Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Chapters; Sections; Layout; Sub Titles; Readability. Say What?




Yeah, I know. It's kinda late to think about the organization for this book here! But, hey! It's MY Book! Go write your own if you want, but this one is all MINE!:-)

I think, well, no, I KNOW that biological function may have design, but somehow we people are often baffled at how that design manifests itself!

Take this book. No, Not really! I still want it! But, for example, this book has been in my heart to write for thirty years, maybe longer. Just that every time I figure there's enough I know to share here, I suddenly get a boatload of fresh material, knowledge, better formatting, and awesome new ideas for getting it into your hot little, garden dirt-covered hands!

Eye YiYi! All this manipulating! It's GOTTA STOP!

Well, it did stop! Now, I'm writing in earnest!

Whoah! WHAT was that that just flew by my mind? Book design? Layout? Chapter order? Images - side bars - sections - bullet points - links - LINKS?! - Kindle Authoring guides? - type-in-this-program-but-output-to-this-other-program? - Table of Contents - Index - subsection(s) - Appendix A - Appendix B?  The lists goes on and on!

Well, I figured why not bring you into the book design lab and let you look about! Who knows? You just might get crazy like me, and write your own!

OK, already! Let's design this thing!


First: Title; "Soil 2 Cuisine" Check.

This was actually chosen by a community garden lady in a Seattle garden I produced soil for and she didn't like the title for a newsletter I made. "Our Community Garden: Soil 2 Cuisine!"

"But," she said, "I love the "Soil 2 Cuisine" part!"

"Soil 2 Cuisine was conceived! The Summer was '13. About August that year. We were standing by several lady chicken pens, just down the bank from a noisy four-duck pen. If I recall correctly! One lady's gorgeous roses were in full bloom, artichoke, Basil, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, squashes, corn, wild flowers, maple trees, an old, very large black walnut tree, grape vines, one creative couple's new bed with a giant Mother Goose created with long, curving branches, little, inviting winding pathways leading this way, that way to all the gardeners' little creative expressions, a long single water hose and water donated by a nearby Norwegian Family Housing unit, A bank running down the middle sorta separating upper and below parts, and raised beds, native soil beds, circular beds, sorta triangular beds, kinda square beds, my compost pile by the four afore mentioned Quackers' chicken wire pen with kiwi growing over it, and the awesome deep BLUE Seattle sky above!

Yeah!

Where are we?

Oh.

Then there' the TOC. Tables of Content amuse me! So many times I pick up a book and hope to quickly scan the TOC to gain an idea if I want to go further, only to find that author left me with chapter titles that say nothing, or worse, about the contents!

Not us! "Our" chapter titles will almost say the whole contents! Well, sorta, anyway.

BTW, what shall we have for the first chapter?

Oh, yeah, The preface first. We have to? Yeah.

How about the unique, awesome title: "PREFACE!"?

Good! We agree!


Now, 1st chapter? Ugh! Yeah, my "Fore-word." You write the Rear-word?

Anybody you know to make a "Foreward" (Hey! This thing NEEDS all the momentum we can find!)

Oh, It's "Moi" who writes the "Introduction," not the "Foreword." Got it.


Well, NOW you gotta tell me what the title for chapter one is! Out with it!

What? That can be the last thing we create! My old knee!

OK.

How about sections? One? Two? Three?

Three.

Why "Three"

Just because You need harmony.

What . . . Never mind. What about chapter sub titles?

Later.

Oh.

The order of the sections?

"Soil 2 Cuisine."

That simple?

Yeah.


Now, maybe I'm getting the picture for my little book idea! Thanks for all your wise(ass) counsel.

Call if you need more, like an ear to cry in.

What? . . . never mind. 

OK.

WRITE YOUR BOOK!



Section One: The "Dirt" Part

  • Chapter 1: To Be Decided Later . . .
  • Chapter 2: Raw Material to Produce Nutrient-dense Soil With
  • Chapter 3: Did We Forget To Plan Ahead For Use of Our Soil?
  • Chapter 4: Let's Build It!
  • Chapter 5: Making Certain It "Works"!
  • Chapter 6: Working Pile Maintenance
  • Chapter 7: Harvesting Our New Soil!
  • Chapter 8: Storing and Placing New Soil
  • Chapter 9: Prepping The New & Refurbished Grow Bed
  • Chapter 10: Side Trip: Vermicomposting "Eat Worms"!
  • Chapter 11: Redundance! Too Much Raw Material for Next Build!
  • Chapter 12: Ready? Let's Do This Again!
  • Chapter 13: More Uses for Our Soil!
  • Section One Appendix



Section Two: The "2" Part

·       The "2" Part Introduction
·       Chapter 1: Plants Need the Same Nutrients for Their Health As You!
·       Chapter 2: Let's Begin @ the Start! Planning the Garden You Want
·       Chapter 3: Before Grow Season Plant Propagation; Or Not
·       Chapter 4: Prepping Your New Season Grow Bed(s)
·       Chapter 5: Setting out Early Starts and Seed Planting
·       Chapter 6: Fast Track Healthy Plant Action
·       Chapter 7: Healthy Producing Plants First Need This
·       Chapter 8: Between Planting & Producing Food Plant Care
·       Chapter 9: Betcha Ya Didn't Think About This Mid-Summer!
·       Chapter 10: See Why We Made Careful Plans For Maximum Harvest?
·       Chapter 11: Summer Season End
·       Chapter 12: Fall Harvest
·       Chapter 13: Fall & Winter Planting
·       Chapter 14: Season Wrap & Planning Next Year's Soil & Garden
·       Section Two Appendix


Section Three: The Last Part, er, Cuisine Part

·       Section Three Introduction
·       Chapter One: Why Did We Forget To Do This Part B4 Planting?
·       Chapter Two: Fresh Garden Food Cuisine: Who Can Match?
·       Chapter Three: We Did It! What All This Fresh Food! -Preserving
·       Chapter Four: Sideways Glance; Compare Nutrients In Garden v.s. Store Food
·       Chapter Five: Creating Cuisine Awesome Requires This; Planning
·       Chapter Six: Now! Let's Create Awesome!
·       Chapter Seven: Why Hide Awesome When You Can Do This, Instead?
·       Chapter Eight: Hey! It's Chapter 8!
·       Chapter Nine: This Ain't No Engine # 9!
·       Chapter Ten: Lost References; aka, Old Recipes For Fresh Garden Super Taste!
·       Chapter Eleven: Let's Do This Again! Cuising Roundup Rodeo!
·       Chapter Twelve: Now! Let's Plan Next Year's Cuisine Garden!
·       Section Three Appendix



Interspersed Activities List


Section One: The "Dirt" Part

  • Chapter 1: To Be Decided Later . . .
  1. Taking Stock - Make a notebook with two+ pages for each chapter in this guide. On the first and second page write the name of the chapter activities. Reserve the rest of the space for chapter notes.
  2. Taking Stock: Find or make space(s) to build the compost pile and the finished soil storage area. Note: Be careful to read and follow guides in the chapter! Note 2: At the sight of the compost pile, allow space to put(Stage) raw materials as they arrive so they are ready and close to the pile to save work.
  • Chapter 2: Raw Material to Produce Nutrient-dense Soil With
  1. Gauge how much volume of new soil your growing beds need for one season. Multiply this amount by 4 to see how much raw material is needed.
  2. Let's make an inventory list for the usable raw materials available, where each is located, and if applicable, when available.
  • Chapter 3: Did We Forget To Plan Ahead For Use of Our Soil?
  1. List the plants to be grown in your new soil. Beside each plant name note the soil and environment it best grows in. This can be numbers or letters that are cross referenced to short details for each type of environment and soil. Be sure to make sure the desired plants have their preferred spot available! There's no substitute for 8 hours of full sun!
  2. Determine the type of soil each plant needs and where to obtain the necessary materials.
  • Chapter 4: Let's Build It!
  1. First things, first! If not done already, make sure there is enough of each type of raw material for building each part of the pile. If there is enough first layer material but too little second or third, either wait or place the first layer then wait and collect the next layer material. The build can take all the time necessary to build as material becomes available. However, be sure to follow the "recipe" as it is key for success!
  2. Reread the building guide. Note any differences the pile you are building requires. 
  • Chapter 5: Making Certain It "Works"!
  1. Good Job building! Now, sit back and relax, just a bit. You deserve it! We need the simple temperature gauging tool mentioned in the chapter. Any sturdy metal rod will do. Plastic and fiberglass resist heat so it's best to stick to metal. Remember, the thicker the rod the longer it requires to heat up to the temperature of the pile. Also, the rod will cool the material it touches, so a second placement for thicker rods will be necessary for accurate sense of actual heat.
  2. Two things are "musts" for good decomposing activity: A. The right moisture. B. The right air flow.

    To make the pile wet enough, add water to the pile at about the half-built point, then over the top of the finished pile. Watch the bottom of the pile to tell when the water penetrates the entire pile. We'll call this the "first" watering.

    The second requirement for good success: When the pile is built, cover the top and sides with 1 to 2 inches of sand, sod, or other fine material that will benefit plant health. Do not cover with anything that blocks air or water!
  • Chapter 6: Working Pile Maintenance
  1. After the pile gets hot, in about 5 to 8 days for one with lots of green grass, use the metal temperature gauge rod to check on moisture inside the pile. The heat and air flow are constantly drying the pile. Add small amounts of water and check to be sure it penetrates down to dry spots.
  2. About every three days check the pile heat in several places. The pile with evenly-distributed materials will produce even heat over the whole pile. To increase heat, stand on top and pack it down hard as possible. Once the process is going well, the pile will slowly compress from its own weight. This is the main reason for using small branch material layers that maintain air flow as the pile settles.
  • Chapter 7: Harvesting Our New Soil!
  1. After 12 to 15 days, gauge the internal heat. If it's still well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, allow several more days time, and check again. At 15 days, and the pile is visibly decomposed, dig into a spot for a foot or so to check the material, Black or very dark brown from original green marks complete process. For original "brown" material, black or dark brown AND very water-saturated appearance is a good sign. If the pile dried some, there may be a coating of white fungus. This is a beneficial life form that helps reduce plant material to its nutrient level.
  2. At about 100 degrees F, and the material is visibly soft, dark brown, and well composted, it's ready to filter out the branch material and larger particles that need more breakdown. However, this larger material is fine for filling planting holes for trees. It is well into the decomposing and tree roots love decaying woody material.

    For vegetable beds and plant pots, rake, fork or screen out these larger pieces. Have a spot to shelter or cover the finished soil, if it is to wait before filling grow beds and pots. Rain leaches nutrients out.
  • Chapter 8: Storing and Placing New Soil
  1. Let's step back a minute to take stock of what we've accomplished to this point.

    On your Notes' Worksheet for this chapter list major highlights of your great progress! At this stage you deserve a big pat on the back! Congratulations!

    Now, what's to do with that beautiful pile of nutrient-dense soil you just made? Think of all the possibilities! Matter of fact, Brainstorm a bit and go over your garden plans. Go to YouTube and other video venues to look for and observe new ideas!
  2. Take awhile to dig into possibilities? Always good to be open to change!

    With firmer goals for how to use this great stuff, go do it! First, though, a plan and map might help?
  • Chapter 9: Prepping The New & Refurbished Grow Bed
  1. I hope you decided on something new to add or change up your garden! In any case, now the plan, and map? are in hand, let's go out and get started. For former grow beds, the soil needs turning. Likely earth worms in it are starving, so let's feed them first. As you turn the soil, lift every other fork(or shovel) out and place kitchen wastes, lawn clippings, old half rotted leaves and yard wastes, and, yes! corrugated cardboard(Torn to small pieces) near the bottom of the bed. Water thoroughly.

    Do the same for a new bed - first adding a layer of worm feed at the bottom. The More the better, if it's fairly course. Finer particle feed needs mixing with the bottom layer of new soil so it keeps from matting into a smelly mass.

    The soil should be level with the top of an 8" side grow bed. It settles during the season. Especially so for root crops.
  2. Believe, or don't, your new soil is going to run short of nitrogen quick! Most nitrogen in the new pile was used for decomposition. Get urea, if available. It's the most nitrogen for the buck at 46% available nitrogen. Just add it to the side of new plants or seedlings. For seed planting, wait to add nitrogen till the second to 6th week after germination, then side dress along the side, or between rows. It's really amazing to watch those plants leap up!

    During the 6th to 8th week, again side dress nitrogen. Cover it with an inch of soil and water in well. Careful! The tender roots die in direct contact to urea!
  • Chapter 10: Side Trip: Vermicomposting "Eat Worms"!
  1. OK, OK! Don't Eat worms! This activity begins with searching on YouTube, or getting books at the library, or Amazon, about vermicomposting. There's even a website named "vermicomposting"!

    The things you learn will amaze you! Actually, the feeding, care and working earth worms for soil production is easy. Like all livestock these little critters need habitat, feed, water and nutrition to remain healthy. Yes, they can get diseases and die rapidly, but not if we do common sense care.

    Make notes from what you learn, and see if vermicomposting in any part of the garden will work.
  2. Ready to start worm farming? Great! Grab a piece of paper and pencil. Go out and scope out the available garden space that seems suitable. Read this chapter for the specific requirements. Have them?

    Decide how much feed you have available every week of the year. The size of worm bin is determined by this amount. Find a ready source of any earth worm available. Red Wrigglers are popular, but not necessary. Find a farm with a muddy barnyard and you've got manure worms, a hardy species that loves rotting stuff!

    Tear up enough corrugated cardboard to make a three to five inch covering on the bottom of the bin, followed by fine sand for digestion grit, then a layer of earthy soil mixed with the feed you have on hand. Water until sopping wet. The porous base of the bin allows excess water to drain. Spread the worms over the surface. Add a layer of feed then sprinkle with fine sand, then a layer of cardboard, then just soil about an inch thick to prevent drying.

    After four days, use a fork to dig into the bin and turn a forkful over. There should be a lot of happy, wriggling worms! If not, but all looks  good, just wait a week and repeat. If not by then, look for dry matter, feed too rotted and clumped, or worms migrated to another part. The bottom layer of cardboard allows water through, but the worms will not wiggle out before they feast on all that delicious cardboard!
  • Chapter 11: Redundance! Too Much Raw Material for Next Build!
  1. Often I find that people I request to bring their kitchen wastes, yard debris and all the raw material I have from the garden amounts to quite a bit more than there is room for the pile! Not to worry! Just build the next pile to the size it should be, and left overs can wait for the next build. Just add a bit less to the staging area, or if it's near season's end, take it all, and there's enough for an additional Fall pile build.
  2. During Winter, find and bring "brown" material to the staging area, Half rotted is great! In the late Winter, up to very early Spring, make your first build of the new year. Be ready for another pile as people and you generate Spring cleaning material. Make a list of suppliers and some idea of quantity expected from each. It's better to say "No" before they arrive with too much!
  • Chapter 12: Ready? Let's Do This Again!
  1. This is a bit redundant! I include this chapter to point out that producing good soil is a continual activity limited only by the time you give to it. Doing it for several years, or cycles, gives you a handle on making it work best for how you need it to fit with you gardening. I do caution, however, go slowly! It's easy to burn out doing too much too soon! The lifting and moving is WORK! It's time consuming, too. Enjoy it rather than endure it!
  2. Let's take a break here. Grab that notepad and go over the entire cycle. Update notes and make new ones that tailor this activity to your own gardening.

    You may find it helpful here to peek into the next section. it is focused on the plants. This soil production is all about that, so be smart and peek!

    Make notes, too!
  • Chapter 13: More Uses for Our Soil!
  1. Yup, yup. There's many uses for this soil! Sell it! Fill pots. share with the neighbor! Donate it, and then your new skill set to a community garden. Go to a local garden group and teach them! Make their soil!
  2. This activity is searching for ways to use your soil. Since we covered vermicomposting too, search ways to use that soil. Learn how to add it to the soil you produce, too. Then go share all this with the neighbor!
  • Section One Appendix



Section Two: The "2" Part

·       The "2" Part Introduction
·       Chapter 1: Plants Need the Same Nutrients for Their Health As You!
·       Chapter 2: Let's Begin @ the Start! Planning the Garden You Want
·       Chapter 3: Before Grow Season Plant Propagation; Or Not
·       Chapter 4: Prepping Your New Season Grow Bed(s)
·       Chapter 5: Setting out Early Starts and Seed Planting
·       Chapter 6: Fast Track Healthy Plant Action
·       Chapter 7: Healthy Producing Plants First Need This
·       Chapter 8: Between Planting & Producing Food Plant Care
·       Chapter 9: Betcha Ya Didn't Think About This Mid-Summer!
·       Chapter 10: See Why We Made Careful Plans For Maximum Harvest?
·       Chapter 11: Summer Season End
·       Chapter 12: Fall Harvest
·       Chapter 13: Fall & Winter Planting
·       Chapter 14: Season Wrap & Planning Next Year's Soil & Garden
·       Section Two Appendix


Section Three: The Last Part, er, Cuisine Part

·       Section Three Introduction
·       Chapter One: Why Did We Forget To Do This Part B4 Planting?
·       Chapter Two: Fresh Garden Food Cuisine: Who Can Match?
·       Chapter Three: We Did It! What All This Fresh Food! -Preserving
·       Chapter Four: Sideways Glance; Compare Nutrients In Garden v.s. Store Food
·       Chapter Five: Creating Cuisine Awesome Requires This; Planning
·       Chapter Six: Now! Let's Create Awesome!
·       Chapter Seven: Why Hide Awesome When You Can Do This, Instead?
·       Chapter Eight: Hey! It's Chapter 8!
·       Chapter Nine: This Ain't No Engine # 9!
·       Chapter Ten: Lost References; aka, Old Recipes For Fresh Garden Super Taste!
·       Chapter Eleven: Let's Do This Again! Cuising Roundup Rodeo!
·       Chapter Twelve: Now! Let's Plan Next Year's Cuisine Garden!
·       Section Three Appendix




Lazy Boy's Composting: AKA, Easy Direct Composting

Several years ago a friend with a small flower and tomato bed began placing his kitchen wastes directly into his tomato soil. It was not long before the plants looked more healthy, and produced more. The more I pondered this the more sense it made.

I helped bury his wastes a couple of times - he's elderly - and found the older wastes that rotted were attracting and nourishing hundreds of earth worms. It's easy to see how the tomato plants benefited!

As it turns out, this way to direct bury good natural nutrients is an excellent way to nourish producing plants. It's little different than adding any plan nutrient to the soil, just takes longer to decompose into root-absorbent nutrients. The part I particularly appreciate is the earth worm part.

Passing through the gut of any creature, it's food stuff is chemically transformed into plant nutrient that is more readily absorbed by the roots. It's far, far better than the harsh commercial fertilizers, like "MiracleG..." and other salt-based soil, soil fauna, and soil flora-abusing commercial chemical fertilizers, that shock plants into growth more than nurture their growth stimulation.

Added to the gentle nature of producing this bio-nutrient, the worm's digestion adds root soluble minerals, metals and enzymes the plants use to ward off parasites and fungal diseases. Added to that key nutrient value, the steady, slow release meets the plants' long term nutrient needs, rather than the sudden shock of commercial fertilizer, even when it is longer term release modified.

In addition to plant nutrition, adding raw wastes to the root zone of producing plants provides top quality nutrients for the soil fauna and soil flora, those microscopic plants and "bugs" that also need care and TLC for their own health. It also aids air to the soil, water retention, natural fibers, and the various nutrients each food plant and natural fiber packaging material contains.

Yes! Add the plain paper and corrugated plain cardboard(Without thin plastic coating glued to the cardboard) that foods come in. Best if these are soaked a few days before burying, though.

Just don't bury waxed heavy paper, like paper milk cartons and soup containers. Their material may never break down in a garden!

To the vegetable kitchen wastes, chicken bones and some small meat scraps can be safely added. Just be certain there is more than 6 inches of soil covering these, as mice and larger scavengers can smell and dig these out. A better method is to saturate them in ammonia for a few days before burying, but make sure the ammonia-soaked material and plant roots are well separated! The ammonia will burn the tender feeder roots.

Another caveat here is soil moisture. Garden plants that require fairly dry soil may be damaged by the higher soil moisture earth worms require for their work consuming the kitchen wastes, resulting in stunted plants, or worse. A good method for giving these plants the same nutrition earth worm treat is to have the worm operation separate, and bury worm castings at the root level. The castings will hold enough water to attract the dry soil plant roots and dry out as the roots absorb both nutrients and water.

In any case, the worm castings may need added woody material, like leaves and small twigs, to keep from matting and forming a water and air barrier from their very fine particulate composition. Another reason producing natural soil via a compost pile aids soil "tilth," that quality where the slightly wet soil crumbles apart rather than make a ball when a handful is squeezed tight and released.

In the section for vermicomposting we look at qualities and applications for worm castings and "tea" made by filtering water through the castings.


You with the awesome beans and squash! Yeah, YOU! Look at the ways there are to add kitchen wastes to your verdant squash and bean soil! It's a bit different, but the same principle works; add raw material that earth worms digest and cast their wastes off for your squash and bean roots to absorb. What could be better?

Actually, group, let's dig into "What could be better for a moment. It's perfect timing to cover this key aspect of good plant soil stucture v.s. great plant soil structure, and the effects to plant roots and health this makes for us, the gardeners whose sweat, blood, a few cuss words, and tears go into our awesome gardens!

"Friable" soil structure is noticeably different, and naturally better in its visible character than sticky, clayey, silty soil. Like the "tilth" factor, "friable" simply appeals more to the experienced eye of us gardeners:-) It is producing and using this "tilth" factor that this entire soil production and application section is about.

Squash and Bean Guy, I'd like to pick on you again! No, just kidding:-) But, you have soil requirements with squash and beans the rest of us other vegetable growers have slightly different issues with. Take squash. This Hot Sun, long day, and warm night native plant can be grown quite a ways away from its preferred, native habitat, but not all that far away from it's preferred soil characteristics. Like every plant, its root system wants numerous qualities of the soil. Water in the right range of moisture to dry soil; soil that may well be little more than sand with key nutrients, and friable soil structure where the roots freely extend and find loads of readily absorbent nutrients.

The soil they thrive in may be far too loose for corn and sunflower stalks to get a firm hold in to withstand rain, wind and snapping their matured ears off. But squash does better in soil that has some of the firm holding traits, too. The difference in holding traits between squash and sunflower, for instance, is that squash does not stand up, but the standing weight of corn and sunflower plants needs a suitable, heavy, sandy or clayey soil for these and similar to hold firmly upright during nasty storms.

In the compost pile forming section, look for types of raw materials.