A little somethin'

First, I need to introduce one more helper who has been with Amanda, Nick, and me all those times we've been working hard out on the garden. She is a very important asset, she keeps birds and bunnies away, she helps clean up manure, and she adds some much need excitement at times.

Her name is Britches and she belongs to Paul and me. On March 8th, she'll be 2 years old, or 14 if you count in dog years. She's half Maltese half Shih-tzu or you can say Malti-Tzu.

I thought I would write a short post and share some links and really go into some detail on why I decided to have a garden.

I'd say I'm an over achieving intermediate gardener. So, I had to do lots of reading and lots of thinking about this ginormous garden. We are renters on a very limited budget so that made things a little difficult. I drooled for months over different cheap recycled raised garden beds, like wine bottles, old pallets, old tires cut to look like flowers, etc, etc, etc... I finally made the decision and I chose straw bales because they're an easy to come by, cheap, temporary alternative to wood or concrete. Plus, they're safer than glass or tires or because they won't shatter or leach nasty chemicals into the yummy vegetables. Also, I kinda have a thing for straw... Anyway, here's some useful blogs and websites I researched for ideas:

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

http://www.strawbalegardens.com/

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/straw_bale_garden.htm

I really liked this garden and thought that since we were planning on growing so much that this would be a better option than just planting in the bales. :) I also just really enjoyed how she maintains her garden. I wish I had a recycling grey water cistern and rain barrels... ahhh... One day I will.

Now I wanted to tell all you Nashvillians about where you can buy a compost bin like ours. The city sells Earth Machines for $45! So get down there and buy a compost bin! I think even with out a garden it's a really awesome science experiment.

http://www.nashville.gov/beautification/compost/index.asp

Buy one at the composting demonstration site:

1019 Omohundro Place, Nashville, TN 37210
(click on name for a map)
Hours: Tues. - Sat., 8:30am - 4:30p.m.
Need directions? call 615-880-1955