In Praise of Permaculture-Mulching: Summer Project #3

Tomato plant that reseeded itself in our sheet mulched garden

I have to admit that out of all the summer projects on our bucket list, moving mulch was the one I was least excited about.  My husband is the gardener of the family---as I have mentioned before---and he is always looking for a more efficient method to grow our food that is less labor intensive.  In a nutshell, he is a huge fan of permaculture.  In particular, he loves the aspect of mulching.

Our one ton pile of wood chips dumped in our yard in May

According to Wikipedia, "In permaculture, sheet mulching is an agricultural no-dig gardening technique that attempts to mimic natural forests' processes.  When deployed properly and in combination with other permacultural principles, it can generate healthy, productive, and low maintenance ecosystems."  This hill of mulch was the final step in the sheet mulching process for the one and only garden we planted this summer.  For my husband, this was the solution to the incessant weed problem in our gardens.  To me, this just looked like months of work shoveling mulch into a wheel barrow, dumping it in place, and then spreading it with a rake because we don't have any tractors here.

Our garden at the end of May.  Notice my flowers that looked so pitiful then.

However, along with a successful crop of comfrey for our livestock and enough peas and onions for us to preserve, it also laid the groundwork for a number of tomatoes reseeding themselves and growing into the plants shown in the picture at the top of this post.

A closeup of part of the garden a week ago.

Not to mention what this mulch has done for the marigolds, zinnias, and gerber daisies I planted back in early May.  These are the same flowers that appeared to be dead 2 months ago when we first applied the wood chips.  You can see there are still a few weeds and sprigs of grass creeping in, but they pull out easily, and we now only need to pull a few weeds once or twice a week as opposed to the daily weeding and hoeing we used to do.

A flower bed along the front of our farmhouse at the beginning of summer

In addition to helping the garden, we also used the wood chips in a traditional fashion as mulch in the numerous flower beds around our farmhouse.  There are still many beds to fill at various sites on our property, but most of the beds next to the house have been mulched to some extent.  This one was the worst since it was filled with overgrown bushes, many weeds, and wild raspberry shoots.  I'm embarrassed to even show this picture that was taken back in early May.

The same area now

After a few hours of some pruning, digging, and mulching by my wonderful husband and several of our strong children, this is what the bed currently looks like.  Now I can actually do something with it.  Hopefully before the summer is over, the remaining 5 flower beds will look this good, and I won't feel like we're living in a mountain jungle.

As we continue on our small farming journey, I believe we will incorporate more and more aspects of permaculture into our family's hobby farm.  The premise of it is something we believe in, and it makes complete sense to stop going against nature in traditional methods of plowing, planting, tilling, and other conventional ways of farming.  I would consider this summer project of mulching a success.  It is a bit of work early in the summer (for which I can take no credit), but it ultimately leads to much healthier soil, plants that thrive, and very few weeds.  To learn more about permaculture, check out the sites below:

www.permaculture.org/

permaculturenews.org/

www.rodalesorganiclife.com

www.backtoedenfilm.com/

Sprucing Up Outdoor Furniture: Summer Project #2

One of the projects on our to-do list this summer was to treat and paint our outdoor furniture.  For the wood pieces, I used Thompson's WaterSeal wood protector in clear.  The metal furniture got several cans of Rust-Oleum spray paint or Krylon Fusion spray paint.  We also used the Rust-Oleum Specialty Plastic on the resin chairs (not pictured here.)

First up was my brand new picnic table which I have wanted for years.  This one was purchased unfinished from Home Depot for me for Mother's Day this May.

I had help from my six year old adding the second coat of sealant several weeks after I applied the first one.  We have had so much rain here this summer that finding a day with no storms forecasted was a real challenge.

I'm not sure I'm satisfied with this.  The wood looks much darker than when it was unsealed, and it is starting to look like there are dark mildew patches on it even though I can see the rainwater bead up on the surface.  I may paint it a hunter green color to match the doors on our farmhouse.

Next, we tackled this small metal table on our front porch.  I couldn't find a way to easily remove the glass top, so I covered it in newspaper and tape.  We then used just one coat of the Rust-Oleum spray paint in a satin hunter green.  The clothespin flower pot and impatiens were a handmade Mother's Day gift from my 10 year old son.

I am very pleased with how this turned out, and it matches our front door.

I received this large unfinished porch swing years ago for a Mother's Day gift, and I never sealed it.

So both my daughters used the Thompson's Water Seal to protect it from any further weathering.

I purchased a pair of outdoor pillows on clearance from our local Kmart, and I bring them inside when we aren't using them to prevent the cats from taking them for their own beds.

This metal table and chairs belonged to my husband when we met, so I don't even know how old they are.  They're still in great shape but were beginning to rust, plus there were spots on the table where our older girls had spilled nail polish and Wite-Out many years ago.

With the help of my 13 year old daughter, we sprayed 2 coats of paint on the table and chairs.  Unfortunately, we ran out of paint and couldn't find an exact duplicate at the local hardware store.

We ended up having to cover all of it with a final coat of the Krylon Fusion in black satin.  I am very pleased with the results, and we realized that we love to spray paint!

I found the umbrella at Ollie's Bargain Outlet, and it has withstood our numerous storms this summer.

At our cabin, we discovered two resin chairs, but they had gray mildew stains that would not come out with bleach.

We started out using the rest of the can of hunter green spray paint, but we didn't have enough to even cover one chair thoroughly.  I definitely underestimate the amount of paint needed.

When I returned to the store to buy more, they were sold out of all colors of spray paint except dark brown and black.  The cabin has a dark brown wood exterior, and I would have preferred a color that would stand out a bit, but both chairs were only partially painted and we are expecting company this weekend, so I settled for the brown. This spray paint is made to fuse with plastic in one coat.  Hopefully, it will hold up well.  My teen daughter and her friend painted them for me yesterday, and I think they look pretty good; although, I may change the color again later.