DAY 100 ALREADY

That's right today is the 100th day of 2010 and the 100th day of the 2010 challenge. The year is going pretty fast but the transformation of the garden to organic and permaculture methods is shaping up one small step at a time.

Really it makes me feel good not to have to rely on chemical fertilizer and pesticides to grow the garden. There are plenty of natural solutions to many of the plant issues and it is kind of fun to learn and experiment to see if they work. It has certainly made me think before I plant something .

Anyway I am not out to change the world just my little piece of it.

Here is some parts of my backyard garden garden and how it is coming along.

This is the bird corner. It has plenty of cover for the birds to hide in and is a great place just to sit and watch the birds from my back porch. The wildlife put on a free show all day long and add a lot to the gestalt of a garden.

The bulbs in bloom are Amaryllis's. They are over 60 years old handed down from several generations. They bloom every spring right on schedule each year and kind of signal the approach of the rain season and hotter weather.

The Doves like to hang out on the power lines over the bird area and chew the fat.

To my Northern friends, " chew the fat" is Southern for hanging around talking about nothing in particular.

Every once in awhile the Doves will get into a savage fight over the pecking order for who gets to get on the feeder in what order. After being witness to some of their brawls makes me wonder how they became the bird of peace symbol.

Over to the old Mango stump I figured to dress it up some.

I planted this Nasturtium from seed in one of the cricks of the stump figuring it will add some color. I'm hoping that it will get big before the summer heat cooks it. And even if the sun does cook it the leaves and flowers are edible. How's that for a permaculture plant. If it starts looking bad you just eat it!

At the base of the stump I put the Grampa Ott Morning Glory of course started from seed. It is a heirloom type of Morning Glory dating back generations. It is starting to cover parts of the stump and I am anticipating some spectacular blooms from this plant.

Speaking of salad here is the update on some of the Cucumber seeds that I started a while back.

They are flowering and the baby Cucs are visible right behind the flower.

Won't be long for the Cucs will be Cucin'.

Add some of the Nasturtium leaves and Everglades Tomato's and a fresh garden salad is in the makin'.

Back on the permaculture front this here is my latest planting bed. It is a custom job that I made from 4x4x8 posts . It got a coat of concrete stain that was sitting in the shed for color. The fence is a dog barrier to keep my mutts from trampling the plants in the bed.

This bed is for Comfrey plants. They will be used for making Comfrey Tea to feed the vegetables. The Comfrey is also medicinal for use as a poultice on sprains and cuts.

I was able to get six root cuttings of Blocking 14 cultivar of Russian Comfrey.

This type can be harvested like four times a year for the leaves. It grows quickly and produces a lot of biomass.

This Comfrey is growing already three days after planting a bare root slice.

These Comfrey plants will serve as to make a bio dynamic tea for the garden plants. Also the leaves are for the compost pile as a starter.

To learn more about organic gardening is one of my 2010 challenge goals. I have to thank African Aussie for the Comfrey idea. She mentioned the plant in her blog which led to me researching it and deciding to try it out.

That's the poop for day 100 of the challenge.

---Sanddune--