September 2, 2012 - Waxahachie Daily Light
Written By: Marilyn & Donelle Simmons
The Farm Girls are always watching for great new sustainable ideas. We visit many trade shows and learn about new products on the market. A few weeks ago we discovered "Ollas Pots". As you can imagine some of the new modern sustainable products are not really new ideas. What makes us chuckle is a lot of the new products are often times ideas that we left in the dust decades or even centuries ago. Just like bell bottoms reappear on the fashion market, so do some of these "green" ideas. The Ollas Pots may not be a new idea, but we are confident that this will be of great use for many gardeners. The Ollas Pots are a red clay urn-shaped pot with a lid. The pot is sunk into the soil in the middle of a 4’ x 4’ space of your garden and filled with water covering with the lid to keep out the mosquitoes. The clay pot slowly leaks out and waters the garden. This product would be wonderful not only for the conservation of water, but for the convenience of a busy home owner. Oh yes! The Farm Girls brought home two Ollas Pots and have sunk one into the DFW Truck Farm, which is a large container garden and the other will be used for teaching purposes in many of our on-going garden education classes.
Another sustainable gardening practice that we discovered on a garden consultation is a way to attract earthworms to your garden. Now this method requires a little effort of eating your favorite flavor of ice cream from a clear plastic tub. (It’s a tough job being a FarmGirl) Once the clear plastic tub of ice cream is finished wash it out and cut the bottom of the tub saving the lid. Bury the tub in a convenient spot in your garden and fill it 1/3 of the way full with enriched soil or compost. Purchase red wiggler worms from a local nursery put them in the tub adding a 1/3 more of soil leaving the top space open to place vegetable scraps in the tub either daily or as needed. (Exclude the use of high acid fruits such as oranges and lemon rinds) The moisture level in the tub should be that of a well-rung sponge. Worms are good friends to the gardener and we consider them to be King of the Soil. This is a fun activity to do with children in your garden or school gardens. If you have a sustainable idea - email us and share your idea!
farmgirls@gardeninspirations-tx.com
Tune in every Friday to The FarmGirls Organic Radio Show on KAAM 770 AM to learn more about organic gardening. Our show is at 1:00 PM, just after your organic lunch. Like us on Facebook at Garden Inspirations as we continue to make friends over the FarmGirls’ garden gate…