Mining Dirt

"A", who also lives on Big Island,  wrote to ask me where I get my garden soil from. Quite honestly, I don't buy it. In fact, I'm quite leery about importing soil onto my farm. Bringing in soil could be introducing serious unwanted pests, plant disease, or weeds. I've already got enough little nasties to deal with and I surely don't need more! I've heard of other people who have brought centipedes, stinging caterpillars, little fire ants, and coquis to their places via soil and plants. I accidentally brought a coqui frog  on building lumber, though hubby and I spent several minutes hunting the buggah down that evening. While I will bring in the Kona mulch, which is raging hot and nasties can't survive the heat, I won't bring in non-heated organic matter nor soil. 

So, do I just create all the soil I need? Not hardly! It takes lots of time, effort, and resources to make garden soil. I simply can't do it, at least not enough of it. So where do I get soil? I mine it on my own farm. 

The above area that was mined is about 9' x 16'. It's a spot that is destined to be a parking spot for my truck. I could have simply leveled it out some, topped it with gravel, and parked the truck. But I looked at all that decent soil that would be going to waste. What a waste. So I decided to mine it instead. Out came the pick, o-o bar, and baby sledge. Over the course of several weeks I gradually worked my way. I'd remove rocks, scoop out the soil into waiting buckets, then return the rocks. As I worked, the hole behind me got bigger and bigger as the rocks weren't enough to replace the soil volume I was removing. In spots I dug 2' down, in others 3'. I mined quite a bit of soil, which went down to the gardens. Now I'm in the process of bringing rocks to fill in the rest of the hole. It will take me another couple weeks to finish this project. ....... Yes, I'm most likely crazy. But I did get quite a lot of soil added to my garden areas. 

This sounds like terrible labor, but I don't find it to be so. I only work about a half hour at a time, so it's a nice workout. No need for an exercise gym membership here!!! No need to pay to work out on somebody else's machines. No need to go jogging for half an hour. I can find plenty of good exercise right here on my farm. 

I've moved on from this driveway parking site and am now mining soil down in the dry river bed area. Lots of soil, few rocks, and not nearly the beneficial exercise. I'm currently mining soil for the new greenhouse growing beds. 

Yes, as a real estate agent once noted, my farm has deep soil. But it's all between a lot of rocks! 

Compost Bins

"V" wrote in asking about my compost bins. Actually, he was asking where I bought them. Here on this farm, I tend to make my own when I can, rather than buy it. Here's what I've done......

Above......I decided to build the compost boxes in a heavily shaded spot under a large tree. No crops could be grown there. Plus the spot was adjacent to my driveway, making it easy access to bring organic material to the boxes. So I found 11 sturdy pallets in good condition. 

Above, another view. 

I connected the pallets together using scrap lumber and nails. Since these are permanent boxes, I opted not to tie the pallets together. I wanted them to be more solid than my grow boxes. 

Above, a scrap of plywood nicely secured the outside bottom of the boxes. And where possible, I directly nailed pallets together. 

Above, I drove stakes into the ground and nailed the pallets to them. This firmly is holding the pallets in place. I would prefer to use metal stakes of some sort, but I don't have any at this time. Eventually I'll come across some, and will replace the wooden stakes with metal ones. 

Some of the pallets had closely spaced slats while some had wide gaps. I nailed plywood scraps to the pallets to fill in any gaps. 

With the pallets all secured and wide gaps covered, I started getting the boxes ready for receiving organic debris. I put a 2 inch layer of cardboard in the bottom. I have found that it's easier this way because it helps me determine where the bottom is when I empty out the finished compost. Usually some of the cardboard is still intact and visible. Oooooops. Forgot to line this box with plastic. 

I have a number of recycled black trash bags on hand. I'm using them to line these boxes. Anything that seals the sides could be used....old tarps, poly film, feed bags, etc. The idea is to help retain moisture. In my climate, if I don't line the boxes, they dry out too quickly. 

The black plastic is secured using a nailed on milk jug cap. I've had good success using this method. 

With the box now constructed, it's time to make the fourth wall -- the removable door. I've chosen a lightweight pallet. But it has wide gaps between the slats. 

So I covered them with a double layer of heavy duty cardboard. Just nailed it on using roofing nails. I could have used plywood, but since the door is removable, cardboard can be easily replaced each time I empty the bin. 

On top of the cardboard I applied a black trash bag. In this photo, I haven't nailed it on yet. But I'll use the milk jog caps to secure it in place. 

Almost complete. I need to bring down some bungee cords to hold the door on. I could tie or wire it in place, but I have several of those tight black rubber bungees sitting up in the tool shed. They should work just fine. 

Now it's time to fill it. I'll layer all sorts of organic debris. Layering is one of the tricks I use. Grass clippings. Coarse weeds. Young soft weeds. A little soil, usually what's in the weed roots. Manures. Discarded and foraged stuff that the chickens won't eat. Broken up ohia tree twigs. Mushrooms and fungus if I can find them. Urine. Biochar if I have it. Flyblown slaughter waste and roadkill. Enough water to moisten the layers. I try to have a 50:50 ratio of "greens" to "browns", and balance wet stuff with dry stuff so that the pile doesn't get mucky. 

The main reason I use a hot compost pile is to process items that have seeds, possible noxious insect pests, or pathogens (manure). Otherwise using cold composting (my grow boxes) or simply using organic debris as mulch is just fine too. In my taro patch I use trench composting, and that works just fine. But I don't add manure to trench composting since it doesn't heat up. Composted manure is added afterward. 

I'm a big believer in applying compost to the garden beds. It's great for building soil and adding much needed nutrients for the plants. Most veggies really respond well to the stuff. 

By the way, these particular bins are new. My old ones were 5 years old and falling apart. Time to replace them. I've made six bins so far. I plan to make another 6 alongside these, for 12 altogether. 24 hours after making these, bin #1 is already filled. I try to fill one per week. After the 12 weeks that it takes to fill all the bins, bin #1 will be ready to be emptied. It's composted down to 1/4 to 1/3 the original volume. The contents will have cooled off and be partially decomposed. I'll sift the compost through a 1 1/2" grate, using the sifted material in the garden and returning the coarser stuff to the next compost pile. 

Simple Greenhouses - Update

So here's where I last posted ......... 

Basic greenhouse structure is up. Next step -- build some raised beds. Why? Because the greenhouses are on a pahoehoe shelf (pretty much solid lava rock). There's less than an inch of soil in most spots. I'm making very simple raised beds, 12" deep, out of scrape and recycled plywood. 

Very, very simply constructed. I'm not looking for something that will last years. 

Before adding dirt, I lined the bottom with layers of cardboard to help deter the grass. 

Next, I started filling in with dirt that I harvested from on my own farm. 

Oops. I forgot to cover the plywood with some old black trash bags. I think that keeping the soil off the wood might make it last longer. That's the idea, at least. Luckily I hadn't put much dirt in yet. Then I went back to filling the bed. 

Another quick and simple thing, I temporarily secured the plastic with clothes pins. Once the box is filled and the soil prepared & ready for planting, I'll remove the clothes pins and tack the plastic edges down using a staple gun. 

Once I have the boxes 3/4 filled, I plan to add a goodly amount of compost and some horse & rabbit manure, and till it all before I plant something. Each box needs quite a bit of dirt to fill it, so it's going to take me awhile. 

Last tasks.....besides the soil......is to screen in the ends (to keep out fruit fly and pickleworm moth) and attach some sort of trellis to the greenhouse walls. 

The doorway is really simple for now, just draped screening that I can tie down to an upright 1x4. . Eventually I'll make a more substantial door. 

And in the above photo, and the one two more up, you can see that horizontal bamboo poles have been attached to the inside of the greenhouse. I figure I can tie string or attach some sort of trellis system to them. By the way, the bamboo grows right beside the greenhouses and can be seen rising above the house in the photo above. How conveniently located! Just dumb luck. 

Pallet Fence Pau

It's been almost three years since I first built the temporary pallet fence around the garden. Overall it was a success. It was incredibly cheap, quick, and easy. It did the job. It wasn't as strong as a post & wire mesh fence, but it surely outdid that kind of fence when it came to cost, time, and ease to install. 

Later three years, it's falling apart. The wood that contacted the ground has rotted enough that it is falling apart. Many of the slats are weak and can get broken easily by hand. And since I no longer need the fence (my pasture fences have since been upgraded), it's time for the pallets to go. 

(Above, all gone. Looking down the old pallet fence line, it's once again an open grassy area.) 

Because I never nailed the pallets together in the first place, dismantling the fence is a matter of cutting the ties and pulling that pallet out of the tangled grass growth at ground level. Almost all of the pallets came apart in pieces. 

The slats that lifted off, I stacked. The rest of the tangled pallets need a little more persuasion with a hammer in order to come apart. 

This now all becomes firewood. While I could stack the wood into one of my hugelpits, I'd rather have the firewood. 

Would I ever use this kind of pallet fence again in the future? Sure! 

Ka'u Farm School -- Day 2

The new Ka'u Farm School held its second session this past weekend. As before, there was local interest. I hope it's enough to keep this project continuing. 

Greg gave a walk through of his farm, highlighting some of the organic style practices he's using to produce veggies. Lots of good hints. 

Our local State Rep (and chair of State Ag Dept) attended as a speaker, updating the group on what's happening ag-wise on our island. Topics of interest to the group included the tiny house bill, overnight campgrounds on ag land, the legality of a farm restaurant, water issues. 

"Soils" was the educational subject for the day. Soil science is such a huge topic, even if restricted to just Big Island, that the talk was basically an overview. But it hopefully was enough to get growers thinking about soil pH, soil composition, organic materials, plant nutrients. It's a start. 

So far the school has been more lecture than workshop. But it's not fair to judge this early in the program. It's a project in development. Judging from the talk among the crowd, they are hoping for more practical knowledge and workshop oriented sessions. 

I'm a big supporter of education...spreading the knowledge. So any kind of ag schooling is fine with me. I picked up a few good gems at this second session and I'm looking forward to the next! 

Sweet Potato Container Failure

This was sent to me by "S", who tried growing sweet potatoes in a half barrel container........

"Eight months in a major barrel and this is all I got..... all very deep and right under the plant, by the way.  But lots of unproductive roots thru out.  These cook up bright translucent yellow and are quite sweet.  Waste of time for a container situation, far as I could see.  Could have grown almost three generations of Peruvians for ten times the yield in that same amount of time, and space.  Plants make effective and attractive ground cover, however. "

I don't have any experience using containers for sweets, so I don't know if this would be an expected result.....undersized tubers, long growth period. I'm sure there are climatic factors going on here, but also variety factors too. 

Growers often say how the non-commercial varieties of sweets are fickle. Some years they produce, some years nary a tuber. Some parts of a field will be great, other spots in the same field...nada. That's one of the reasons commercial varieties were developed. There was a need for consistent production. A field that didn't produce after all the time, effort, and expense put into it was a major hurt to a farmer trying to make a living. 

So why grow non-commercial sweets? They often taste way, way better. And there's lots of variations that fit the various nooks people deal with. Some withstand heat and dry, some do good with moist and humid conditions. Some can take a chill, others no. Some taste too sweet for some folks, and others are barely sweet at all. Some produce in rocky or sandy soil, others do fine in compost. Some produce tubers under the mother plant, others spread tubers all around. Some make only a couple giant tubers, others abundant small ones. Some are only good bakers while others are only good fryers. So there's sweets to fit just about every gardeners' situation and desire. But they can be challenging at times. 

I've not even come close to figuring out sweet potatoes. It's always a miracle that I find tubers when I dig them up. 

Roaches

Living in the tropics, bugs are a fact of life. Anyone who is bug-phobic shouldn't live here, that's for sure. While I have friends who battle ants, centipedes, and mosquitoes, my main insect pest is the cockroach. We noticed them as soon as we moved to Hawaii. And who wouldn't........those guys are as big as rats! Well, that's an exaggeration, but they are the biggest cockroaches that I've even seen. Real nightmare sized. 

We knew right off that we'd have to do something to control these buggahs. Outdoors, the cats, lizards, and chickens keep their numbers under control. Indoors, my top gun is boric acid powder. When we built the house, we put boric acid powder behind all the walls before we closed them in. In my kitchen, I've dusted it under the frig, freezer, and range. So far, this seems to be working. I see the occasional adult roach in the house, but that's because one of the cats has brought it inside for fun & games. The cats see the living room as a giant arena for playing with roaches. Geez. 

I don't know if it helps, but our house is built up on piers. So it's above the ground. Perhaps it's less easy for the roaches to climb into the house, as compared to being at ground level on a concrete slab. 

But ya know what my main problem is? My truck....it's got roaches. Actually, it's infested! Yup. I transport livestock feed in the truck all the time, thus its & bits spill out from time to time. It makes my truck a roach buffet. I suppose I could be more careful. Or vacuum the truck out daily. But facing facts, that's not happening. So sigh....the truck's got roaches. 

In the past I've put roach traps in the truck. Caught some, but they never really made a dent in the population. Go out at 8 pm and open the truck door and......egads women, the truck is crawling!!! While I'm really adverse to using insecticide bombs, I'd occasionally set one off in order to eliminate the roaches for awhile. As I said, the traps never helped. 

A friend gave me a trap to other day. Oh sure, I thought. I didn't expect much. I was wrong. On the first night it caught scads! Nice job. 

See, I told you the truck was infested. I've had the trap there for one week and it's totally covered (the above photo was from day #1, not day #7.) So I bought a pack at the hardware store and set out a fresh one. 

It caught a few, so I guess the majority of roaches are pau. I'm quite happy with the results. I just went out and checked my truck tonight and not a roach in sight. Wow. I'm impressed.