It’s Planting Season: Considerations for Selecting Perennial Plants

The following summarizes the advice I’ve received concerning determining what perennial plants to use in your garden. I limit this to perennial plants because annuals don’t typically represent a big investment (they are temporary, so it doesn’t require as much thought).

Once you’ve decided to add a perennial to your garden, consideration should be given to the following since these will influence the success or failure:

Plant factors

• Choose plants that naturally grow in your area. Native plants are a great choice. They are already adapted to the amount of sun, rainfall, & temperature swings (as well as other climatological factors) in your area. Also, native plants are not likely to create problems for other plants or wildlife by crowding out native plants.
• Select hardy plants that can thrive with intermittent or little care. Choose plants that can withstand variations in watering and fertilization schedules.
• Select plants that are interesting or colorful and/or produce fruit for you or for wildlife. These plants will bring you enjoyment throughout the year. Also, consider plants that create habitat for butterflies, birds, and other native or migratory species.

Other factors

• Be aware of microclimate conditions of your planting site. For example, is it heavily shaded or does it get a lot of morning or afternoon sun? Does it stay wet or drain readily. While the sunlight issues may require relocation, you can amend the soil to address water issues.
• Consider mulching or other weed suppression techniques to prevent your addition from becoming another source of work for you. Mulching has the added benefit of retaining moisture so you have to water less frequently.
   Plan to dig a planting hold that is sized appropriately for your plant (three times the width of the root ball/pot and no deeper than the root ball or pot).
• Amend your soil to suit your plant and soil type. I have sandy soil, so unless plants like that soil type, I always add lots of compost and vermicompost to my planting holes. Some people recommend mycorrhiza additions to aide in root formation and growth.

Naturally, when you water your new addition, consider using vermicompost tea if it is not too late in the year (you don't want a burst of new growth before first frost).

I hope you find this discussion useful.

Cheers,

Mark

Make your own compost tea!

Come on, it's easy!!

Here's my recipe for vermicompost tea:  http://www.wormmainea.com/Compost_tea.pdf

Tip of my hat to my collaborator Bruce Deuly from Texas of Deuly's Own Organics for helping me scale the recipe down to 5 gallon bucket size.

You can substitute any compost for my vermicompost.

By the way, I now routinely add 1T Neptune's Harvest and/or 1-2T seaweed (dried & pulverized by putting in a bag and running over with my car) from Scarborough beach along with unsulfured molasses or barley malt syrup. 

More information on making and using compost tea or vermicompost tea can be found here:

 http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2008/06/seasonality-of-worm-compost-tea.html

http://wormmainea.blogspot.com/2009/04/effect-of-worm-compost-tea-on-amaryllis.html

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=125

All the supplies you need for making tea can be found in my Amazon store. Every view and purchase made supports WormMainea. Thank you!

Cheers,

Mark

Interesting Vermibusiness Model

A grower in Taiwan contacted me to share a business model he uses. It was interesting, so I am sharing it.

Coordinate with local companies who have compostable trash, develop a group of friends to make vermicompost from the trash, sell vermicompost at the Farmer's Market.

Because businesses pay a lot in trash removal, this can be reduced if you find other people to take their trash and make worm compost to sell. You get the business to pay you to have members of your group members to take away the compostable trash ($1/kg). You sell your worms to your group and coordinate having them pickup the food waste. Then you pay the growers weekly to provide you with a fixed (2-5 kilograms) amount of vermicompost per month ($2/kg) and to pickup the trash (compost food removal at $0.25/kg).

You can sell the vermicompost for about $5/kg at a farmer's market in the city or online. Remember you also make money on the first sale of your worms to your growers and coordinating payment with the businesses.

Your growers will benefit because they only pay an initial start up fee and coordinate picking up food and delivering vermicompost to you. They get a monthly check from you for picking up waste and processing vermicompost.

If you can do this in a city (so you wouldn't spend a lot of money on gas), the whole group could make some decent money. Plus, if you coordinate food waste pickup at restaurants, you'll probably become a friend of the owner (because you save them money) and get some meals for free, too!

It takes some time to set this up, but it works!

Thanks Chen for sharing this. I would add that you could also make vermicompost tea and sell to local landscapers.

Cheers,

Mark

Seasonality of worm compost tea

I am fascinated by making worm compost tea. When we have a rainy stretch, I make it almost every day and sprinkle it all over my yard and garden. I tend to give a little extra to my tomatoes, peppers and blueberries this time of year, hoping for big returns.

I make my tea using the same simple recipe on my website, yet at different times of the year I get very different results. Not just color, but smell. I realize the many variables that could contribute to this-- compost, temperature, the content of my rain water. I often wonder whether different batches are more or less alive and how the nutrients differ among them. If any of you have noted the variability or done any testing, let me know. I am not so much concerned as I am curious.

Also, I'm using a new bubbler this year. I switched to a sandstone bubbler instead of the foam wire. While I don't think I'll ever get the sandstone white again, I am confident the vinegar kills whatever is on it. Unlike the foam bubbler (which I wrapped around my bag) I have to tie it to my compost bag with jute because it floats. In any case, it makes lots of bubbles. The main reasons I switched were the price and concerns over foam rubber and plastic.

Cheers,

Mark