The Urban Dirt Farmer

Platform Bed

2010-08-15T20:07:00.010-05:00

Getting a head start on preparations to plant some winter vegetables during this coming Fall (feels like it will never get here with temperatures well over 100 degrees for the last several weeks). I looked at some kits you can actually buy that are pre-cut, etc., but decided to just build my own. It's terribly easy and I was pleased with the results.

I was going for a 4' x 8' bed.

The materials are simple:

Six 1 x 6 x 8 cedar boards. They are rot resistant and last for a very long time.

Four 18" metal rods.

Tools: Hand or power saw, drill, tape measure.

I was unable to buy 18" metal rods, which are used to link the boards together at the corners, so I bought two 36" rods at 3/8" diameter and used my angle grinder to cut them in half. The results:

Exciting eh?

I had six cedar boards. Four would be used for the long sides of the bed and two would be cut in half for the short sides. To secure the boards together, I cut small brackets in each one as seen here.

...and here:

You can see that there are sections cut out of each end, but on opposite sides so each board looks like a really long "Z". You drill 3/4" holes through each "tab."

Next you clear some ground and level it. I used my little Honda tiller. Oooo, check out that real-estate. Sexy:

Puzzle all the pieces together, drop the rods through the holes and you're good. Because I want to extend the longevity of the cedar, I put it on a platform of rocks.

Check for level and you're all done. Boom.

Not Taking it for Pomegranate

2010-07-05T18:30:00.007-05:00

One year ago we planted four "dwarf pomegranates" next to our house. They were about 2-3 feet tall when planted and after one year they range between 6-9 ft tall. Just amazing growth. This one is almost up to the underside of the roof.

Starting around March-April, the plants produce gorgeous bright orange blooms that become flowers and then start turning into the fruit.

Here's a little bundle of buds that will become flowers. The fruit start growing around May at the end of most branches. Despite being called a "dwarf" pomegranate for some reason, these plants produce full baseball-softball size fruit that is ready to pick in around October-November. Here's what it looks like right now, in early July:

We collect them up and get the juice out of them. I tried a variety of ways to harvest their juice. Asking them to release their juice was my first idea. Not only did they not let their juice out, but they didn't even talk back. Now, if you've seen a pomegranate on the inside, they have like a bazillion little fruit-coated seeds inside.
See? It would take at least four to five days to squeeze all the juice out of each of those individually. So what I do is cut each one in half and squeeze the half really hard so that all the juice is removed by force. There will be some little bits of seed and stuff in the juice that comes out, but you can easily use a strainer, sieve or clean underwear to filter it out and get just the juice. Most pomegranate juice is a little bitter, so we just add it to glasses of ice water for a refreshing drink loaded with anti-oxidants, which apparently are good for you in that they kill ugliness. That's right. If you drink stuff with anti-oxidants and you are ugly, they will either turn you beautiful or kill you. Cheers!

Modern Fence Gate

2010-04-08T11:33:00.007-05:00

We have a small "side yard" off of our main back yard area. It has mulch in it, which is apparently catnip for dogs, of which we have four. We are doing some planting back there and decided that a gate had finally become necessary. We didn't want a full fence-height gate there, as it would tend to completely block in both of the areas it separated in a way that restricted the open style of the house and yard. So I took it upon myself to build this thing and am happy with the results. Since it's functional, but decorative, I made no attempt to copy the style of the fence it's up against other than to use the same type of wood: cedar. You can see the baby Yakuza Chinese Maple in the far background.

Here's a picture of the back of the gate. It is done in a very minimalist fashion. Since fences typically start to lean after a few years, I wanted this gate to be independent from the fence itself--so I anchored it to the house. This is the only area where there is a lot of metal hardware. I used masonry anchors and put them into the concrete foundation and the rock wall itself. That sucker will hold better than any wood post. I did place a post on the static side of the gate, but it bears almost no weight. While the gate extends all the way to the fence opposite the house, it is not secured to it. This allows for movement and shifting of the fence without hurting the gate. Lastly, I included a hidden latch that is not visible from the front and tucked away nicely in the back. I briefly considered hiring someone to do this job, but I don't believe most contractors would have taken the time to build it as seamlessly as I did--because it isn't their house. What I learned is that building something like this has very little to do with actual skill. The key is giving a crap and being patient. Here's what you have to know how to do to build a gate like this:
1. Saw wood. Cedar is rather soft and easy to saw. Even with a hand saw, which I used for all the boards.
2. Drill a hole. If you have a drill (a hammer drill is better for masonry, but any drill with a masonry bit will eventually do the trick) you can do this.
3. Know how to use a level. Here's how you do that: put the level on the surface you want level. Now watch the bubble. If it's in the middle, you win!
4. Know how to install a post. Here's how: dig a deep hole (a post digger tool helps), put the post in it. Then follow the directions on your 50 lb pound bag of cement (let me summarize those for you here: Step 1. Fill 1/3 of the hole with water. Step 2. Fill that water with cement. Step 3. Top up the hole with an even ratio of water and cement. Step 4. Check vertical and horizontal level of your post as cement sets (usually 30 minutes set time)). Total cost: About $100.

If you can master these simple tasks, you can build a great gate and be awesome like me!!!!!

Wintertime Flora

2010-01-24T16:21:00.006-06:00

It's been a while since I've updated the blog and thusly I apologize sincerely to our many (two) blog followers.

So when last we talked, I'd taken down all of the perennial cover crop and had dug a swale. We then spread a mixture of perennial rye and New Zealand White clover from Peaceful Valley. Both, but especially the clover have taken amazingly.

The brown tufts are the recently pruned down red grass, fountain grass and feather grasses we also planted for additional erosion control and "texture". Whatever that means. It's pretty cool to have a bright green lawn in the middle of winter that isn't being enhanced with chemicals or engineered greenery. The clover is so great for a lawn because it needs no mowing, low to moderate water (in the hotter months only) and adds valuable nutrients to the soil. We pulled a few weeds out of the lawn and the upturned soil revealed a solid 2 inches of dark-chocolate colored dirt on top of the original clay that was there when we first moved in. Additionally, this ground cover took exceptionally well to the low point of the swale.

You can see the indention of the swale along the length of the yard. We've neglected to blow the leaves out of the yard from the fall, which explains some of the brown you see in the yard. Otherwise this yard is thickly covered with 5-6" of clover. It has taken beautifully to both sunny and shady areas.

During the summer we planted Palestine/Strawberry clover in the lot next to our house. It has also thrived wonderfully during the winter (even completely covered in leaves from the 5 oak trees in the yard).

Check it out:
So, basically, the clover is super resilient and would flourish even better if we were a little more on top of getting rid of the leaves in the yard.

Upcoming this spring: we're going to do a tree guild in the front yard centered around a live oak. In the lot next to us, we're going to perhaps do some fruit trees and stuff, but we'll see.

Save the Swales

2009-09-13T16:59:00.003-05:00

With Fall upon us, we have to get moving on our transition from urban crop growers to landscapers. The cowpeas and buckwheat in the front yard are supposed to be taken down before they go to seed. I am incompetent so of course our cowpeas are already producing seed at a shocking rate. Letting them go this long will come back to haunt me.

Step 1: So I mowed down 4 foot tall plants in the front yard, readily scattering all the cowpea seeds and planting them nicely in the dirt which I later tilled (step 2). This was an error as it turns out, since two days later I had an entire yard of baby cowpea plants. So I repeat Step 2 and till up all these baby plants. Two days later the yard is somewhat less full of baby cowpea plants. Mkay. Gonna have to do this again.

You might have noticed that our yard is on a fairly steep slope. In order to prevent erosion and to retain water, one of our reference books recommends digging a "Swale." This is a lateral mound that you create through hours and hours of backbreaking labor. Below is a visual representation of what a swale looks like (I'll add my own photos later).
It serves a few purposes: one is to collect water which then slowly seeps into the ground where it is retained. Secondly it slows erosion. Ours looks a lot like this except sloppier.

We have numerous goals for our landscaping. One of the first is to plant a ground cover that meets a number of requirements: evergreen, heat and drought tolerance, durable and organic matter producing. We are going with a mixture of seed that we bought from Peaceful Valley Organics yet again. This one is part fescue, part perennial rye and part New Zealand White Clover. It's our expectation that this will stay pretty green until Summer kicks back in by next June/July, at which point we may need to overseed with some more clover, which is more heat tolerant than the rye or the fescue. We'll broadcast the seed next week and post updates.

Black Eyed (cow)Peas

2009-08-29T16:52:00.008-05:00

Both our buckwheat and cowpeas we planted back in June are almost completely matured and ready for harvest. Now since we're using them to enrich the soil, we are not going to "harvest" the buckwheat or cowpeas (plus I don't own a combine). What we've found very interesting are the fact that both plants continue to bear fruit in cycles. The buckwheat blooms and then reblooms. The cowpeas grow several cycles of pods, as shown in this picture. As you can see, there are both "ripe" tan pods along side green yet-to-be-ripe pods on the same plant. Really cool that these plants continue to bear fruit over and over.

I was curious to shuck some of these bad boys and just see what I got. I spent about an hour and a half pulling these beans out of the pods and was amazed to realize that we actually grew food.

The hour + of work I did yielded about enough beans for two people to eat dinner and it's actually quite tedious work. Gives you a real appreciation for how people in the old school did it. Here's what I got:
I mean, there's enough of these beans on the lot to feed a whole family for a few months, I'd venture. I got this little basketfull of beans. I've decided to store them away as food for the inevitable mass-migrations that will occur as global warming continues to hasten its pace. See below for a visual representation of what I'm talking about.

While I don't actually think that we'll have a tidal wave, tornados over L.A. and a frozen Statue of Liberty over a nine hour period, I do believe global warming exists and that human kind is at least in part to blame (maybe completely to blame). Otherwise, I think the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" seems pretty accurate for what we're in for. So when the shit hits the fan, I'll have two servings of cowpeas all saved up, so ha ha.

Here's all the left over husks I dumped in my compost pile. Yeah. I compost. It's awesome to see the volume of crap you end up not throwing in the trash. Plus it gives you an "in" with indie chicks, so yeah. I compost.

Texas "Mountain" Laurels

2009-08-02T11:48:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how they got their name, but I love them. Texas Mountain Laurel is an evergreen shrub/tree that is very hardy (once established but a major pain to get to that point). It is known for the very beautiful and lovely-scented purple blooms it gets in Feb-March each year. Here's what they look like:

Anyway, I have a major obsession with these guys. In February I took seeds from one of my full-grown guys and attempted to start my own Texas Mountain Laurel nursery/farm in my backyard. I started with 23 of them and have lost about 8 since. These trees grow little seed pods in the spring. Inside those pods are rock-hard red beans. These are your seeds. Do not try to eat them. You will break a tooth.

Did I mention they are SLOW GROWING. Geez. The ones I've grown are about 6 months old and 3" tall. Ridiculous. Of course, this is why they are so expensive to buy if you get them at a fairly mature age. Here's the group I have now.The two guys on the front row didn't make it. I've notified their families.

The Sand Lot

2009-07-26T17:33:00.000-05:00

We have another part of our property that was just beat to hell when the house was being built. The ground got so compacted that it looked like it'd never grow anything again. It was another one of those things I didn't take a picture of, but the following photo reenactment sums up what it looked like:

We had a similar mission to our front yard: build soil and prevent erosion. Because this side yard area is covered with trees and due to the abundant shade, buckwheat was not an option. My wife, who likes to read, figured out that the perfect ground cover would be Strawberry, or Palestine, Clover. It is heat tolerant, builds soil well, grows moderately fast, and can even be mowed if one so desires. The seeds were again purchased from Peaceful Valley. These things look like poppy seeds, but sadly can't be made into street-grade heroine. We again tilled up the ground (hard in spots where there was just bare limestone, but I did my best to ruin the blades on my tiller) and then planted. Here's what it looks like after three weeks:

Now bear with me for a sec. Please understand that this used to look like a scene from the 70's D Movie Cannibal Holocaust. Allegedly the clover is supposed to grow quite thickly once it's established. Here's a closeup of the little guys:
They are a little slower growing than I'd like, but they are getting the job done. They stand up to being walked on and stuff (like when I have to move the sprinkler and whatnot). This will hopefully be our default ground cover once we decide what to do with our overall landscaping plan.

I'm Ready for My Closeup Mr. DeMille

2009-07-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

Say cheese Buckwheat!

Oh, own it, Buckwheat. Give me some emotion! Make love to the camera!

Little House on the Prarie

2009-07-26T16:59:00.001-05:00

Uh. So our front yard has some buckwheat in it. This is after about 4 weeks of growth. The highest plants are about 3' tall. The stuff that gets more shade isn't as robust. Here's another picture from further back.

So the stuff is really blowing up. There are a few bald spots which we re-seeded yesterday to help fill in.

It also just so happens that our next door neighbor is a bee keeper. I'm not making this up. She said that her bees are now off the sugar water (literally) and using our front yard. This is great news because bees are important to human life and stuff. Here's a photo of me in the front yard.

The plants have these teeny tiny white flowers that the bees actually prefer to larger blooms for some reason.

Hi, I'm Buckwheat.

2009-07-26T16:36:00.001-05:00

According to several sources, Buckwheat is a very good ground cover/soil builder.

After learning that the buckwheat these sources spoke of was not the character from the Little Rascals, but rather some sort of plant that grows in the ground, things made a little more sense.

Buckwheat is a fast growing, drought tolerant, heat resistant cover crop. Additionally, it builds soil and forces out weeds. We planted in early July and it was over 100 degrees for several days in a row.

Here's what we did:

1. Tilled up the entire front yard with a tiller. It took all day, but beat the alternative of walking on it for a few days with those spiky shoes your dad had to aerate the lawn when you were a kid.

2. Took the seed mixture (Buckwheat/Cowpeas) we purchased from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply, followed the instructions and then spread them with a seed/fertilizer spreader.

3. Used a rake to even out the dirt and at least partially cover the seeds.

4. Watered 3 times a day for the first two weeks.

After one day, you could see the seeds sprouting and putting down roots. After a week, the plants were all about an inch or two inches high.

We Bought a Book and Now We're Farmers

2009-07-26T16:24:00.003-05:00

After the dustbowl fiasco, we spoke briefly with our landscaper who wasn't really on board with supplying us with a new supply of buffalo grass seed. His recalcitrance lead us to abandon our reliance on corporate landscapers (that's an exaggeration) and try things on our own. We've always had that do-it-yourself spirit so we bought some books on urban farming.

The first book my wife purchased was Gaia's Garden "A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture."

Whatever that means.

What we found out is that if you want to do a broad scale landscaping plan that is responsible and really utilizes the land in an urban setting, you have to do a lot of planning...which I hate. I like to go down to the nursery, buy up the most exotic thing I can find, plant it in my yard and hope for the best. Apparently this isn't encouraged by people "in the know."

What you have to do is observe how the sun, wind, bugs, etc. interact with your home and yard. Then you have to plant the stuff that will maximize the value of the land in terms of production, water use, etc. Geez.

I had hoped to maybe landscape the whole yard in a few weekends but that's not a good idea or something. My wife learned from her book that the best time to really plant stuff is the fall, so that's our goal. Of course, in the meantime we have this whole dirt farm problem in the front yard. Every time it rains we lose soil into the street. We needed a stopgap measure.

According to the book, look to annual cover crops.

Oh No! We Suck Again!

2009-07-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well, this was a pretty depressing chapter in the evolution of the home's landscaping. The company we'd hired to landscape said they'd scalp (mow the grass very low in order to kill it) the winter rye and then immediately broadcast the buffalo grass seed.

They forgot part two.

About three weeks after the lawn was scalped and VERY dead, the landscape company came out and spread the buffalo grass. Now, this timing was bad because the point was for the winter rye to hold the seed in place while it germinated. With no rye in place any solid rainstorm would wash away the seed.

And as luck would have it, we had a monsoon.

The aftermath was a scene of devastation that was far too depressing for us to take pictures of. However, this still photo reenactment sums it up:

Step One: Erosion Control. Step Two: ? Step Three: Profit.

2009-07-26T16:08:00.002-05:00

Our initial plan was to go with local, low water plants and vegetation that supported a modern, minimalist look. Part of this was to get some ground cover in that would prevent erosion and help build the soil. It was February, so our local landscaper suggested Winter Rye.

The plan was to go with the winter rye for a few months and then to scalp it in May/June and then put down Buffalo Grass which would be low water and low maintenance (no mowing).

Here's a pic of the house with the winter rye growing. Looks beautiful!

Now, winter rye grows fast and needs a lot of mowing. That's why we only used it as a stop-gap.

Our House-The Dirt Farm

2009-07-26T15:59:00.001-05:00

My wife and I built this house in North Texas over the last year. It was finished in February of 2009. Over the year or so that it took to build, we became more and more interested and motivated to use green / sustainable materials, etc. As the construction progressed, we incorporated materials and finishes that were recycled, chemical free or low chemical, etc.

So then we had a house. And we needed a yard. At first we were okay with just a dirt yard because we were so excited about the house. Plus, dirt is a neutral color and goes with just about anything. But we had to do something about erosion...