Decreasing Wasted Food By Composting

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value" according to Thomas Paine.  The revolutionary era author was referring to freedom - but we think that Paine's statement may apply equally well to food.

As Americans, we waste about 35% of our total food - 240 pounds per person every year.  That's right - we throw away more than our body weight every year in wasted food.  Discarded food is the second leading use of landfill space.  Worse, decaying food in the anaerobic (oxygen lacking) environment of a landfill produces methane, which scientists believe is a potent greenhouse gas.  Why are we so wasteful, and what can be done about it?

First off, much food is already discarded before it gets to store shelves.  Few stores want to sully their image by having bruised fruit or limp vegetables in their displays, so they and their suppliers will discard these edible but unsightly items.  Also, since large scale produce is picked when ready regardless of whether there is a buyer - much is discarded when no buyer is found.  

Secondly, we tend to forget about produce hidden in the fridge.  We cannot count how many oranges we have had go bad while we complained about the lack of fresh fruit in the house.

So, how do we decrease the waste inherent in transport and storage?  Simple - grow it yourself.  While we cannot grow all of the produce we desire (I will never be able to grow my own bananas), we can grow a great deal in our own gardens.  When you grow your own food, you are much less likely to let it go to waste.  With each leaf of lettuce and each tomato, a gardener remembers the effort they took in planting, nurturing, and growing that plant (notice we didn't say watering or mulching- which can be accomplished with the Groasis Waterboxx).  For this reason alone, obtaining our food not "too cheap", we are much less likely to waste.

Also, no produce lasts indefinitely in the refrigerator - and the longer it is in the refrigerator the less appetizing it becomes.  Luckily, food still on the vine doesn't decay - so our garden offers us nature's storage cabinet.  We can simply go into the garden each day and pick what we want to eat.  If you plant the right things - you may find that you eat much of the food before it gets inside (this is an especially common problem with sugar snap peas).

Isn't gardening more work than going to the grocery store?  This depends on many factors.  Certainly there are methods of gardening (the old fashioned till the soil, plant in rows, water manually) method is more time consuming than stopping by the grocery store.  But here at Farm the Suburbs and Dew Harvest we want to make gardening as easy and enjoyable as possible.  To this end, we recommend most plants be planted in raised beds which don't require tilling.  We can also dramatically decrease (and perhaps eliminate) the watering plants need by using the Groasis Waterboxx.  Also, the Waterboxx prevents weed growth around your plant, allowing you to sit back and wait for the harvest.


Composting 
Some food waste in inevitable - skins, pits, coffee grounds after use and the like.  For this we suggest composting.  We have a small, filtered compost pail we keep in the garage which we fill with our daily food waste.  All non-animal based food waste can go into regular compost (also egg shells).  Once a week we carry the contents of our compost pail out to our larger compost tumbler.   A tumbler allows oxygen to reach all parts of the compost pile, and prevent anaerobic (and methane producing) digestion.  After at least one summer (heat speeds composting and can kill weed seeds), you can add the compost to the soil in your garden - ensuring nothing is wasted.

A compost pail - a great place to store scraps until going out to throw them on the larger pile or in the tumbler.  

For animal scraps there is a method of composting called Bokashi which allows you to compost essentially all kitchen scraps (including meat and dairy).  This method produces no smell and can be done in a sealed bucket.  Kits are available for purchase online.

So, by growing your own, appreciating what you grow, picking only when ready to eat, and recycling scraps, you can greatly decrease wasted food.  And raised bed gardening and the Groasis Waterboxx will allow you to garden with less work than you thought possible.  Find out more at Dew Harvest. We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments".

www.dewharvest.com

Starting and Situating Your Garden

On the gardening portion of this blog, we fill focus mostly on raised bed gardening.  This technique has become very popular recently for good reason - it is dramatically less work and more suited to smaller garden plots.  An excellent book on this subject is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

You really don't need many tools in raised bed gardening.  We would recommend a hand spade or just a good quality soil knife (which you will find to be the most useful tool in the garden).  You will need a drill if you plan to build the raised bed yourself.

As suburbs where many live usually do come from converted farmland, they usually lack trees initally.  This can be an eyesore, but also a blessing in disguise.  Trees can raise property value a great deal, so we do recommend planting trees in your front yard.  However, if you plan to garden in you back yard (as most do), we strongly recommend keeping an area without tree or shade cover.  This will be the setting for our garden.

If not using raised beds (meaning if you dig into the soil already there), we strongly encourage you to not place your new garden near any older, treated wood fences.  Before 2004, most treated wood was pressure treated with arsenic, which leaked into the surrounding soil.  Also, if on an older industrial site, you may want to have your soil tested for lead by the local authorities.  Frequently this will be done for free if you contact the county health department.

It is for these reasons that we recommend a raised bed.  A raised bed for most plants only needs about 6 inches of soil.  We recommend 4x4' raised beds.  These can be bought in stores (for around ~$40) or assembled out of (non-treated) 2x6' lumber.  You can usually have the lumber cut in store to 4 feet long each (and have one end overlap in each corner when screwing them together).  You will probably want to put weed cloth (black fabric availble at the home improvement store) over the base of the raised bed.

Locate your raised bed in an area with good exposure (no shade) to the east, west and south.  As on sunlight will come from the north here in the U.S., you can have trees or fences to the north.  If the ground is level (you can eyeball it or use a bubble leveling tool), you can just set the raised bed directly on the ground.  If not, dig out the higher elevation and set this dirt on the lower part to make a flat bed.

You will also want to shield your garden from pests.  These can include rabbits and deer.  If you have a full height (6 foot) fence, I would encourage you to place your garden within it.  This will almost always keep away the deer.  Rabbits are more difficult, and the author only got rid of them after getting a dog.  If you go this route, we strongly encourage you to get a rescue dog after a careful search online.

The raised bed up against the south side of a fence (the fence is to the north) with the soil mixture listed below

For soil, Square Foot Gardening recommends 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss.  This is likely the best combination for optimal water retention, but all potting soil should work nearly as well.  Vermiculite especially is quite expensive.  We recommend you go to the warehouse clubs (Sam's Club, Costco) to get potting soil as it is usually 50% cheaper there than anywhere else.

A completed Square Foot (raised bed) garden with a grid pattern on top, ready for planting

Some plants do grow better on trellises.  If you do plan to grow plants on a trellis, you have a few options.  The more aesthetically pleasing is to build a wood trellis (again - non treated wood).  The more efficient way is to follow Mel Bartholomew's advice and suspend a string trellis from bend 1/2 aluminum electrical conduit.  This conduit is held up by rebar (reinforcing steel bars) hammered into the ground.  Trellises should always go to the north of your garden here in the U.S. to prevent blocking needed sunlight.

True Square Foot Gardening has a grid pattern, but this is entirely optional.  For our purposes, I would suggest not using it as it will interfere with placement of the Groasis Waterboxx, which itself decreases garden work and watering.

You now will have a fully functional garden bed ready to use.  In our next post, we will discuss planting. We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments".

Visit our parent site: Dew Harvest

Gardening During Flood and Drought in Austin, Texas

The citizens of the Austin area are well known for their love of Mother Nature.  Mother Nature doesn't always return the favor though, with erratic and often harsh conditions that can make it very difficult to garden in Austin.  Just this past year of 2015, the month of May brought far too much rainfall (13.44 inches), damaging many local garden vegetables and causing split tomatoes and melons.  This was followed just two months later by a July with essentially no appreciable rainfall.  Add to this that the average high during June, July, August, and September in Austin is over 90 degrees, and you see the extreme conditions that confront gardeners in the Austin area.

So, the Austin area has variable rain, sometimes with not enough rain and sometimes with flooding.  Also, the time when trees and garden plants could benefit most from water (June through September) due to the increased sun and heat, the little rainfall can be available.  In scientific terms, water becomes the limiting factor in the height of the growing season.  

Is there anything that can help prevent flooding of plants during heavy rains, but also supply water to plants during droughts?  Could this device or system be automatic, rather than relying on gardeners to take time out of their busy schedules to water plants during droughts and cover the soil during heavy rains?  Finally, could this device collect and save water during rainy periods for use during dry periods?  The answer to all three of these questions is yes - and the device is the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon®, or Waterboxx for short. 

The Waterboxx has been used for planting trees for several years in the Austin area by a local community group, but it can also be used for gardening.  What is the Waterboxx exactly and how does it work?  Well, the Waterboxx is a self-refilling water battery for plants.  It is placed around a smaller plant (at least 6 inches tall and with a stalk less than 2 inches in diameter) right after planting.  The Waterboxx is then filled with 4 gallons of water.  This water slowly trickles out, about 50 mL or 10 teaspoons a day, to the roots of a growing plant, via a small wick.  The Waterboxx has a special lotus leaf inspired lid, which allows it to catch dew, transpiration moisture from the plant, as well as rainfall, and store it for later use.  The Waterboxx, although 10 inches tall, is filled with less than 4 inches of rain and has enough water stored (with average water outflow of 50 mL/day) for 300 days without any precipitation. 

The Waterboxx also prevents plant over-watering by directing heavy rains away from the roots of the plant.  Once full, the Waterboxx funnels all excess water off to the side of the plant (10 inches away from the stalk).  This channeling away of excess water prevents root washout and also prevents the splitting of tomatoes and melons. 

From Groasis - A cross section view of the Waterboxx - water is collected by the tan lid, funneled down the siphons (shown in red here), stored in the green reservoir (which holds 4 liters), and slowly released through the white wick to the roots below. 

The Waterboxx can easily accommodate two tomato plants, two to four pepper plants. two zucchini plants, or one melon or winter squash.  You can see Waterboxx gardening results here.  With more than one plant, an extra wick can be inserted to give more water (which will decrease the length of time the Waterboxx has reserve water, halving it roughly for every doubling of the number of wicks).  

Has the Waterboxx been used in drought conditions before?  Yes.  The Waterboxx was used to grow tomatoes in the height of the California drought in 2015.  Tomatoes planted in Sacramento County, California received no water after planting, and got less than a quarter inch of rain for three months of summer, but still managed to produce over 40 fruits from one plant.  You can see the results of this below.

16 weeks' growth of a tomato plant in Sacramento County California - all with no water after planting.  

What about flood conditions?  How well does the Waterboxx work in flood conditions?  Well, in the same year (2015) that the Waterboxx was growing full sized tomatoes in California, it was growing Roma and cherry tomatoes in Indiana, which had one of the wettest springs and the wettest July on record.  Over 13 inches of rain fell around Indianapolis in July, which would have both washed out most tomato roots and caused most fruits to split.  With the Waterboxx, however, this did not happen. We see no tomatoes splitting and a bountiful harvest just beginning in the photo below. 

Roma (left) and cherry (right) tomatoes growing with the Waterboxx during an extremely wet July, with over 13 inches of rain.  This photo, taken July 21, shows no split tomatoes and an excellent crop - all because the Waterboxx prevents overwatering even in heavy rains.

The Waterboxx works great in a standard 4'x4' raised bed, but also works in traditional garden rows. The consistent water the Waterboxx provides allows the plant to reach their maximum height, while also sparing gardeners hot evenings of watering the garden.   The Waterboxx can also be used to grow trees without any watering after planting in difficult areas like Austin.  

The Waterboxx can help residents of the Austin area to stop spending hours in the hot summer sun watering their garden plants and just enjoy the fruits of their labor.  The Waterboxx was designed with insights garnered from nature, and can help you better co-exist with nature.   If you want to try gardening with the Waterboxx and stop worrying about too much or too little rain, you can find out more here or buy the Waterboxx here.  

We would love to read your comments below.

Using San Francisco Fog To Grow Plants

The San Francisco area has a unique and many would say ideal climate.  It has wet winters (fitting in with more of a Mediterranean Climate) and very dry summers.  In fact, the average direct precipitation for the months of May, June, July, and August combined is less than one inch.  This is unfortunate for would be gardeners or tree planters, as almost all growth for most gardens and deciduous trees takes place during those four months.  This has meant that gardens and newly planted trees have needed irrigation or hand watering by homeowners in the San Francisco area.  This has become increasingly difficult to do with the drought that most of California is experiencing.

San Francisco, however, has a unique form of precipitation that is widely known but rarely recognized - fog.  San Francisco averages 108 foggy days every year, on average, or almost a third of the year.  This fog usually is deposited in such a thin layer on the soil that it quickly evaporates after sunrise.  However, a new device is changing that.

The great Golden Gate Bridge enveloped in fog, an important source of precipitation in coastal California (Photo from NPS, public domain)

A device called the Groasis Waterboxx Plantcocoon®, or Waterboxx for short, is able to collect and store this fog.  The Waterboxx was designed to grow trees in deserts or in areas bordering deserts, and to accomplish this goal it takes advantage of many techniques first developed by nature.  One of these techniques is the Lotus Effect.  The lotus leaf, in nature, exhibits a property called superhydrophobicity, roughly translated as extreme resistance to water sticking.  The lotus leaf has this property because of tiny pyramids on its surface that prevent water molecules from attaching to each other.  The lotus leaf  does this to keep dirt, bacteria, and fungi from sticking to its leaves.  You can see this illustrated below.

Graphic by William Thielicke showing pyramidal structure of the surface of the Lotus leaf.  This surface guarantees that water won't stick to the surface of the lotus leaf, or the Groasis Waterboxx lid that has similar microscopic pyramids on its surface.  

When we zoom out again to see a lotus leaf on the visible level, you can see how well it repels water, as below.

Water sticks to most surfaces, but not the lotus leaf - From Ralf Pfeifer via Wikipedia 

How does the Waterboxx uses this lotus leaf property, and how can this help people garden and plant trees?  The Waterboxx has a lid that is inspired by the lotus leaf, with microscopic pyramids preventing the water from clumping together and then evaporating.  It is also sloped and corrugated, which directs all water deposited on it down to a siphon and into a reservoir for later use.  In this way, dew and fog can be harvested every morning and stored for use by the plant.  This allows trees and garden plants grown with the Waterboxx to go very long periods (and perhaps indefinitely) without manual watering.

A close up view of the Waterboxx growing tomatoes.   You can see how no water sticks to the corrugated, lotus leaf inspired white lid of the Waterboxx (except the rim). Dew and occasional rainfall kept this Waterboxx full from May planting until September, with no manual watering.  

The Waterboxx was designed to plant trees in the desert, and as designed can provide all the water a tree needs for over a year with no human intervention (watering) after set up.  It allows you to plant bare root trees (available here), in the Spring, Summer, Fall and the San Francisco area Winter.  These trees won't need any watering or work until they have almost outgrown the Waterboxx, at which point you lift the Waterboxx up and reuse it for up to ten years.

A schematic, cutaway view of the Waterboxx.  Dew, fog, and occasional rain is caught by the tan colored lid, funneled down siphons (seen in red here) into the green reservoir, which holds 15 liters or almost 4 gallons.  This water is slowly released by a wick to the roots of the Waterboxx, and induces the roots of the tree to grow deep, accessing capillary water deeper in the soil.  Image from Groasis.com

The Waterboxx isn't just used to grow trees, but also can be used for any garden plant with a compact central stalk, like tomatoes, peppers, melons, and zucchini.  You can buy the Waterboxx or see it used to grow many plants on the Dew Harvest website here.

Planting Trees in San Francisco

The headline of this post may strike some as ill-timed.  Isn't it a terrible time to plant trees in San Francisco and the surrounding area because of the historic drought?  Won't any trees planted simply die from drought?  If the trees don't die from drought, won't any newly planted trees require a great deal of watering, eating up scarce time and scarce water?

The answer to all three of the questions is a resounding "No".  It is an excellent time to plant trees in the San Francisco area, because of new technology.  Over the last decade, a new device called the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon® (or Waterboxx for short) has been developed in Holland.  This device has been tested in the most extreme deserts on Earth (the Sahara, Ecuador, the Persian Gulf Arabian Desert), with incredible results.  When used as directed in these areas, 88-99% of Waterboxxes have a tree surviving after one year, with no further watering or work.  This Waterboxx planted tree is then resistant to further drought because of deep, Waterboxx induced roots.  The Waterboxx can then be reused on other trees.  This is all explained in the video below.

The Waterboxx is a simple appearing device that is actually quite complicated, using many ideas inspired by nature to collect, store, and distribute scarce water.  It's tan colored lid is actually modeled on a lotus leaf, and uses a special property called the lotus effect to prevent water from sticking to it.  This property allows dew and fog (famous in the San Francisco area) to be collected on by the surface of the Waterboxx and funneled into the green reservoir.  Once in the reservoir, the water can be contained for long periods, while being slowly released through a wick to the soil below.  This water percolates through the soil straight down into a column.  This column of water induces the tree's roots (which grow only where there is water, just like leaves grow only where there is sun) to grow straight down.   Once the tree's roots reach  deep into the ground, the tree will be far more resistant to drought because it has reached the capillary water stored in the soil.  See an explanation of capillary water here.

The Waterboxx can be used to plant one or two trees in the central "figure eight" opening of the Waterboxx.  If two trees are planted, the stronger of these trees is allowed to remain after 12-18 months, when the Waterboxx is removed and reused to plant other trees.  After planting, no other work is needed for that tree - no watering, no weeding, no mulching, until the Waterboxx is removed.  You can reuse the Waterboxx up to ten years.

You can see the incredible results of the Waterboxx around the world in the pictures below.

A beechwood tree's growth, in Ecuador, over just one year.  The Waterboxx allows all water to be used efficiently so sunlight and tree selection become the most important determinants of a trees growth.

You can hardly find a more arid place than the Sahara Desert, but the Waterboxx allowed these salt cedar trees to survive and thrive in an area almost nothing else did (in Morocco).

Growth of a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in Indiana over 2 years with the Waterboxx.  This tree hasn't been watered once by since planting, but still thrives far from its native range due to the Waterboxx.  

The most important thing to remember when planting trees with the Waterboxx is to plant small trees initially - about 2 foot tall saplings that are shipped bare root.  Most online nurseries sell these trees for between 5-10 dollars.  The most inexpensive site we have found is arborday.org.

The Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon provides tree lovers a way to plant trees even during drought, without having to water.  It can allow land owners or community organizations to truly green areas that are suffering due to tree or other wildlife loss.  The Waterboxx works for up to 10 years and 10 tree plantings, and is surprisingly affordable.  You can learn more or buy the Waterboxx here.

Trees to Plant in the Great Plains

The Western Great Plains is a beautiful and vital part of the north American landscape.  Recently, the high winds this flat area endures have made it of interest for wind farms, as shown by the wind map below.

Wind Resources Map, From U.S. Department of Energy, public domain.  Purple areas represent fastest wind speeds 

Wind turbines can be well over 300 feet tall (to access the fastest wind), but land owners tend to be concerned with wind closer to the ground causing erosion and property damage.  For this reason, many people chose to plant windbreaks.  What trees are best for the western Great Plains?  With the invaluable help of Mike Groenewold of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the following list was compiled.  We recommend planting all of the following trees and shrubs as saplings with the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon.

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) - You have almost certainly seen this extremely useful tree somewhere but not recognized it.  It has (toxic) pods that hold its seeds (similar to its distant cousin Thornless Honeylocust).  It can form deep roots if induced (with the Waterboxx PlantCocoon) that make it very drought tolerant.  This tree has large, extremely fragrant flowers in late spring for up to 10 days, and makes great honey if you have bees on your property.  This tree generally grows 40 to 50 feet high and about 30 feet wide.  The wood itself is extremely strong, and was once used to make ship nails!  However, due to the sharp angle at which the branches attach to the trunk, the branches can frequently break if there are not other windbreaks nearby.  This is one of the few trees that restores nitrogen to the soil, so it may improve nearby plant growth.  It does spread very easily vegetatively, however.  Younger trees would need to be protected from deer with Growsafes.  Black locust grows from zones 4-8 (most of the continental U.S.) You can buy this tree here.

Black Locust Tree (From NPS, public domain)

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) - This small tree (which rarely reaches over 16 feet in size).  It is important not to plant this within 500 feet of any peach or fruit orchards due to a disease that may be spread.

American Plum (Prunus americana) - This tree/shrub grows up to 15 feet in height, making it ideal for interplanting with black locust.  This plant does send up suckers, which can be unsightly but also help stabilize the soil.  This plant of course produces edible fruit, which has been eaten by native Americans for centuries.  Both white tailed and mule deer feed on the berries, and the dense shrubbery provide cover for them.

Common ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) - This attractive shrub is also useful for interplanting between black locust or other taller trees. You can buy common ninebark shrubs here.  

Bur Oak  (Quercus marcocarpa) - This is a slow growing oak, which can be frustrating to many land owners.  However, the other advantages of this tree outweigh the costs, in our opinion.  This tree is more drought resistant than almost any other oak, and due to this fact can grow in the western Great Plains.  This tree grows 80 feet high and up to 80 feet wide, and can live for 400 years.  This tree can be bought, bare root and appropriate for planting with the Waterboxx, here.  

Bur Oak - this tree can be planted with the Waterboxx PlantCocoon and will never need to be watered again.  

These trees are felt to be invasive and should be avoided:
Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)
Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)
White Mulberry (Morus alba)
Common Buckthrorn (Rhamnus cathartica)

As we noted above, we recommend planting bare root trees (saplings) with the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon - available here.

We would love to hear your comments below.

Weed Control with the Groasis Waterboxx

When planting trees or other plants, weed control in the root and canopy zone of the desirable plant is very important.  Weeds will naturally grow next to almost any planted tree or other plant, and rob the plant of water, sunlight, and nutrients.  The weeds can also serve as hosts for damaging insects and hide rodents that will feast on your plant.  While there may have been no weeds in the undisturbed soil before tree planting, the act of disturbing the soil and watering a new tree encourages weeds to also take root.

There were previously multiple options for weed control around new trees or other plants, none of them very good.  Herbicide could be sprayed at the base of the plant to kills weeds, but for most plants (unless glyphosate resistant) this could cause as much harm to desired plant as undesirable weeds.  Organic mulch could be used, but as this breaks down it forms a good soil into which weeds can grow.  Fabric can be used , but this tends to slowly puncture and weeds will find their way through it.  Recently, rubber mats have become popular, but these also keep rain from trickling down to the desired plants roots.

As none of these options were previously very good, something else needed to be found.  Enter the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon, or Waterboxx for short.  The Waterboxx was not invented as weed control - not at all.  The Waterboxx was invented as a self refilling water battery for trees and other plants. filling up from dew and rainwater.  This water is then channeled to the root of the growing plant.  All of this happens naturally (without electricity) due to the ingenious design of the Waterboxx.

A schematic cutaway view of the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon, or the Waterboxx for short.  Dew and rain are collected on the tan lid, funneled down the siphon (shown in red) to the green reservoir, and slowly released to the roots of the growing tree by a wick.  No weeds can grow for almost 10 inches in any direction from the trunk of the small tree.  

The Waterboxx surrounds the trunk of the growing plant.  Its central opening allows the plant to grow.  The reservoir of the Waterboxx sits on the soil surrounding the desired plant.  Here, in addition to preventing evaporation of soil moisture, it prevents weed growth around the tree or plant.  For trees, the Waterboxx is removed after 1-2 years, after the tree is well established and has a large canopy that will block out weeds at the base of the tree.  For annual plants (like tomatoes, peppers, melons or other cucurbits), the Waterboxx is left in place for the life of the plant, preventing any competing weed growth.

A giant sequoia growing over two years with the Waterboxx in Indiana - no weed pulling or external watering was every needed for this tree, even after the Waterboxx was removed.

The Waterboxx is made of food safe UV resistant plastic and can last for up to 10 years, so it can be reused for several trees or for a decade in the garden.  It can help eliminate herbicide use, and allow us all to plant a more green, living world.  The Waterboxx can allow us to plant trees that grow so large as to combat our own personal carbon dioxide emissions.  Finally, the Waterboxx can allow us to plant trees in areas long considered too dry for trees.

Learn more about the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon here.

We would love to hear your comments below.