How Does Your Garden Grow? - Waste not want not

How Does Your

Garden Grow?

Well it's been one week since I started composting in the office and none of us are experiencing any strange side effects so far. I posted a note in the break room asking my co-workers to donate their compostable materials to the project and they have delivered. I found an old tote and drilled a few holes in the top for ventilation before tossing in a couple handfuls of dirt. For the next layer I added shredded newspaper of which I happen to have an abundance. So far I've added some apple cores, orange peels, coffee grounds complete with the filter, tea bags minus the staples, and the leaves our office plants have dropped for us. I've also brought in crushed eggshells from home. I'm looking forward to adding a variety of items like banana peels and other vegetable scraps. It's important to note that meat, dairy, pet poop, and oily foods make poor compost. We also want to watch that our tote doesn't attract unwanted pests. I would like to avoid inviting a fruit fly invasion into the office, so the second I notice any unwanted activity I'll be looking for a screen to glue over the tiny holes I've drilled in the lid of my tote. I had a special guest as my daughter, Dylan, joined me at work for a few hours. I took advantage of the free labor (just kidding, if you're a parent you know it wasn't free) and had her plant our bell peppers. Dylan used an old bag of dirt that we found in the back room and planted a couple of little bell pepper seeds a quarter of an inch deep into our recycled bottles until she had seven bottles altogether. She gave each one a little drink and now the baby bell pepper seeds are resting in the window sill tucked into their little bed of dirt, safe and sound. We should start to see them pop up around March 24. That bag of dirt definitely isn't going to last us for all our seeds, so I did a little shopping on company time, this time at Medford Ace Hardware. I followed Katrina Becker's advice and stuck with something light for our little babies so that they wouldn't be overwhelmed by a super heavy soil. I bought a bag of Black Gold all purpose potting mix for $10.54 out the door. For anyone keeping track, we've spent $33.44 on this experiment so far. I'll probably need more soil before I'm done planting seeds this spring, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. The next seeds to hit the dirt will be tomatoes around the 28th and strawberries around the 31st.

With Dylan needing seven bottles to plant the bell pepper seeds, I know I'm way short on containers I'll need to finish planting, so I'm scrambling to collect more bottles. If you see me digging through a garbage can please mind your business, I'm working. I've been thinking about some of my previous failures (just in gardening, we don't have enough column inches to talk about my shortcomings in general) and trying to get ahead of things that didn't work for me in the past. I've been stressing about insects and birds. If I go through all of this just for something to eat the literal fruits of my labor I am going to lose it, so we're better off trying to figure it out now. I've heard a few different tactics, but it seems like people swear by their one method and dismiss the others making it difficult for me to determine which will work best, so why not try more than one? I feel like strawberries in particular really take a hit when it comes to the birds. I saw on social media that some people paint pictures of strawberries on rocks before their berries come to fruition. The bird pecks the rock, gets jarred, and flies away, pooping on your car on his way to someone else's garden. I'll start picking up strawberry-shaped rocks and hope that I remember to take them out of my pock ets before laundry day. I've also seen people use fake owls to deter birds. The people who swear by the owls recom mend that you buy one with a head that spins to make it more realistic. Un fortunately, our budget does not have room for ro bot birds, but that doesn't mean I can't keep my eyes peeled if I come across something cheap or free. Someone also suggested fishing line strung be tween stakes above the row of plants and said that for some reason birds hate this. We'll put that to the test. Netting is another method to deterring birds. I won't be buying material from the store because we're trying to save money and use what we have, but I might have some tulle laying around.

I really thought I would be more overwhelmed with this project and I'm starting to realize that one of my fatal flaws in my previous gardening endeavors may have been that I just didn't give myself enough time to get my ducks in a row. I didn't start gathering bottles or buckets until it was nearly time to plant, which meant that I was scrambling to collect, prep, and cut bottles when I was already supposed to be sowing seeds. I was behind before I even started, whether it was because I didn't have enough information or because I was overly confident in my ability to just make it work. Starting this process earlier, and slower, has made a world of difference for me.

I feel like there's a lesson here somewhere.

Mandee Ellis is a reporter at The Star News.

Contact her at Mandee@centralwinews.com.