diy part 1

5. DIY part 1 – Initial investments + Tools – Pots, Trays, Soil, Compost, Peat moss etc. Tools needed –Being a green gardener – Parts of a plant - Know your soil – Soil structure – types of soil, Compost, Mulch and Fertilizers (nutrients needed). Make your own compost bin – different ways to compost.
While you compost : Plan your garden – mark trees, bushes, pots/containers, creepers, beds for vegetable patches.
Alternative for place with space constraints- growing in pots, building raised beds.
Ideal soil for trees – double digging. Ideal soil for pots. Ideal soil for trays.
Working organic matter into the soil. – leave for 15 days.
Initial investments –
First the tools >
Basic tools for gardening
Primary tools -
Spade (kulhari) :
Mostly for initial preparation, digging out soil and incorporating organic matter into it. Useful for preparing beds for trees and vegetable patches.
Rake :
For tidying up the garden and to gather leaves for mulch.
Trowel (khurpi) :
For digging small hole and working on smaller areas. Its available in a variety of sizes and kinds of blades.
Garden Scissors and Sickle:
For pruning and weeding respectively
Spray can:
For medicinal sprays and water.
Hose Pipe :
For watering larger areas.
Watering can :
For watering individual plants, trees and saplings.
Bamboo/ Banana strings and fibers – For the purpose of tying young plants to stakes.
Also essential:
A Head –
Brain: For observing and comprehending patterns in behavior of the garden.
Eyes, nose, ears and tongue. – These are useful to sense anything out of normal in the whereabouts. Useful in the garden as well.
Hands – Finger and palms – The soil and plants appreciate human touch.
Feet – Your footprints serve as the best fertilizer around the garden.
The Containers:
Pots- Clay pots – Work well for ornamental plants, come in various shapes and sizes.
Cement pots – Work well for vegetables and fruits, larger plants grow better in these containers.
Trays- Used mainly for growing seeds that need more care during the growing stages.
Pans – To keep under smaller pots and plants inside. They to gather any water that leaks out of the pots.
Hanging Baskets – For ornamental plants, small shrubs. Ideal for porches and balconies.
Sources listed on page ___.
Soil. Manure. Compost. Mulch. (more on these a bit ahead, Pages x-y)



SOIL – (function ~ provides plant with nutrients, root hold, water, microorganisms, worms, warmth and protection for the roots and the plant)

Structure of soil – Top soil – Sub soil – Parent soil.
Types of Soil – Clay: holds on to things, Low/ no drainage, clumpy, hard when wet, harder when dry.
Repair this soil – Mulch, digging in compost and manure, introducing worms and moderate watering, gypsum and lime.
Loam (ideal soil) – Ideal drainage, holds enough water, crumbly, moistened soil.
Sandy – Drains completely, doesn’t hold together, loosely packed.
Repair this soil - Mulch, manure, fertilizers, peat moss.

Detox your soil from Metals – Lead, Arsenic, Radiation poisoning ~ Cabbase + Ferns + Sunflowers + Alfa Alfa, Pigweeds, Germanium, Dandelions.
Feed your soil –
Compost – (provides soil with air + water+ carbon + nitrogen)
Build your own compost bin –
wood-
Build a cubical wooden frame (3ft*3ft*3ft) that looks like this. – you’ll need waste strips of wood and wire mesh for ventilation.
Plastic- Take a plastic bin or a tub about 3ft*3ft*3ft. Provide with a lid. Drill holes on the side of the tub for ventilation.
Pit – Dig a pit into the soil and line with lime/ stone walls, bricks. Whatever. Use as instructed, keep covered with cardboard lid.

Compost like so –
Layer 1 - start with a dry bedding (leaves, newspaper, grassclippings), kitchen scraps and wastes , shred to smaller pieces, repeate layer, instsperse with soil and worms to fasten up the process. Stir every three day. Always keep covered with dry bedding. Keep moist by sprinkling with soil. If its too wet – add dry bedding. If its still wet, add MORE dry bedding. Introduce worms to fasten up the process.
Neem powder and chilly powder to keep maggots away. Cardboard keeps most of the smell away.
Compost readies in about 30 – 60 days. You’ll know its done when you are faced with dark, sweet smelling crumbly matter with no recognizable chunks of kitchen matter.
Use as 3 parts compost to 7 parts of soil.
70 % of household waste can be composted –
Do not compost :
- Pet waste
- Mayonaisse, peanut butter, salad dressing, oily food stuff.
- Coloured, glossy paper.
- Chemically treated wood.
- Dairy, mouldy cheeses are okay.
- Grain and carbs.
- Lint
- Weeds.
Mulch: Provides nutrient, avoids over evaporation of moisture from exposed soil, keeps weeds out.
Comprises of pebbles, crushed rock, leaves, bark, grass clippings, peat moss.
Used in and on garden soil. For perfect mulching, Upturn empty pot over the young plant and spread mulch around it.
Bio fertilizers such as –
Bone meal, wood ash, fish emulsions for - Nitrogen, Potassium and phosphorous.
Straight from the kitchen –
Banana peel – potassium. Throw into soil as it is or run it through the food processor with water and pour it around the plant.
Coffee grounds – Nitrogen and minerals, calcium, copper, potassium. 1 tbsp for pots and 1 cup for pots. Or Mix coffee grounds in water and spray in on the soil. Or Mix coffee grounds and egg shells and spread around radishes, cabbages etc to keep away slugs.

Egg shells – Wash and dry out shells, Crush into a powder and sprinkle around plants.
Urine – Pee on it… or store your urine, dilute with water and pour it on the soil. Seriously.
Preparing soil for
Choose a cold/ sunny fine and dry day to work the soil.
Trees beds: Ideal size 3ft by 3 ft by 3 ft and then feed the spade’s depth regularly. (measure approximately as spade’s depth)
Double digging is required for deeper beds – Dig out two spade’s depth of the soil, layer pit in with mulch, soil, compost. Mix well. Water well everyday before planting anything in. For feeding the soil, Spread in organic matter evenly with the spade kept at an angle make semi circular patterns on the soil.
Grow the seeds nearer to the surface and cover only with top soil OR a better idea would be to grow the tree in a container till the leaves of the tree provide shade to the soil. Then shift to bed.
Make a ring around transplanted plant for better moisture retainment around the roots. Pebbles and rocks around the roots of a grown tree keeps root zone cool. Mulch only after a week of transplantation.
Pots:
Ideal soil mix for trees from seeds – the 1st two layers are organic matter, layer with soil, plant seed, cover with thin layer of soil.
Rule of thumb – Never plant seed in a hole deeper than thrice its size.
Ideal soil mix – 1 part soil, 1 part leaf mould.
Mix well and water regularly when using clay pots.
Feed the soil when it feels too dry and grainy or hard and clumpy by removing top two centimeters of soil and replacing it with compost. Caution : do not disturb the fibrous roots of the plants. Mulch regularly.
Layer the bottom of the pot with broken clay pot bits.

Trays:
Ideal soil mix - 2 parts garden soil, 1 part sand, 1 part compost and Leaf mould.
These are used to raise little saplings from seeds and kept in a shades and protected area, ideally in nurseries.
Building raised beds : (These are great for urban dweller and is a quick fix option for places with toxic soil.
– A 2ft deep rectangular frame made out of wood, The bottom should be covered with a wire mesh. Same soil as the tree beds.
Plan Your Garden –

Tips for urban gardens –
- Plan your garden before you begin
- Don’t lose heart, have patience
- Read more on gardening.
- Keep it simple and keep away from fussy details.
- Use as many pots as possible as they are always good in places with space constraints.

Planning basic structure of the garden.

Start by marking out spaces for trees, creepers, vegetable beds and bushes.

Take this garden for example. Do the digging and the soil preparation.
Leave the beds to themselves for fifteen nights – mulch and water regularly.