Indigenous Micro-organisms/IMO

I spend a hell of a lot of time googling things to do with my garden, I have have lost many hours at home and work looking at stuff, projects, plants, DIY....... ETC. I am always looking for new idea's and ways of doing things and improving what I do now. I certainly enjoy the process of looking and trying things out. It was through one of my googling sessions I came across Indigenous Micro-organisms or IMO's for short, these are present within our soil and are a good gage on its fertility. I have been over the last two years using the Bokashi composting system which employs IMO's to breakdown waste anaerobically. This process which I have wrote about previously (Bokashi Composting) creates both a quick way to make compost as well as a liquid feed rich in nutrients as well as IMO's. Its very much a winner for me, However the one and only downside to it is the cost of the Bokashi Bran itself, which isn't cheap in my opinion. But as it turns out the Koreans have been farming with IMO's for centuries and you don't need a laboratory to create it. All you need to begin with is some rice and some sugar!! If your at all interested in making your own bokashi its well worth watching Bryan McGrath's Vlog linked below.







I found that taking notes from these videos helps as they are quiet long and indepth, yet the actual process on paper seems simple. I have already begun the process of collecting my own IMO's with my bowl of rice, fingers crossed that in a few days when I look it will be full of nice white mold.

The aim eventually is to make my own Bokashi, using the IMO's i have collected and grown and then inoculating wood shavings that I already buy in for the chicken coop. I may even see if I can use shavings that I have taken out of the coop and separate out most of the manure. Its all a bit of an experiment but after reading a few studies on the effectiveness of IMO's on soil quality I think its certainly worth trying.

Finally built the needed garden gate!

I finally got round to building a gate and thus stop my girls escaping into my flower garden and into next doors garden. I have had no end of escapes and running around after excitable hens. But no more!

Instead of the above ramshackle, temporary thing I had made a gate out of an old pallet as well as two planters to sit on the wall either side of it. In the planters I have put in some rosemary and the Idea is to have a little hedge further fortifying the Chicken area!

Garden Update 2014

So I posted they pics earlier on G+ but with out explanation. I am rather please with how well every thing seems to be going and since I took the photo many of the plants have grown considerably.

 I have to admit I have that I have a problem, I can not stop buying plants..... I don't go around buying everything I see but if I do see something exotic or unusual I really can not help myself. Hence in the picture to my right 4 Chilean Guava plants and 2 Goji Berry plants. I have never eaten a Guava berry in my life but I could not help myself, however they were an absolute bargain, I got 6 potted plants for £10 on the Dobies website, follow the link here if you want some. I actually thought I was buying 3 plants so gave 2 to my neighbour. The Goji berry came from Morrison's supermarket at the very reasonable price of £2 a plant. I also came home with 2 Gooseberry bushes. All are intended to be grown in pots for now.












To the left I have some Nasturtium Empress of India in my tin can hanger, they are very easy to grow add a bit of colour with the added bonus of having edible flowers. They do attract the cabbage white butterfly though so you have to be quick to get some before the caterpillars have their fill.













I have gone tomato mad this year, it being my first year with a proper greenhouse. I love tomatoes but I think everyone I know will be sick of them come the end of the season. I have about 5 varieties on the go the one in the picture is called Latah and promises to yield fruit in late June and early July. Fingers crossed it does. I bought the seed for this from Realseeds.co.uk








Because of the greenhouse I have also got Melon Madness..... I think I have 4 or 5 Melon varieties, to the left we have Minnesota Midget again from realseeds.co.uk. The small seedlings are Cucamelons not true melons but more like little cucumbers that look like watermelons. I got the seed for these from Russia. But i have seen therm everywhere after I bought them.













After a very successful harvest last year of sweetcorn, I have I have trebles the amount at least of plants for this year. Sticking with the same variety called Double Standard. The Sweetcorn is planned to be part of a Three Sisters planting scheme with peas, French beans and and courgette. I have added a few other plants too such as sunflowers broadbeans and I think I might try a melon or cucumber in there as well.








An there is one of the courgettes, this one will be from in the pot, its actually been hit by the frost a bit but I think it will survive.

















Last year I wanted to grow enough spuds to last me all year, and I did. This year I have growing even more and more varieties too. My main crop here in the pic is Mayan Gold.I have had my potatoes in this barrel for since the start of March which was a little risky but the weather has been kind. The are soiled up to about two thirds of the barrel. The crop in the beds is just getting going now.






Ahh the Rhubarb seems to have taken well after being moved for the second year in a row. I wont be moving them for the foreseeable future/ Still I will only take a little from it this year just to make sure they get established.








Finally the Garlic, the picture really can do them justice, they are so well established from over wintering. I will always over winter from now on. The varieties are Elephant Garlic and White Solent. I have mulched them and the onions for the first time too.

Trio Tin Can Planter Project

I have been a busy boy! Making things, from trash and this is another project I recently finished. A trio of vertical tin can planters. The idea came to me after seeing a similar projects on Pinterest made with terracotta pots that sat in wooden rests and suspended vertically.I thought they were great and wanted to make my own. However I neither had the required pots or tools to make them. So like a good upcycler I thought about what materials I could get a hold off. 

To make this you will need.......

Three large tin cans (I sourced these from my work, they are around 3 litres in size)
Three hanging basket chains (I bought these for about 75p from a local garden shop)
Two M8 marine bolts with nuts and washers (the most expensive part of this if you find a cheaper part that's great)
A drill and metal drill bits
Electrical wire snips
And Paint!!

To Build.....

Clean your tins inside and out in hot soapy water
Lightly sand the surface you are going to paint and wipe with a damp cloth
Drill your holes,you will need to drill one hole slightly bigger than the M8 bolt in the centre base of two cans, three small hole around the rim of the can for the chain clips, I did this by eye it doesn't need to be perfect. and finally drainage holes.
Attach your M8 marine bolts a washers on either side and tighten up.
Paint your cans, I used spray paint that I had in the shed hence the random nature of the colours.
Attach your hanging basket chains, I shortened mine to 12 links as they were far to long, to do this just count the amount of links you would like for the desired length, move the clip to that link and if it looks right snip of the excess with the wire snips.
Finally plant up!! My trio is going to be in an almost full shade part of my yard thus ferns will be going in when I get some.

Small Vertical Garden Update

Last year I posted about some of the recycling projects I had been doing (A poor gardeners addiction) and one of the things that I had made was a vertical wall garden. I finally got round to planting it up last week and though it looks a little rough around the edges at the moment I am sure it will soon fill out and look alot better.

I chose a few different plants that I hope will cover up the structure! There are two ferns, two grasses and a Periwinkle that have taken up residence so far and I have also got some Viola to finish it off. The idea being that these are all pretty effortless plants growing in varying conditions and of course evergreen so one its established its a wall of greenery all year round!

This isn't a big pallet, any bigger I would have really struggled to move it with all the compost in it. Its going to stay there until it falls to bits!