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Bountea Growing Tips
  April 2010
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In This Issue
April Garden Tasks
What Kind of Gardener Are You?
Quick Links
 Dear Reader,

It has been a busy  month - you can find a record of my gardening activities on the Bountea Blog.  I persuaded John to keep us updated on his adventures in the Philippines: John Evans - Quantum Soil.  Read about his amazing results uRoland in the gardensing BioTea - see the weird 4" grubs they use to digest organic matter!

Some year ago, in the forum of our website, I wrote about mountain animals and ecology.  I have rehabilitated those stories and added more on a separate personal blog called Rocky Mountain Living. You can again read about Lucy Fox and our other visitors.

This month I decided to do a different kind of article. Drawing on my experience as a psychologist, I put together a short questionnaire to help you decide what kind of gardener you are.  Have fun with it; you can find the scoring protocols by clicking on the link at the end.

Our new catalog is a great success.  You can now order multiple copies on the website or simply by following this link: catalog.

Regards,
Roland Evans
Organic Bountea


April Garden Tasks
(April 15th -- May 15th)

Seeds outdoors: Now is the time to plant any of the cold weather varieties you did not get around to in March - salad mixes, chard, beets, Brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, collards, kale, caulis, etc.), even fava beans. Don't forget to plant radishes where ever you have left over space.
Plant peas and pod peas when the soil warms a little - sprout them first so you get fewer misses.

Seeds indoors: If you did not start your tomatoes yet, they will be a little late. Think about buying transplants.  
Start your warm weather veggies -- cucumbers, melons, gourds, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash. If your soil warms quickly, wait a little and plant outdoors as they often grow as quickly when directly seeded in the garden
Start your tender annuals flowers like nasturtium

Vegetable transplants: Time to put out your Brassica transplants: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. Keep starting seeds and transplanting into space as it becomes available.

Pest control: place floating row cover immediately over plants of cabbage family. Also, putting out larger transplants will mitigate flea beetle damage.  

Roots: Buy mature asparagus plants and put them in a well dug perennial bed.
Potatoes like fresh fairly rich soil that is slightly acid. Put them in a trench and mound up as they grow.

Ornamentals: move volunteer perennials seedlings, cutback late summer blooming shrubs like buddleia and blue mist spirea, Russian sage, harden off shrubs and perennials purchased as container plants, prune winter kill from roses, prune lilacs by harvesting blooms and cut out dead stalks

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Bountea Compost Tea:  You should be ready for your second or even third batch of the Bountea. Keep it simply with just the Humisoil and Bioactivator. If you are looking for fast leafy growth, add the M3 as instructed. Dilute 10 - 1 and apply to the leaves of all your seedlings as well as the soil.

   
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What Kind Of Gardener Are You?
When I teach a gardening class, I ask student gardeners to fill out my Gardening Resources Questionnaire. It examines the assets and challenges each person brings to starting and maintaining a garden. The first section is dedicated to Personal Resources: the intentions, knowledge and means available to you personally. Here is that section. Fill it out and see how you measure up (you can print this email out or just write the numbers down elsewhere). 
 
Gardening Resources Questionnaire
Evaluate the assets and challenges you experience in starting and maintaining your garden.
Grade each asset on a 5-point scale according to the scoring criteria:
5 - very strong; 4 - fairly strong; 3 - average; 2 - challenged; 1 - very challenged.
 

Personal Resources

Asset

How much time in your life can you realistically allocate to gardening?

Unlimited = 5.  Weekends = 3.  Restricted = 1.

 

How much energy and physical fitness do you have for the work?

Very fit = 5.  Very restricted = 1.

 

How much money/budget can you allocate?

As much as needed = 5.  No budget = 1.

 

How strongly motivated are you to set up and maintain your garden?

Very strongly = 5. Just a little = 1.

 

How much gardening knowledge and experience do you have?

10+ years = 5. 5 year = 3.  2 years = 2.  None = 1.

 

How much skill do you have in germinating and growing plants?

Bright Green thumb = 5.  Brown thumb = 1.

 

How much patience and perseverance do you have to tend your garden?

Lots = 5.  Not much = 1.

 

Personal Resources Score

 

Out of a possible score of

35

Add the asset scores to give you your Personal Resources Score. To find out what it means (or what I think it means), click here...


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Thanks,
We really appreciate your business and the loving effort you spend on your soil and plants.  Help us help you better by giving is feedback on our service, products and communications.
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Care for your Plants -- Care for your Soil -- Care for our Earth
the Bounteaway.

Organic Bountea
info@bountea.com  800-798-0765