What’s in the ground:

We just lined our fence with sunflowers. They are small now, but when they grow, they’ll create a great barrier from the smog of the street, a great source for pollination and will look amazing. They’re a great flower for a fence line.

What’s going on in sustainability:

I’ve been on this water kick after installing the gray water barrel. Aside from a miscommunication of two people doing wash right after the other and it overflowing, we’ve had a lot of success. A way to avoid overflow in rain barrels is to drill a whole at the top and run a hose to a garden bed so any excess water drains and doesn’t spill, creating a mud puddle. We are alternating with city and rain water and I’ll be testing the PH soon to see where we’re at.

But I’m not treating this new toy like a kid on Christmas. As much as I want to use the system, I’m still mindful of my conservation, not so much because of water shortage issues, but more so because of damage to my plants. Allow me to explain.

People in this country grossly over water their plants. Although we’re not as bad as those Floridians who let  sprinklers run in the rain on the roads, we happen to live in an extremely water generous climate, and people still feel the need to abuse their gardens with the plenty of our water supplies. Without stressing the political, it’s just another example of how industrialism and over abundance tear us from the natural world. If people take a step back, they would realize that we are on a perfect natural watering cycle in this area. How do I know this?

It’s because at our Walnut Hill Farm Project, we’ve not hand watered the garden in over a month. Yet, our broccoli is heading up quicker than other people, our kale is already at market and our roots are ready to go. This isn’t ideal, we don’t have a good water source. And I realize that it will be a different story with our night shades. But for now, I’d like to impart on you all some great advice I received during a farm apprenticeship in Louisiana. My good friend Robert taught me:

1. If you dig your beds correctly, creating deep ground level depressions rather than high raised beds where the water drains through and not out, settling right above the clay and below your roots, your soil will store water better.

2. Mulching is an art, if you find the perfect amount, you will protect your plants while allowing enough water to slowly drain into your soil.

3. Prune off excess growth and concentrate where your plant is sending energy for food growth.

4. Allowing them to go a few days without water hardens their stalk and allows the plant to enact its natural resiliency for growth.

Just a few tips to save a good amount of time and resources in the garden and get some great plants. It’s all about your energy monitoring. Since your not growing for production, it will be better to concentrate all of that growth into a smaller quality harvest rather than a quanity.

Good luck. Until next week, this is the note from the Urban Homestead.