Plant food, Grow Buckets, Rain Barrels & Compost Bins...

Vertical Gardens and Grow Buckets in Sarasota, update from one of our customers

One of our customers sent us the latest pictures of their vertical garden and  Grow Buckets they got from us. Beautiful. They have Fennel, Rosemary and Parsley in the Grow Buckets (Earth-boxes) and the following in the vertical garden, celery, tomatoes, strawberry, sage, basil, oregano, chives, peppers, and mint. Amazing... They have also installed one of our automatic irrigation systems and now they don't even need to think about watering :)

Sarasota County Weekly story about Mother's Organics

We would like to share this testimonial from one of our customers.

Dear Carmel:

We LOVE your grow buckets and the vertical garden you've installed at home...  the system is so easy to use and the results are AMAZING! We've been also using your worm tea and that makes everything greener...  thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks...   I copy bellow some pictures so you see how things are going. As you can see the dill keeps growing, I've been trying lots of new recipes with dill, rosemary and parsley, I keep taking form the plants and they keep growing, IT'S MAGIC :)

The vertical garden with the irrigation system you installed works like a charm, and strawberries are starting to come out, beautiful...

Thanks again and I'll see you are the farmers market.

Gabriel.
Sarasota, FL

Grow rosemary, parsley and dill at home

Grow buckets with rosemary, parsley and dill. Beautiful!

Grow Strawberries on a vertical garden.

Vertical Garden with Automatic Irrigation System

Grow buckets / Earth Boxes

These new stackable vertical gardens bring your vegetable, fruit, herb or flower garden to the space of your choice. On the balcony, deck, porch or inside your home, with virtually no assembly and easy moving and storage capabilities.

In this Video Carmel Monti from Mother's Organics explains how to setup Rain Water Barrels with Grow Buckets on different configurations. Please contact us if you have any questions.

It is important to keep basil cut back so you have a continual harvest of fresh leaves throughout the season. I am diligent about pruning my plants, and as a result I get 15 to 25 cups of leaves from each plant per season. It is also important not to let the plants slated for culinary use flower, or the leaves will begin to taste bitter.

Immediately after planting, I prune my basil by cutting them back to just above the bottom two sets of leaves. This early pruning may seem drastic, but it actually stimulates growth. Depending on the weather and how quickly the plants are growing, I prune the plants back again to just above the bottom two sets of leaves about every four weeks, or sooner if they show any sign of flowering.

How much compost do you need for your garden?  Use this simple calculator to figure out your needs. Take the square footage of your garden i.e. 10x20 feet is 200 sq. feet. Decide how deep you want the soil to be for example 5 inches and go to the chart and see how many cubic yards of material you will need. So for 200 sq. feet at 5 inches you will need approximately 4 cubic feet of compost.  These calculations will of course work with other materials such as mulch, top soil etc. As an additional aid there are 27 cubic feet in one cubic yard, or 3 ft.x 3ft. x 3ft.  Most of the bags you buy in your garden center of mulch or composted material etc. are bagged in a range of 1 to 3 cubic feet of material per bag.  Therefore, if you needed 1 cubic yard of material and you have a 3 cubic foot bag you will need 9 bags of the material to get 1 cubic yard.  Note the difference between feet and yards here. We at Mother’s Organics are also selling mulch, compost, top soil etc. in our new reusable tote bags with handles.  They are easier to handle and can be returned for more product and are easier on the environment with no plastic involved.   See Photo of Mother’s soil tote bag.
Compost Calculator
1 Cubic yard Covers 324 sq. ft 1 “ deep
1 Cubic yard Covers 162 sq. ft 2”s deep
1 Cubic yard Covers 108 sq. ft. 3”s deep
1 Cubic yard Covers 81 sq. ft. 4”s deep
1 Cubic yard Covers 54 sq. ft. 5”s deep

What and when to plant and harvest in Central Florida. 

Grow Buckets- We have 1,3,4 and 5 gallon recycled food grade buckets that have been converted to a bottom feeding cultivation system. We have taken the above size buckets and placed a platform in the base of the bucket that allows for a reservoir of water to feed the plants on an as needed basis.  Simply fill the reservoir via a tube stuck into the bucket until water starts to overflow a hole that is drilled into the side of the bucket at the very top of the water reservoir.  When the water starts to overflow stop watering the bucket as it is full. We make these grow buckets available with a special blend of soil that allows for maximum wicking or transfer of water through the soil.  Included in the bucket is also a blend of our organic plant food called “Miracle Pooh”.  It is a blend of various manures. 

Retail price of $19.99

The system can also be ordered without the soil and plant food as a grow or cultivation system in which you can use your own product. 

Retail price of $12.99.

We are also able to retrofit any pot with our bottom feeding system via the insert that can be cut to size.  Ask for custom pricing.

Carmel Monti from Mother's Organics demonstrates how to set up a worm farm.

Mini Batch Composter:

Our 5 gallon recycled barrel is perfect for making your compost in batches.  Fill the 5 gallon barrel with a blend of “brown stuff”  (carbon,) i.e. dead leaves and “green stuff” (nitrogen) i.e. grass clippings, food waste etc.  See Composting guide below. 

Do not add any more waste to your batch composter and turn it daily 4 to 5 times for 3 weeks.  Dump out your contents after 3 weeks of turning into your garden or plant boxes etc.  If it is not completely composted it will continue to break down over time. 

In the meantime start another batch in another batch composter so you will be alternating between composter units and dumping batches of compost in your garden.

How To Compost:

Be sure the mix of ingredients you put in contains wastes high in nitrogen and carbon for a good balance.  Try for 30 parts of carbon to 1 part of nitrogen blend.  Carbon is brown dead waste.  Nitrogen is green waste, i.e. grass clippings, food waste etc.

Do not attempt to make compost using any products that have been treated with chemical fertilizers or pest control products.

If you have bulky items to compost, such as corn cobs, melon rinds, and shrub clippings, be sure to run them through a shredder before putting them in your compost unit. What to

Compost:

• Grass Clippings
• Leaves
• Kitchen Trimmings and Peels from Vegetables and Fruits
• Sawdust
• Garden leftovers such as dead flowers and plants
• Weeds
• Manure (From horses, cows, chickens, rabbits, pigs or sheep. Do not attempt to compost any wastes from dogs or cats.)
• B/W sections of newspapers
• Rotted fruits and vegetables
• Pine Needles
• Coffee Grounds
• Tea Leaves