Cucumbers: Overview

Well with summer well underway i'd like give some tips on growing a very popular vegetable:

Cumcumbers!

This deilicious little plant is good for all types of things: juicing, salads, pickling, ect. I'll just go over the basic requirements for cucumbers and a couple tricks and tips for growing them.

Sun

This plant enjoys HOT climate with plenty of sun. You shouldn't plant this plant until the weather is at a steady 70 degrees fareinheight, as this plant is very frost sensitive. To warm the soil you can use black plastic or any type of mulch over the soil if it is still cold outside.

Water

This plant enjoys plenty of water. However overwatering can lead to problems

• Powdery Mildew: This occurs when to much water is applied to the leaves and creates a fungus. This can be combatted by using:
1. Serenade (can be found on the internet)
2. Baking soda formula:
• 4 Level teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoons of Baking Soda
  1 teaspoon of Mild Soap (Dawn, Ivory, should be biodegradable with no phosphates)
  1 gallon of Water

• Yellowing leaves: This is the cause of root rot and is a definite sign of overwatering.

To prevent from overwatering or underwatering, when ever you are about to water make sure you check the soil; if it is moist then do not water. Once the soil an inch down is dry then you should water. Mark and take notes too make a watering pattern and schedule.

Soil
Cuncumbers like loose and well drained soil with plenty of organic matter. They are very greedy when it comes to taking alot from the soil so when growing these plants it would be better to use an ORGANIC fertilizer. Notice I said organic, I strongly encourage you to stay away from any commercial fertilizer as it will damage your soil.

Trellis

Now there are two types of cucumbers:

• Bush Cucumbers
• Vining Cucumbers

The vining cucumbers need a trellis of some kind so here is an easy do it your self trellis for cucumbers:

http://www.gardendesk.com/201105/building-a-trellis-for-the-cucumbers.html

Storage

When storing cucumbers it is important NOT to refrigerate them. It is better to keep them in a cool and dark place, because when you refrigerate they are more likely to spoil faster. 

• Here's an article on that: http://www.rootsimple.com/2012/06/dont-store-your-cucumbers-in-the-fridge/

Here are just a couple other ways you can store you cucmbers:

• Pickling Cucumbers (without boiling): http://www.diynatural.com/how-to-pickle-cucumbers/
• Pickiling cucumbers: http://kosherfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/pickles.htm

Thanks for reading and Enjoy your cucumbers!

Permaculture Week: Trees

So today's the last day of permaculture week :(

I know i'm sad too, but I decided to end the week with the most important topic in permaculture:

TREES!!

So why are trees so important?

Well did you know that trees are the only reason we are alive today on the earth?

They are that important.

So you may be saying "yes, yes I know they provide us with oxygen to survive, I learned that when I was in five" haha

But trees do so much more than that!

Did you know that trees are responsible for 80% of our fresh drinking water. That is right. 80% of the water we drink to survive comes some way or another from a forest.

Also where are you right now?

In your room maybe? Well what is your room made out of? Trees!!

What about the paper you write on, the desk you sit on, the pencil you use, the books you read?

TREES!!

Now you see why trees can be so important.

Trees can create rainfall.

So how do trees actually help it rain?

Well think about this.

What happens when it rains in a forest? Where does all the water go?  Well the trees suck up that water and store it. Also they provide shade for the ground to to keep the water from evaporating so quickly. So the water is able to soak into the ground thus helping more plants to grow.

Now what happens when the sun comes back around and starts to shine it's rays and heat on the forest? Well the water that was stored is now released into the air in great quantities thus humidifying the air and helping it rain. And the cycle continues.


Now think of this.

Rain falls in the desert. What happens? The water is immediately evaporated into the air and doesn't have any time to sink into the land or create humidity. Thus the land suffers by not getting the original rainfall to soak in properly and doesn't get the benefit of another rain when the sun comes back out again. It just evaporates and that is the end of it. Not a good place to be.

Trees keep soil in place

Now im sure this seems like common sense but think of this. What happens when you don't have trees holding your soil in place. Let's say you have a farm. And you plant one acre with corn and the acre with potatoes. Now this doesn't seem to abnormal right? But think about nature. Does this ever occur in nature? Does nature ever put one species in place to be taken out all at the same time. NO. And why is that?

Well what happens when at the end of the season you harvest all your crops. The crops are gone. The soil is bare. Nothing is holding it down. What happens when a gust of wind comes? All that top soil BLOWS AWAY. And even if it didn't all blow away then and there, what happens when the next rain comes and lands on that bare soil?  The rain will likely either WASH AWAY all your soil or if it doesn't do that you still won't get much benefit because as soon as the sun comes back out the water will evaporate very quickly.

But if you have your system set up with trees, that can block the sun from drying up the ground and making it easier to blow away, block the wind, prevent water from washing away your soil, the water that does land can be stored, and the roots can hold the soil down. Now how much better is that!

Finally Food Forests. 

Now they are a bit complicated so I won't get into them now. But here is a prime example of what you can build in 10 years from bare soil.

Thanks again for reading.

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: 5 Ways Ponds Benefit You and Your Garden

5 Ways Ponds can Benefit Yourself and Your Garden

1.)Provide you with fish, ducks, reptiles, and other animals that you can use for food.

2.)Can create biodiversity in your garden by attracting beneficial insects.

3.) Nutrient rich water, filled with fish poop, microbiology, and all that good stuff :), can be used as a natural fertilizer to water your garden.   

4.) Can be used to reflect light from the sun and heat cold-sensitive trees.

5.) Can be used to grow mulch and other nutrient rich plants to add to your compost pile. Some good plants to use include:

• Taro
• Cattail
• Pickerel
• Tule
• Wapato

Here's a youtube video of Geoff Lawton creating some ponds and using water:

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: Hugelkulture

It's hard to say where hugelkulture originated some say it's been done in Europe as far back as the middle ages. The most modern pioneer of this technique though is Sepp Holzer. Sepp practices permaculture techniques on his farm in Austria and is credited with bringing hugekulture back to life.

Learn more about Sepp Holzer here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Holzer

So what the heck is Hugelkulture????

Well very simply put hugelkulture is stacking wood into a hill like formation, throwing soil on top of it, and growing. This technique of growing is said to reduce and in some cases even Eliminate the need to water all together.

Although not watering at all is sometimes known not to work, there is no doubt that this method can DRASTICALLY  reduce your need for irrigation.

How does it work?

Well the way this works is basically the wood, while it rots underground, acts like a sponge. This in turn holds much of the water that would otherwise be lost and stores it. Think about a piece of rotting wood in the forest, can you imagine not being damp and wet? 

So while the wood holds the water and stores it your plants roots can easily access the water with their roots and take whatever water they need to take. So whenever you plant needs water it takes it and when it doesn't need it, it doesn't take it. How cool is that!

2 Types of Hugelkulture

1.) The Original Hugelkulture:

This style is what was originally invented and that is stacking the wood about 6 ft tall and growing on that. This technique is said to work the best and is the best technique if you are looking to greatly reduce your watering needs, since it captures water the best. 

The downside is it looks WEIRD :/ hahaha

Well if you can get over the original wierdness of how it looks this is the original way that it has been done and is said to be the best.

2.) The Modern Hugelkulture/ Woody Beds

Now if you have a hard time getting over the way the original way looks don't worry about it :) Because you are not alone. 

This method follows the same principle just without the height. Bury a bunch of wood and grow on top of it. Some people like to call them woody beds. This way by far looks more appealing. The effects are most likely lessened but that doesn't mean it still doesn't have an impact. As the wood rots it will hold water like a sponge and increase the your soil fertility by adding to your soil microbiology. And will lessen your need to irrigate.

Does not need to be wood

Now while hugelkulture is best known to work with wood it doesn't have to be! It can be any carbon material you can find. Anything from wood chips, crushed leaves, hay, twigs, straw, ect. This all can be used instead of wood and have the desired effect. More water retention, more soil life, and more carbon added to the soil. Now that being said wood is the best option but if you don't have wood you can always use different material, or use some wood or mix it in with other material. Whatever you have available to you. The point is don't forget to get creative and have fun with it! 

Here is a youtube video:

Enjoy!

Reference:

All pics and info courtesy of:

http://www.homesteadingwife.com/2013_02_01_archive.html

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

http://www.permies.com/

Permaculture Week: A-Frames to find Contour!!!

With this very simple tool you can find the contour lines on your property so that you can dig swales and harvest water to make YOUR property more hydrated, fertile, and more productive.

So let's get started!

So how do you make an A-Frame?

List of materials include:

1. 3 pieces of wood, 2 about the same length, the other one a little shorter (lumber, sticks on the ground, old tree branches, rebar can even work)
2. String
3. A heavy object (rock, marble, anything solid small and heavy)
4. Pencil
5. (Optional): screws and a drill
6. Hammer

Step 1

Use the three pieces of wood to make an A shape, using the two same lengths for the outer and the last one for the inner. You can screw these in place with a drill and a couple of screws or you can tie them together with some string.

Step 2

By using either a screwdriver or a hammer, put in a a nail or screw at the top of the a frame to hang a string off of. Once that is done tie a rock (or any other heavy small object) to the string so it is weighted down.

Step 3

Lastly to find the level on your A frame take it to a ground that looks about level (doesn't have to be perfectly level) and place it down, marking where the two legs are. Then take your pencil and mark where the string lies on the middle of your A frame. 

Then turn your A frame exactly 180 degrees around so that it comes back on the markings but the left leg is where the right leg was and right is where the left was. Now take your pencil and mark again where the string lies.

After that take those two marking and find the middle between them, mark that and WALA that is your center!

Now where ever you are on your land, when ever that string touches that line on your A frame that means that spot is contour.

Thanks so much for reading here is the article I got most my info off of... they do a good job explaining it as well:

http://reap-eastafrica.org/blogs.info/reap/pdf/AFrame.pdf

Also here are some youtube videos:

Skip to 2:10 to find out how to mark the level on your A frame.

Stay tuned next topic will be on Hugelkulture!

Permaculture Week: Swales

Swales

What are swales?

Swales are basically a ditch dug on CONTOUR LINES  in order to catch and store water for the land.

So what the heck are CONTOUR LINES?!?!

Well contour is the point at which the hill/ slope is level (meaning the whole line is completley the same height). Every part of every land has contour points on it.

Now think about this.. if swales were dug on these lines, what happens when water falls on these lines...

Does it the water go down? up? sideways?

No it stays exactly where it is it and moves very little or VERY slowly (to get the water to not move at all is nearly impossible).

This is why contour is so important because it is the level line that allows the land to hold the water long enough to SOAK it in and hydrate itself.

Tune in next time where I will stalk about how to FIND the contour lines using an A-Frame!

Here are some more youtube videos:

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: Intro

Welcome!

This is going to be the first post until sunday june 30th on Permaculture techniques.

What is permaculture?

Permaculture:

Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design which develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.^[1][2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Straight off of wikipedia.

Here are the three ethics of Permaculture:

1. Care for the earth
2. Care for people
3. Return of surplus

Why is it important?

It is a system of design that offers I believe hope to humanity. Think about it, is our way of life really sustainable? All the agriculture that destroys and depletes our soils, the deforestation, the extraction and mining of raw materials.  How can we create a way of life that will last for generations to come. Well permaculture offers a way to live in harmony with the earth so we are have a positive impact on this earth.

How amazing is that!

 It was created by two men named Bill Mollison and David Holmgren back in the 1970's. Today Bill is retired and has handed it down too Geoff Lawton who has done extensive work in putting permaculture into practice. Including his infamous video greening the desert:

The first topic will be on swales:

• What
• Why 
• How

See you next time!