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comitan
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Location: La Paz
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Diane
The very best and fastest way to get good soil is to go out in your area and pickup dry cow chips, bring them back break them up to a mulch. They are
NOT to hot here in the Baja. I have done this and had a garden in beach sand. It works and is not messy.
[Edited on 10-15-2007 by comitan]
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Bob and Susan
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they are here...
you just need to see a rancher...
now...we've ALWAYS been told that "fresh" manure is not good for plants and growing because it's too salty...
where does the salt go when it dries up???
it does work, comitan is correct
what kind of veggies are you growing there comitan???
we cannot recognize them in the picture...
personal note: it must have been HOT the day the picture was shot...
i had to wear glasses to view the photo...
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DianaT
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My grandpa used to tell me about collecting cow chips out on the prairie in South Dakota. As a little California city girl I thought he had to be
kidding because that would be just too disgusting.
Now, I guess I will be thinking about grandpa and looking for those dried piles of poop. 
Diane
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Natalie Ann
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
what kind of veggies are you growing there comitan???
we cannot recognize them in the picture...
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Those look like beets to me - or some kinda turnip. Fill us in, Wiley.
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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BajaBruno
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Diane, dry seaweed has an average Nitrogen load of 1.9%, which puts it right in the ballpark of cow manure at about 2.4% N. Combined they are a
little short of the optimal Carbon:Nitrogen ratio, however, but some kitchen waste and particularly some chopped up paper or cardboard (very high C:N)
would make a fine compost for your plants.
As for Bob’s question about the salt content of manure before and after composting, I am just guessing. . . if the salt is from Chlorine or Sodium,
then it may leach out or oxidize during the composting process, but some literature suggests salt is still an issue after composting. Some home
gardeners believe that salt in fresher manure is what “burns” plants (by pulling water away from the roots), but more likely is that fresh manure has
a high Nitrogen content and microbes are still very actively breaking it down into CO2. In that process they rob the soil of oxygen and starve the
plant roots. Composted manure has a very low N content (as the microbes have finished their work) and usually needs some additional fertilizer in
commercial farming.
I hope that helps.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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comitan
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That garden was at Ensenada Muertos a few years back, and those where beets, I used to pick the new leaves and had them in our salad and the beets
where pickled, also grew Green onions, and cukelopes.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Minnow
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Didn't Shari post a picture about a guano slide on one of the islands around there. Have them bring you a couple of fives of that stuff every now and
then. You can mix the Organic Matter before you plant to get the moisture retentiveness for your soil. The natural Mesquite compost will work great.
No need to worry about composting it with the best fertilizer anywhere at your doorstep.
Proud husband of a legal immigrant.
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Iflyfish
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Great lookining little garden Comitan! Ingenious. Nice pic.
It is important to age the manure. Used to use it on my gardens. Dried does not smell like the fresh.
Iflyfish
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Mango
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If you know anyone with rabbits, or don't mind raising a few. Rabbit poop is about the best stuff to put in a compost pile to really get it going.
IMO it is better than any other manure in a compost pile; but, I still add chicken or steer manure as well.
I'm not sure where you are at; but, you might check with local markets and ask them if they will save any rotten produce, etc.. When I worked in a
produce market I would throw away about 100 gal of lettuce, cuttings, rotten produce, etc.. a day. We had much higher volume than most baja markets
will have however.
Seaweed would be interesting to try. Try to spread your harvesting out as not to impact one small area too much, that goes for soil harvesting too.
Good luck and I hope all grows well!
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oladulce
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Kelp in the garden
This has been a very informative thread. I wanted to know more about using seaweed and here's what I found:
The kelp we have in Baja is Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) which is actually a brown algae. It requires water temp less than 68° so I'd estimate
that Mag Bay may be about the cut off of it's range in the south and it will only be found in the winter and spring in many other parts of West coast
of the peninsula.
The entire Kelp frond (stem and leaves) can be added to your compost pile or dried til it's powdery then mixed in to the soil or in to your compost.
A couple of organic gardening sites say to put the fresh kelp directly in to your soil because it breaks down quickly and provides an excellent mulch
in the meantime. Some people break up the kelp before applying and others put the entire frond around their plants.
The common practice is to rinse the kelp before using to remove excess salts.
It looks like the seagrasses that are present year round in our area of the central Baja Sur coast do not have the nutrients to be a beneficial garden
fertilizer. I never thought I'd be looking forward to those hideous nuclear winds that we get, but next time I'll be watching for some kelp to blow
our way.
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DianaT
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Registered: 12-17-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by oladulce
This has been a very informative thread. I wanted to know more about using seaweed and here's what I found:
The kelp we have in Baja is Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) which is actually a brown algae. It requires water temp less than 68° so I'd estimate
that Mag Bay may be about the cut off of it's range in the south and it will only be found in the winter and spring in many other parts of West coast
of the peninsula.
The entire Kelp frond (stem and leaves) can be added to your compost pile or dried til it's powdery then mixed in to the soil or in to your compost.
A couple of organic gardening sites say to put the fresh kelp directly in to your soil because it breaks down quickly and provides an excellent mulch
in the meantime. Some people break up the kelp before applying and others put the entire frond around their plants.
The common practice is to rinse the kelp before using to remove excess salts.
It looks like the seagrasses that are present year round in our area of the central Baja Sur coast do not have the nutrients to be a beneficial garden
fertilizer. I never thought I'd be looking forward to those hideous nuclear winds that we get, but next time I'll be watching for some kelp to blow
our way.
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Great information for us---lots of kelp in our area. Thanks
Diane
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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I rinse the kelp first but sling it on fresh....but I really screwed up with the guano from the island and burned and nearly killed all the plants I
put it on and I just put a bit in but it is very potent stuff...cuidado!
LOVE your gardening outfit comitan!
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Iflyfish
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Might want to make a liquid of the guano, sprinkle it on like fish fertilizer as plants mature.
By the way a liquid made up of garlic and chili is a good organic bug spray. You will find the formula online with a search.
Iflyfish
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bajajudy
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And for your reward, you get pink eyed peas, yellow crowder peas and okra for dinner.
YUMMY
These are from our organic garden.
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Gnome-ad
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I have been watching this thread with interest. We had a compost bin (Earth Machine) in Oregon, but have been unsure of composting here. Friends of
ours in Hawaii (Big Island) had a revolving barrel sort of contraption up off the ground. Food scraps, yard debris would go in, they would turn the
crank every few days, and got great compost from it. Anyone know anything about this type thing?
Judy – those veggies look good enough to eat!
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well. - Ancis
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Bajalero
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Iflyfish
By the way a liquid made up of garlic and chili is a good organic bug spray. You will find the formula online with a search.
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That sounds like a good mouthwash to me
Hey - maybe that's why the bugs don't bother me!
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Bajalero
Nomad
Posts: 316
Registered: 11-24-2003
Location: todos santos/ rcho san diego
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gnome-ad
I have been watching this thread with interest. We had a compost bin (Earth Machine) in Oregon, but have been unsure of composting here. Friends of
ours in Hawaii (Big Island) had a revolving barrel sort of contraption up off the ground. Food scraps, yard debris would go in, they would turn the
crank every few days, and got great compost from it. Anyone know anything about this type thing?
Judy – those veggies look good enough to eat! |
Easiest way to make a compostor is to make a ring about 5 ' in diameter x 4 ' tall out of chicken wire . Just keep piling in the scraps etc. till full
. Wet it once in a while . Add some red wiglers if you have them.
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elizabeth
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jdtrotter
Both of us have had compost piles, boxes, etc. in the past, but we always had yard waste----lawn clippings etc. to add to the kitchen waste we used.
Now with the Baja house, we will have no lawn and no other clippings until we get some things to grow.
So, has anyone created compost without yard clippings?
Thanks
Diane and John
[Edited on 10-14-2007 by jdtrotter] |
Back to the original question...I compost kitchen waste without yard waste...works just fine. Don't add dairy or meat or poultry. I use a plastic
container that I turn, or mostly forget to turn. The stuff just wants to make compost whether I pay attention or not. As to those cute counter top
buckets, I have one. It's worthless. The top has broken, and I ran out of the charcoal filters even before the top broke. They aren't ant proof.
Best is a plastic container with a tight lid that you empty every day, and you won't have a problem with bugs and ants
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DianaT
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Registered: 12-17-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elizabeth
Back to the original question...I compost kitchen waste without yard waste...works just fine. Don't add dairy or meat or poultry. I use a plastic
container that I turn, or mostly forget to turn. The stuff just wants to make compost whether I pay attention or not. As to those cute counter top
buckets, I have one. It's worthless. The top has broken, and I ran out of the charcoal filters even before the top broke. They aren't ant proof.
Best is a plastic container with a tight lid that you empty every day, and you won't have a problem with bugs and ants |
Elizabeth,
John will like this your post a lot. When I showed him a picture of that cute litter counter top crock, his comments were not postive---along the
lines of what a waste of money, and just how many filters would you need to buy. He will like the plastic container a lot more. But it won't be as
cute.
Judy,
Okra? I just can't let John see that Okra grows in Baja. Okra divides our family---a love-hate thing. He loves it, and it makes me gag. 
Diane
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Gnome-ad
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Thanks, Bajalero ~
Have been hesitant to do that type due to mice - are they attracted to it? Can we compost all the fantastic pig weed, etc. that we've been battling
since the rain? We may have been putting great compost in trash bags to be hauled to the dump.  We composted weeds in Eugene, but don't know the "rules" here ... thanks.
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well. - Ancis
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