Wums!!!

       The little ones at the Learning Tree Preschool in Cardiff, California were excited to get in on the composting craze.  With the foresight and insight of parents Steve and Jayshree Gherkins and teacher Anita Hoban, a lovely vegetable garden was installed for the kids, where they can began to learn the fundamentals of gardening.  And what is a vegetable garden without a compost bin?  So Swami bruce, worm wrangler and Master of Compost Technology swooped in with a City subsidized compost bin and a bucket of worms to start the process. 
     Working with preschoolers is a challenge, to say the least.  They are so adorable and funny, you cannot help but be charmed.  But then again, it is like herding cats! And when 10 little sets of little hands all want to hold a "wum" all at the same time, punctuated by a few high decibel shrieks when said worms start to wiggle, well, I realized that preschool teachers are not paid nearly enough! 
       I was able to explain to the kids that worms are our friends, that they like it dark and moist, and that they eat the food scraps that we throw away.  I showed them what the finished compost would look like, dark and rich and full of worms.  Every child was then encouraged to bring food scraps from home to feed the worms.  When I went back for a follow-up visit, they were already harvesting summer squash for lunch; and when kids grow vegetables, they usually will eat them! I also met the lovely Susan Finklestein, who is writing a children's book about the garden, including a character named "Swami bruce, the worm man."
       I hope that the seeds of a love of gardening will take root with these nascent gardeners.  And may their garden grow and produce much good edibles for the students and teachers alike. 
Now get out there and grow something.
Peace,
Swami bruce

Garden Pods Installed and Planted

       One of the services we here at the Gardener's Footsteps provide is the installation of what we call "Garden Pods", a circular small garden bed of our own design.  These modular garden beds are inexpensive, easy to site and easy to maintain.  We have recently completed an installation for two happy gardeners here in Encinitas.  This was an array of eight pods in two different locations on their property. 

The basic design uses galvanized wire fencing wired into a circle; the bottom is lined with tape free cardboard and the sides with inexpensive reed fencing.  They are filled with alfalfa hay, straw, fertilized with blood and bone meal (or any good organic fertilizer) and topped with planting compost. Viola! Instant garden bed!  These pods were then wrapped with bamboo fencing as desired by the client for aesthetic purposes.

The wonderful thing about these pods is that they are so easy to maintain.  The raised soil bed means less bending.  They can easily be covered with bird netting when young succulent sprouts are tempting the birds. They are easy to weed, easy to water and easy to revamp at season's end and they just look pretty cool.

In general, the complete garden pod installation runs about $100/per unit.  The pods pictured here have the bamboo fencing wrap that did increase the unit cost, but they are still pretty cool looking even without the bamboo upgrade.

Here is an array of two Garden Pods from Swami bruce and Amy's home garden that were made in an oval shape and lined with used burlap coffee bags, free for the taking from local coffee roasters.  They are planted with potatoes in this picture. As you can see, they are easily shaped to fit the area, and harvesting is a breeze !!
Now get out there and grow something.
Peace,
Swami bruce