Archive for January 11, 2010
Public Service Announcement – EBRA Annual Meeting This Saturday
by John Weckerle
The Estancia Basin Resource Association (EBRA) will be held this Saturday, January 16, at 2 p.m. at the East Torrance Soil and Water Conservation District Educational Complex, located at 700 South 10th Street in Estancia. Scheduled events include election of directors; speakers including State Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, Ryan Schwebach of the Estancia Basin Water Planning Committee, and a representative of the State Engineer’s office; and distribution of door prizes. Mr. Schwebach will be discussing the update to the regional water plan and the path forward.
Grow Your Own – A Grower’s Work Is Never Done
by John Weckerle
Indoor Herbs
Even with daytime temperatures well into the forties recently at New Mexico Central headquarters, it’s still far too early for outdoor gardening. So what is a frustrated, would-be gardener to do?
Garden inside, of course.
Indoors is a great place for a miniature herb garden. I’ve found it easy to grow some of my most often-used herbs – for example, basil, dill, and cilantro, shown here – using a couple of plastic window boxes and some plain old Miracle Gro potting soil. The box in the foreground contains the “next generation” – seeds started yesterday to help provide a more-or-less continuous supply of fresh, flavorful herbs. A couple of “select-a-size” paper towels are serving as mulch to keep the soil from drying out while the seeds are germinating.
Not shown here are the spinach, kale, and romaine lettuce recently started at the other end of the room. Leafy green plants do just fine in the standard stuff – but fruiting plants like tomatoes may not produce well or may produce small fruit with this soil, as it is higher in nitrogen and lower in phosphorus than tomatoes and similar crops seem to like. Last year, we tried using unamended Hyponex potting soil for indoor tomato growing, but found that it hardened more than we liked if allowed to dry. This year, we may try a blend – Hyponex to tone down the fertilizer in the Miracle Gro, which will provide organic matter to keep the soil from hardening too much.