Mmm, Mmm, Mulch

Every day I look at the calender and it amazes me that it's October - almost MID-October at that! Fall has definitely settled in, bringing its sweaters and puffy vests, mulled cider, and cold rains. If you've had a garden in your backyard like many of my friends and family, you very well have harvested your last vegetable within the last couple weeks. For many of you, this garden was your first, and you may be wondering "what do I do now?" My friend Crystal asked me that same question a while back, telling me that many "new" gardeners might not know what to do with their green patch at the end of the season. Here are some helpful suggestions.

Rake It Up!
If you planted vegetables, there's a lot of plant matter left on the ground. I suggest taking a couple rakes and hoes and remove the plant material from the garden and put it into compost. If you live in an urban area and your backyard space is limited such that you cannot have a compost pile, bag up the debris and shove it to the curb. If you happen to live in the "country," burning the pile is an option, although adding the plant matter to your compost pile is a better option, environmentally. Be sure to check your local village/city's website for appropriate inofmration about public removal of plant wast, burning laws, and composting suggestions. Getting your garden CLEAN will help prevent plant pathogens from entering the soil from the decay of dead plants. This will help keep your next year's crop healthy!

Put Your Back Into It
Renting or borrowing a router-tiller to give your garden a good mixing is a good fall activity. This will help incorporate any leftover fertilizer and plant metter into the soil, building your garden's soil oranic matter and nutrient levels - higher levels of organic matter and nutrients leads of course to happier, healthier plants! Doing so in the fall is better than the spring, when snow thaws and rains can lead to runoff of these valuable resources if left on the soil surface. But before you do bring in the machinery, be sure too...

Mulch It Up!
Mulch (either plant- or animal-based) is a great organic matter builder for any soil, and is a staple for many conventional and organic farmers. Mulch helps build soil fertility by adding nutrient resources, improving soil structure (giving roots room to breate), and brings in "good" microbes that help breakdown matter into forms usable by plants. Adding mulch in the fall will help build your garden's fertility over winter, locking in broken-down nutrients when the upper layers of soil freeze, and later preventing "plant food" from being washed away in the spring.

All of your hard work this fall will bring rewards next summer to your garden. Plus, a long day of hard work makes chick soup taste all the greater in the fall!

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the garden: Night By Night - Chromeo (a shout-out to Pixel - I'll miss your Wild Zeros!)

Give Me My Plantkinz!

Through conversations with friends and old residents during House Dinners, I have learned that a number of my friends don't have plants because they claim to have black thumbs. Just last week my friend and cafe supervisor Heidi mentioned she feels she lacks knowledge about growing "real" plants and is a much better "virtual farmer" with Facebook's Farm Town application. Well Heidi, growing real plants just got a thousand times easier with MyViolet.com!

MyViolet.com (created by the global African Violet grower Optimara) is like Webkinz for plants. Like Webkinz, MyViolet plants come with their own online authorization code when purchased at big box stores as well as a number of local garden centers. Once you have created your online account, you can register your plant by giving it a name, selecting its variety (the Stephanie is a personal fave), and uploading a personal photo of your new pet plant. Dr. Optimara is by your side every step of the way, giving you health tips and assisting you with regularly updating your violet's "health chart." Although you don't get MyViolet points or cash to update your plant's "room" or "dinner menu" as with Webkinz, I think it's pretty cool that you can share the growth and progress of your violet with other budding plant lovers on the MyViolet blog. It's quite possibly the next best way for "plant" people to interact together online next to Farm Town - and hey! you're growing a real plant!

Although some people may claim African Violets are "grandma plants" or old fashioned (I personally have always associated violets with my grandfather's kitchen), Optimara is clearly bringing the plant into the 21st century with this website. Not only is the company making violets "cool again" through the use of online technology, it is also making it easier for new generations to keep house plants through online education and social interaction. MyViolet.com takes away the stress and worry of killing a plant, and in my book less stress is always a good thing. So for everyone out there who is a little afraid about killing their house plant, fear not! MyViolet.com is there to help you learn, grow, and become a better gardener.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Technologic - Daft Punk