Happy Spring, To New Beginnings

There are a good many vegetables and fruits that you can grow from table scraps according to home gardeners of the inter-web. Anything, particularly organically grown fruits and vegetables, where you can acquire seeds, you can sprout seedlings with heat, sun and moisture.

In elementary school, we sprouted seeds from beans via a wet paper towel in a zipper bag left on a window sil. I wanted to try this with bell peppers, and so I have (that is what is in the bag).

When I moved into my apartment there was an abandoned window planter in the back yard. The problem is, that the back yard doesn't get much sun (could be a good place for fungus growth, perhaps?). We were going to toss it or recycle it for that reason, but today I decided to take some potting soil, old cans and containers I had been saving and some table scraps to start my own garden experiment.

I don't like to take a whole lot on faith being a lover of science, and so I took some info from UrbanFig & Healthy Houseplants and I planted a garlic clove that had begun sprouting, a celery stump, some onion, a mushroom (this is an experiment that I don't have much hope for, but I have to know) and an opened avocado suspended above a jar of water.

I will be updating throughout the progress of my little scrap garden. This is a project separate from the soon-to-come aquaponic garden that will be mobile in the back and front yards. My next post, hopefully, will be a review of the Aquaponics 4 You system, closely followed, we're hoping, by a video of our aquaponic project!

The Skinny on Fertilizers (And why to go Organic)

Because providing extra nutrients to crops to furnish healthy growth will always be a necessity, fertilizers are considered an intelligent investment in agricultural industries all over the world (Ashman & Puri, 2009). With the dangers of pollution making headlines in the past decade, due to leaching, run off and global warming, bodies governing agriculture as well as the environment in developed countries have concocted guidelines and regulations for type, timing and amount of fertilizers applied during a growing season (Sample, 2004). Commercial farming is fingered in the battle to balance ecological effects with maximum yield, and in the U.S. the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) provides literature on “BMPs” or best management practices that local farmers claim are the practices of any learned, seasoned farmer (Griffith). The U.S Department of Agriculture provides guidelines for organic farming and test produce against them to label said produce “USDA Organic (U.S.EPA, 2011).” The EPA suggests that farms self-compost when viable, make use of agricultural wastes such as biosolids, manures, and yard trimmings when applicable, and apply fertilizers as a kind of last-resort supplement (U.S EPA, 2011). However, applying any materials, organic or other, in excess can cause severe damage to surrounding waters, plant life and the ozone layer of our atmosphere that blocks harmful ultra violet rays (Ashman & Puri, 2009).

Most literature suggests that timing is essential in effectiveness as well as contamination prevention. Plant growth at the start of a growing season is vulnerable to nutrient deficiency due to the rapid growth and development of roots, therefore an extra supply of nutrients is almost always beneficial (Ashman & Puri, 2009). The application of organic as well as commercial fertilizers for the rest of the growing season must depend on frequent testing of soil and plant tissue, most beneficially, before crops begin to show any sign of deficiency (Griffith).

Analyses should also be conducted annually for residues, rotation and crops grown (Griffith). Close attention need be paid to the temperature and rainfall before application of both organic and commercial fertilizer (Griffith). In addition to supplementation, nitrification and urease inhibitors can be applied in conjunction with fertilizers to preserve necessary compounds (such as those created by ammonia synthesis) and stretch their use, limiting application (Griffith).

The key components to nutrient supplement practices consist of nitrogen (nitrate), phosphorus (phosphate) and potassium, and are the basis of the commercial “NPK rating” which is based on the levels of each within a fertilizer (Office of Solid Waste, 2007). The U.S EPA’s Office of Solid Waste provides a list of organic components suggested for compost and fertilizer and their estimated NPK ratings for efficient self-fertilizing.

In the U.S, indoor cattle facilities (Animal Feeding Operations [AFOs] and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations [CAFOs]) are estimated to produce 335 million tons of dry matter annually (Office of Solid Waste, 2007). Biosolids, which consist of the “end product” of raw sewage treatment that is then further chemically and thermally treated for use, were estimated at 8.2 million tons in 2010 with an impressive estimation of 70% of which that was applied to crops in the U.S (Office of Solid Waste, 2007). In 2004, the U.S produced a whopping 5 billion tons of poultry feather waste (Office of Solid Waste, 2007). Feather waste is the most common agricultural waste, rich in slow-releasing nitrogen, and an estimated NPK range of 13-0-0 to 15-0-0 (Office of Solid Waste, 2007). Other suggested materials for organic and commercial fertilizers and composting include alfalfa meal (2.5-1-1 to 2.5-0.5-2), blood meal (12.5-1.5-0.0 to 12.5-1.5-1), cottonseed meal (6-2-1 to 7-2.5-1.5), fish meal (10-5-0 to 10-3.7-0), meat and bone meal (2-28-0), poultry litter (4-2-3), soybean meal (7.5-0.7-2.4 to 6.5-1.5-2.4), and wood ash (0-1-3 to 0-1.5-5) (Office of Solid Waste, 2007).

A farm which makes smart use of agricultural wastes, being yard wastes (trimmings), food wastes (composting), municipal wastes and construction and demolition debris, as well as animal manures may never need a commercial fertilizer if practices are managed properly (U.S. EPA, 2011).

For the home farmer and gardener who wants to start out with nutrient rich soil or continuously add nutrient rich soil throughout the growing season, try a compost heap. They are great for the environment, economically viable, easy to maintain and can be done indoors or outdoors.

Outdoors, check it out:



Indoors, check it out:



Cold Weather farmers, check it out (thermophilic):



Need to know more about worms? Check it out:



Resources:

Ashman, M. R., & Puri, G. (2009). Essential soil science- a clear and concise introduction. (pp. 136-150). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Griffith, B. (n.d.). Efficient fertilizer use manual. Mosaic.
Organic fertilizer recipe (2009, January 12). Youtube. (2009). [0]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p9ckLg1-W0
U.S Environmental Protection Agency, (2011). Compost and fertilizer made from recovered organic materials. Retrieved from website: http://epa.gov/osw/conserve/tools/cpg/products/compost.htm
U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Offices of Solid Waste. (2007). Comprehensive procurement guidelines appendices

Economic & Ecologic Benefit

Both in industry and in community sustainable farming is an economic and ecological benefit. While some financial preparation is necessary, money is quickly saved by implementing methods of recycling wastes, conserving resources and preventing loss of energy, water and nutrients for the soil and, therefore the crops (“Making the transition”).

Sustainable agriculture views farming as an ecosystem rather than a factory (Sullivan, 2003). In commercial agriculture, fossil fuels are conserved by implementing no-till methods of planting, therefore using multipurpose machinery, preserving soil aggregates and promoting biodiversity both in and above the soil (“Making the transition,”). In urban cases, fossil fuels are preserved by literally putting the market in your back yard, rendering traveling by vehicle unnecessary.

Erosion is prevented in commercial agriculture with such methods as layering mulch above topsoil; crop rotation; using perennial cover crops during the “off” season; utilizing animal manure as fertilizer and using biological methods of pest control (“Making the transition,”). The untilled land allows for undisturbed insect and microbial life and diverse porosity within the soil for maximum water retention during drought and flood prevention during periods of heavy rain (Ashman & Puri, 2009).

The environmentally conscious methods of sustainable agriculture naturally promote biological diversity throughout the food chain by including flowers, which attract beneficial insects; and trees and shrubbery which add to the necessary gas exchange for healthy crops (Sullivan, 2003).

The Urban Farming Guys have a revolutionary design for urban agriculture. Tame chickens and goats are cared for in their inner cities to supply milk and eggs (The Urban Farming Guys, 2011). Tilapia is bred and fed duck weed grown in baby pools in back yards (The Urban Farming Guys, 2011). Vegetables are grown and fertilized in the same tank that the tilapia are bred, and perhaps most importantly, food scraps are blended and recycled as worm food for nutrient rich soil (The Urban Farming Guys, 2011). There is even a method for extracting methane gas from tilapia waste to heat the greenhouses and convert electricity in generators (The Urban Farming Guys, 2011).

Check it out:



References:

Ashman, M. R., & Puri, G. (2009). Essential soil science- a clear and concise introduction. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Black.
Sullivan , P. (2003). Applying principals of sustainable farming.National Center for Appropriate Technology.
The Urban Farming Guys. (Photographer). (2011). The urban experiment. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/TheUrbanFarmingGuys?blend=1&ob=video-mustangbase
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Resource Conservation Services. (2000). Making the transition to sustainable agriculture. Watershed Science Institute.
(Image via google images and not the artistic property of Green Goddess)