Organic Green Spot Gardening

Compost  when properly produced is  dark, crumbly, decomposed organic matter that smells like the earth.  The finished product is humus and is a treasure for the organic gardener.

Compost enriches soil  and improves plant growth when it helps break down heavy clay soils .  The ability to hold water and add nutrients to the soil will aid in plant growth.

Many gardeners fail to make use of their yard wastes and miss an opportunity to improve plant yields.  The following yard wastes are easily added to the compost pile.

• Grass clippings
• old plants and their potting soil
• flowers
• weeds that do not spread
• small twigs
• wood chips

However, there are some organic wastes that should not be added to the compost pile.

• large branches
• lumber that has been treated, painted, or preserved
• dog and cat waste
• weeds spread by runners like morning glory
• diseased plants or insect infested plants
• meat, fish, or dairy products (vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, eggshells are fine)
• weeds gone to seed

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The largest of the North American swallows, the Purple Martin is a popular tenant of backyard birdhouses. In fact, in eastern North America it has nested almost exclusively in nest boxes for more than 100 years.
Purple Martins’ diet consists primarily of insects. Purple Martins are renowned for their appetite for mosquitos. Many homeowners and bird lovers erect Purple Martin hoses to attract this natural “mosquito control” bird. After all, studies suggest an adult Purple Martin can consume over 2,000 mosquitos a day. On a given day, however, martins will consume a wide variety of insects, and only a fraction of that is mosquitos. Other insects on their diet include: dragonflies, flies, beetles, moths, ants, grasshoppers, and even bees and wasps.
Don’t plan on seeing a martin at your bird feeder. They do not eat seeds. In rare situations of bad weather or when food is scarce, you may find them on the ground searching for worms, grubs, and other bugs.   Check my site at www.organicgreenspot.com for Purple Martin Housing.

Red Wiggler Worms



Worm systems are typically managed for one of three reasons:
1.  waste management
2. production of worm biomass
3.  production of castings
While worms are being grown, organic materials are being processed, and castings are being generated in all worm beds.  Regular composting is good but when we use worms to convert organic waste, the end product (compost) is enriched by the presence of large amounts of “worm casts” or “castings.”

Visit my e-commerce store for worm products and organic growing materials at www.organicgreenspot.com

Earthworms are nature‘s clean-up crew, aiding in the production of lush, humus-rich topsoil from spent plant and animal materials. These elegantly efficient organisms have been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years longer than humankind, largely untouched by evolution due to their nearly perfect adaptation to their role in nature.
Humankind has studied and learned to appreciate the talents of the earthworm, developing systems that capitalize on the natural role it plays in recycling organic matter back into humus. We now use earthworms for the remediation of organic “waste” materials, reducing the pressure on landfills and aiding in the regeneration of our valuable topsoils.

https://www.organicgreenspot.com Click for  Organic Worm supplies on this website.

Bees have been few and far between in my Kitchen Garden this year.  I did plant some Borage, a herb known to attract butterflies with its pretty blue flowers in our Church Garden plot this year.

Borage, a natural butterfly herb

The ecological and financial importance of natural pollination by insects to agricultural crops, improving their quality and quantity, becomes more and more appreciated and has given rise to new financial opportunities. The vicinity of a forest or wild grasslands with native pollinators near agricultural crops, such as apples, almonds or coffee can improve their yield by about 20%. The benefits of native pollinators may result in forest owners demanding payment for their contribution in the improved crop results – a simple example of the economic value of ecological services.
The American Institute of Biological Sciences reports that native insect pollination saves the United States agricultural economy nearly an estimated $3.1 billion annually through natural crop production;[4] pollination produces some $40 billion worth of products annually in the United States alone.[2]
Pollination of food crops has become an environmental issue, due to two trends. The trend to monoculture means that greater concentrations of pollinators are needed at bloom time than ever before, yet the area is forage poor or even deadly to bees for the rest of the season. The other trend is the decline of pollinator populations, due to pesticide misuse and overuse, new diseases and parasites of bees, clearcut logging, decline of beekeeping, suburban development, removal of hedges and other habitat from farms, and public paranoia about bees. Widespread aerial spraying for mosquitoes due to West Nile fears is causing an acceleration of the loss of pollinators.
The US solution to the pollinator shortage, so far, has been for commercial beekeepers to become pollination contractors and to migrate. Just as the combine harvesters follow the wheat harvest from Texas to Manitoba, beekeepers follow the bloom from south to north, to provide pollination for many different crops.
Pollinators — Lawrence, KS by Dave Loewenstein.   Follow the link to view a wall mural showing pollinators in action painted by Dave Loewenstein in Lawrence, Kansas.



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