Best natural fertilizers

Throughout my experience gardening, there are a few things that I have picked up on.  One of the most important ones would be the type of fertilizer to use.  I believe everyone starts thinking about 10-10-10 or Miracle Grow, but are they the best and only ones out there.  The answer is simple, NO!  In fact there are some organic fertilizers that would trump these any day of the week.

The type of fertilizers that I am talking about are manures (cow and poultry), worm castings, and fish fertilizer.  I have done a series on my YouTube channel (aandbfarm) about how well our worm castings work.  I have found that worm castings increased the growth rate of our vegetables exponentially about 3 times faster than the normal growth rate.  As a kid, my family would use poultry manure in our garden to help fertilize our garden.  Our veggies would grow quicker and faster.  One important thing to know about poultry manure is that it needs to be put in the sun to help kill any bacteria that is in it before applying it to your garden.  And finally fish fertilizer.  I have used fish fertilizer a few times and I would rate it up there with the worm castings.  I have seen about the same rate of growth as worm castings.  The only downfall to fish fertilizer is that it's very smelly.

In conclusion, there are more ways to fertilize your garden than just using 10-10-10 or MiracleGro.  By using organic elements like fish manure (fertilizer), worm castings, and poultry manure are ways to fertilize your garden naturally.  Plus they are a healthy alternative to fertilizing and are organic. So go out there and give it a try and see for yourself. 

Happy Gardening.

So its been more than a year since my last post.

Well there has been a lot of changes with A and B Farm in the last year and nine months.  We continued to raise chickens and pigs until the fall of last year.  Then we planted some nectarine and apple trees.  And eventually tried some raised beds.  Everything was working fine until the outer effects of Hurricane Sandy ripped our greenhouse in half.  And then we had family members who got extremely sick, so we had to relocate back to suburbia.  So now we are living in the house we originally lived in when we started our family and it only has half an acre.  This is a big change.

So today's lesson is one that I have found quite interesting and that my wife picked up from one of her friends.  We love pineapples and sometimes pineapples can get quite expensive.  So what is better than buying pineapples, growing them exactly our thoughts as well.  However, we do not live in Hawaii where pineapples are plentiful and grown in fields (not on trees like a lot of people think).  And this is the story of how we are growing a pineapple.

We took the pineapple and cut the top of the pineapple off.  Instead of throwing it away we put it in a bowl of water and let it sit for about a month.  This process allowed the stem of the pineapple to start growing roots (this process is called rooting).  Once the roots were established, we then planted the plant in a pot of soil.  It takes pineapples two years to grow into a full mature fruit.  We have kept our plant outside on our porch so it get the most optimal sunlight to help the growth process, plus natural light is way better than artificial light. 

Now the picture below depicts our pineapple at 6 months of growth since planting in soil.  And make sure your pineapple is fully mature before harvesting due to it can be poisonous if it is consumed.  I hope you did in fact learn something from this post, because learning makes everyday a new adventure.

How to Build a Pig Pen

So today, I am writing to you about how to build a pig pen.  When deciding where to place your pigs, first you need to be able to clear the area where you want to house your pigs.  So once you have cleared your area, then you need to get your supplies together to start constructing the pen.  Here is the list of supplies:

(2) 4'x4'x8' pressure treated posts

(8) 8' landscape timber

(2) 1lb box of deck and patio nails

(16) 5/4x6"x12' pressure treated boards

(8) 5/4x6"x10' pressure treated boards

(3) 4'x8' sheet of plywood

post hole diggers

(2) hinges for a gate

(1) 1x4x8 pressure treated board

Now these supplies cost me $118.  You can buy any of these supplies at any local hardware or home improvement stores.  It is imperative to make sure that all of your boards are straight and not twisted or bowed.  

So now here is the steps that needs to take place to construct your pen.

1. Mark off your 10 ft by 24 ft area.

2. Dig your corner post holes 2 ft deep.

3. Cut the 4x4x8 posts to 4 ft lengths.  There should be 4 posts total.

4. Now put the posts in the holes.

5. Mark off the next holes on the sides by 4 ft increments which should be 5 holes on each side.

6. Cut the landscape timbers to 4 ft lengths.

7. Place the 4 ft timbers into the holes.

8. Now for the end sections, dig holes at 3.5 ft lengths.  (Should be 2 holes)

9. Place 4 ft timbers into the holes.

10. Nail the 12 ft boards to the posts.  This establishes the sides of the pen.

11. On the back side, nail the 10 ft boards to the posts on the end.

This establishes the three sides of the pen.

12. Cut the remaining 10 ft boards to 3.5 ft lengths. (There should be 8 boards at 3.5 ft and 4 boards at 3 ft)

13. Nail the 3.5 ft boards to the corner and middle posts.

14. Cut the 1x4 to two 2 ft lengths.

15. Construct the gate by nailing the 2ft and 3 ft lengths to form a gate.  

16. Take the hinges and screw it onto the 1x4 and one of the middle posts, making it swing inwards.

17. Nail the plywood into the back of the 10 ft section. This helps construct the shelter portion of the pen.

18. Place the 4 ft sections of the landscape timbers 3.5 ft away from the back wall.

19. Nail in the plywood on the top of landscape timbers and on the timbers on the back wall.

20. Cut the last plywood board to 4 ft lengths.

21. Nail the 4 ft sections to the sides of the shelter.

Now the pig pen has been constructed, you can put in at least two pigs into that pen.  Make sure you put in some hay into your shelter to help give warmth.  Pigs like to burrow in their bedding.  Make sure you keep the pig pen clean because they are very clean animals. 

Self Sufficient Farming

Today I am writing about self sufficient farming.  In the past two years, my family and I have been experimenting in different ways how a city family can survive in the country environment.  It was definitely hard at times but it is well worth it.  In our blogs from now on, we are going to starting giving tips on how to stay self sufficient.  And what I mean about self sufficient is the ability to provide your own food with hard work in the beginning but reaping the rewards in the end.

I decided to start a new format of our blogs, due to a conversation that I had with a customer at work today.  I realized how much I enjoyed the farming life and the ability to use the skills I have learned here in Greene County, GA.  How much I love the ability to be able to walk out the door and smell fresh air and not smog.  Don't get me wrong, I am going to be giving information to the "city folks" and well as the country folks.  This new format is for everyone and anyone who wishes to read it.

So this is what everyone needs to be prepared for:
  1) How to establish a site for a pig pen and building it.
  2) How to care for pigs that are raised for food
  3) How to establish a raised bed for a garden
  4) How to have a garden in any type of soil and what soil amendments to use
  5) How to raise chickens for both eggs and meat

These are a few of the things to be looking forward to in the month ahead.  Keep checking in with us and stay informed.  Thank you for checking out our site.

New Post for the New Year

Hello everyone.  Well this is a new year and it is about time to start plowing your fields and planting your gardens.  Well we here at A and B Farm are ready to help with your organic fertilizer needs.  First I would like to thank everyone who has bought castings from me and would like to leave some feed back for me and others to see.  We are dedicated to making you guys satisfied.  I have spoken to a Greene County Master Gardener yesterday and I am making plans to help them with their project for this year in starting a small scale community raised bed projectover at the Agriculture Extension Office.

100% germination on Kale

Well I thought I would let everyone know that my Kale had a 100% germination rate in my worm castings and potting soil mix.  I will post pictures later.  I am currently working on transplanting broccoli, winterbor kale, and cabbage in my worm casting and potting soil mix.  Hopefully all will work out well.

Gourmet Lettuce 2 weeks after transplanting

Well like I promised I would do two weeks ago, I am going to show you some pictures of the gourmet lettuce that was germinated in my worm castings/potting soil mix and then transplanted into the same type of mixture.  Let the pictures do the talking.  You can tell a huge difference since the plants have been transplanted.  And the hint is that there is no fertilizer involved just good ole organic worm castings.  If you are interested in purchasing some worm castings contact me at aandbfarm@yahoo.com.  5 pound bags are $8.00 a bag.