A beautiful cloudy, overcast day where the low was 74°F and the high might reach 92°F. What a difference some clouds make. Finally, the weather report is calling for about a quarter inch of rain in the evening. I’ll take anything now; my plants are not picky. With the clouds giving everything a break from the sun, today turned into their R & R day, and different parts of the gardens received their own boosts.
Yesterday I gave almost all the plants in my main gardens the dry Alaskan Fish fertilizer. The ones that didn’t were all the cucumbers, beans, and basils. Large plants got two tablespoons and small got one tablespoon. Then I followed it up with their regular 2–3 second sip. This helped work in the fertilizer. I am also following up with a Bocking 14 (sterile comfrey) 24‑hour steeped tea.
In my second year, I purchased 12 Bocking roots online and planted them in an area that stayed pretty wet. They don’t need wet soil, though — they thrive in all kinds of soils, even my clay soil in the Back 40.
I bought the Bocking 14 because it fits my self‑sufficient ECO gardening style. After that first investment, it just keeps on giving, and I don’t have to rely on store‑bought fertilizers as much. I love that I can use Bocking 14 in several different ways to boost my plants or improve my soil. If you remember the blog about the fall bed, I chopped Bocking 14 leaves and let them dry for about a week before tilling them in.
Now I am making an easy tea where I take 3 handfuls of chopped Bocking 14 and put them in a 5‑gallon bucket of dechlorinated water and let it steep for 24 hours. There really isn’t any shade in my gardens, so I had to improvise. I needed to keep the bucket out of the sun, so I set it inside a box and used landscape fabric to hold the flaps down. Since I knew it might rain today, I added a piece of plastic over the flaps and then put the landscape fabric back on top to keep everything secure.
Today it was ready, and all I needed to do was strain it and start giving the plants their drinks. The Pickle Patch were first since those tomatoes were trimmed first. Tomorrow will be the RRR and then the B40. After that, I added the spent chopped Bocking to my Amish compost to help give the pile a good kickstart. The eggplants, peppers, and squashes will get their boost as well as I work through each area.
Once those plants were boosted, I moved on to the second boost — a 10% Miracle‑Gro solution (1¼ teaspoons per 5 gallons of water) for the fall bed and the calendulas. That didn’t take long, and I was on to the half‑strength Miracle‑Gro for the okra row. For that mix, I used 2 tablespoons of Miracle‑Gro in 5 gallons of water. Okra could have gotten the fish fertilizer, but I was running low, so Miracle‑Gro made a good substitute. Once done I harvested some yellow squash and okra and then did my Amish compost layers of greens and browns covering the greens. On my way out I checked the Learning Patch. I picked a few cukes.
Before closing this blog out, I spotted Fredericus on the inside door of my shed when I opened it up. My shed has become his protective home during the day, and I’m sure he can hop out or slide through the smallest crack in my shed at night when he’s ready to go hunting. I am helping him and he is helping me—a good ECO relationship.
The more ECO my garden becomes, the more alive it feels — just as nature intended.
