost is $49.99 per 5 Gal, $219.00 per 55 Gallon drum (plus shipping and tax). Another excellent liquid to consider is Aerated Compost Tea. We sell it at here in Grass Valley, CA to local customers and the response has been tremendous for lawns, ornamentals, veggies, etc. You might check around your area for it. For ordering products for producing Compost tea click here.

Thanks you for growing organically!

There it is.  The first tilled row of the GGP.  At the crack of 8 am (huck it up, farmers…that’s early for us city-folk!) I was out there, tilling up my back yard.  The actual tilling itself took about 3 hours.  We had to go over each row multiple times, stopping to dig up rocks and sundry other oddities.  Among the strange things found that had to be removed: 3 cigarette lighters, a 2′ x 4′, a Happy Meal toy, broken glass, an old irrigation pipe that went nowhere, and concrete support posts for what apparently used to be a deck.  The final stage was going over everything one final time, my son in my lap (he LOVES tractors!) to make sure the yard was as level as possible. (more…)