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Former food desert now feeds a community’s spirit
Good morning friends! The community garden I volunteer for was just featured in an article by UC San Diego! A great honor and a beautiful write up to boot. Check it out and see what other activities I’ve been up to! Try not to be hypnotized by the ridiculous mustache. I use it to filter compost as well as sniff out truffles. Read More
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Chinese Elm Bonsai: status report
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Hamilton the Pig’s Big Adventure
My struggle
So I’ve been writing a bit less than I wish I could these last few weeks. It’s not that I’ve been out gallivanting around town and hobnobbing with fancy folk in fancy places. It isn’t because I’ve been on vacation in Hawaii or catching up on much needed sleep. No, it’s for a much less romantic reason. My new temporary ward at the Gielow estates, Hamilton the potbelly pig, has been wreaking so much havoc throughout my little urban oasis. Read More
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Danger from Above!
Uh oh campers. I just was out in the chicken paddock feeding Hamilton the pig and the rest of the flock. I was hand feeding Mia, the Easter Egger chicken, when she jumped, squawked and bolted in a frenzy. The other girls were right behind her and in an instant they were taking shelter in my Satsuma orange tree. All of them except for Piper, the partridge silkie. Being intellectually challenged and partially blinded by the giant poof ball of a head, she continued munching on her dinner like nothing was amiss. Read More
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Meet the Family!
I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to all the creatures that inhabit my home. These are the members of the family that I’ll be mentioning from time to time, so I thought it best to introduce everyone. For some reason beyond my comprehension, I’ve been really blessed to be surrounded by the best girls on the planet. I don’t know what I did in this life or the previous to deserve such a pack of awesome, but am eternally grateful for every last one of them. Let’s meet them… Read More
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The Wonderful Legume! Nature’s nitrogen fixer and fertilizer you can eat.
Beans beans, the magical fruit…
Have you ever started a new bed or a new garden only to be vastly disappointed with the general shabbiness of the growth? You’ve watered it the right way, given it plenty of sunshine. Maybe you even sang to the plants. Yet still, somehow, nothing really takes off the way it should.
One of the causes could be the quality of your dirt. We must always mind our dirt! It may be devoid of the proper levels of nutrients needed for healthy happy plant growth. If you want your plants to grow big and strong, one of the best ways is to give it nitrogen! Plants are like people, they love water, fresh air and sunshine but they also need to eat. Read More
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From Pest to a Beautiful Garden Visitor
One morning while walking the garden, I noticed what looked like bird poop on one of my lemon tree leaves. My eagle eyes usually don’t miss even the smallest of changes to my garden! When I leaned in to get a closer look, I realized that it wasn’t poop at all, but a small caterpillar. Read More
Hamilton the Pig’s belly rubbing extravaganza!
I’m still battling to keep this guy in the chicken paddock. He tries escaping daily. In the meantime, I try to bribe him with treats and belly rubs. If anyone has any tips, I’d be forever in your debt. My worst fear is that he is smarter than I am. Which is a strong possibility. Until I get it figured out, enjoy this video.
A freshly trimmed and defoliated Chinese Elm bonsai
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This Chinese Elm is such a hearty bonsai as well as an aggressive grower. It needs to be trimmed about twice a year. I like to wait until fall to make the job easier. Chinese elms are deciduous, so they drop their leaves in the fall. This allows you to better see the ramification of the branches for easier training.
Here’s the deal with bonsai that most people neglect. It’s ALL about trunk development.
Most people will buy a sapling of a common bonsai breed and instantly begin wiring it up or cutting the branches. This is a waste of time because in order to get that harmonious ratio in real bonsai (vs. Mall-sai, the ones you see in shopping mall booths with glued rocks on the surface), you’ll need the tree to grow rather tall to develop the right trunk thickness. Then you’ll remove the entire top of the tree anyways. Like 3/4 of it at least. So why bother training branches that will be gone anyways?
For example, a 3″ diameter trunk has to be 16″-18″ in height in the end. A 1/2″ diameter trunk, which is typically what you’ll buy as a starter bonsai in malls would have to be like 3″ tall to get that ratio right. Or else it’ll just look like an over-pruned sapling. Which it is. But the idea is to give the illusion of a real giant tree.
So, to start with a seed, I’d grow it in the yard for a couple years. Un-prunned and we’ll fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus rich fertilizer for maximum growth.
Then move it to a 5 gallon pot after pruning back the roots for a few years. And only then should you begin training and branch placement.
That’s the fastest way by seed. You’re looking at 4 years minimum.
Orrrr, you can find a larger tree or shrub that’s already in a 5 gallon pot and already has your desired trunk thickness and begin right now.
Some folk collect field specimens that already have the age as well as the trunk characteristics they’re looking for. However, collection of trees must be done with caution whereas there are many state and federal laws to protect from that. And rightly so. Your best bet is to go to a private home owner, or the like, that are looking to thin out trees or bushes on their personal property. Get down in that dirt and check out the base of the trunk and see its potential for a final design.
I could write a book here Nikki, I’ll try to stay the course so as to not overwhelm you. I gets all excited about bonsai!
Start off with an easy species that grows quickly and can take some trial and error. Ficus is a good one, although slow growing. The Chinese Elm is great, but were I you, I’d begin with a simple jade or other similar small leaved succulent. It’ll just be so you can test out you trunk development skills and can be so abused and pruned down to a nub.
Then work your way up to an Elm or Ficus. Maples are tough and not for beginners. There are many shrubs and bushes that make awesome bonsai and are hardy and relatively easy. Get a few to tend to so you can stay busy during the long waiting periods.
As for tools, there’s tons out there. Don’t go overboard your first few years. Some fine point scissors, a branch cutter, a concave cutter and a few gauges of bonsai wire should be ample for now. You’re just growing trunks anyways right? So no need for the big kit yet anyways. But the wire and cutters can be used on your test succulents while you’re waiting for the masterpiece.
As for books for the beginner, I recommend The Bonsai Handbook by David Prescott or The Bonsai Specialist by David Squire (he talks a lot about different species). Both are great resources.
So, that said, I really hope you get into this fascinating and ancient art. It’s so good for the soul. You’re essentially dedicating years of your life to pay homage to the powerful beauty of old trees. Your sculpting with living organisms and can express yourself through them. The art will give you a great peace and focus that you can carry with you everywhere. In short, do it!
Also watch every Karate Kid movie. Mr. Miyagi (sp?) will teach you all you’ll need.
Check in with me when you find a species you want to work with and I’ll help you along.”
-James Gielow @ Mind Your Dirt
The problem is that many plants are open air pollinators and you can get hybrids that are partly genetically modified if you don’t have them in a greenhouse.
Those bees are out and about, grabbing all that pollen from your neighbors and bringing it back to your GMO free plants! The floozies!
To be 98.0023% certain, you’d need a greenhouse that has its own pollinators trapped inside and make sure none get in from the outside. Then you’ll have real heirloom tomatoes. I’d set up a wall of lasers around the perimeter too!
If you’re looking to let them go to seed and then store the seed, that’s the only real way to do it. I always let some of my “crops” go to seed if I like them, it’s a great practice and investment.
GMO’s are like Pandora’s box, it’s open and it’s out there. No escape! But think about it, since the dawn of agriculture, all crops have been genetically enhanced by man through selective breeding . Just like the wolf or jackal has been transformed into a yapping chihuahua. It’s what we do to breed in desired traits and breed out the undesirable ones.
What we as health conscious farmers want to avoid are the insane pesticides and the GMO crops that are altered to harmonize with these poisons. That’s the real danger with GMO’s and that’s what is thought to be killing off the bees. No pollinators, no food.
In parts of China, due to pollution, there are farmers that hire people to climb up their trees and pollinate manually. Crazy right? A bunch of little ladies with Q-tips up on ladders. We may soon be joining them!
In the meantime, get some heirloom seeds so at least your starting out with the best statistical shot you have. If blooming or fruiting is a problem, try adjusting your nitrogen/potassium ratios depending on the species. If you have space, as well as distance from the neighbors, you might want to consider housing your own pollinators as well. Like the bees that lived in your old farm house walls. They still get out and about, but at least they’ll start working on your heirloom non GMO plants first.
I’ll do some more research and see what kind of article I can put up with you in mind.”
-James Gielow @ Mind Your Dirt