When it comes to economical ways to grow food, the volume of experimentation and information exchange shared on the Global Buckets website still makes it one of my favorites. Unfortunately, Max and Grant's no potting mix garbage garden experiment, was one of the few that didn't have a happy ending.

Even though I did use a good amount of garden soil from around our yard, my own garbage garden experiment (better known as my experimental hugelkultur compost Fukuoka inspired salsa garden) was pretty successful but I hadn't compiled my photographic data that in a concise way.

Essentially, I used a lasagna garden method by topping the start of a hugelkultur raised bed with 'pickled' kitchen scraps, discarded garden veggie scraps, some goat poo and worm filled soil as sheet mulch on this bed. We eventually mulched the bed but continued to add fresh kitchen scraps throughout the spring and early summer while only deeply watering only once a week, sometimes less.

When the tomato plants started to die back in late summer, I cut them back down at ground level and planted garlic, onions and more Swiss Chard. Slugs and other garden pests ravaged the last crop of Swiss Chard, garlic and most of the mini greenhouse pepper seeds we added to the beds but the 'Charleston cilantro' or Vietnamese cilantro (polygonum odoratum), thyme and some of the peppers we added as seedlings are still going strong. I'm going to add pennies (minted before 1982) to the bed in hopes that the copper will deter those cursed slimeballs. Thanks Pinterest pinners for that tip!

The weather has been so mild in the Charleston area that I'm kicking myself for removing the tomato plants so quickly. The sad looking tomatoes we trimmed back at the community garden are coming back to life again. Dang!

While these techniques are probably old news to sustenance farmers, I hope it offers a novel idea or two for new and frugal gardeners around the globe..

The depth and breadth of budget home gardening techniques never ceases to amaze me.

1. Vinegar as a cheap alternative to Round Up in killing weeds (I've only applied the vinegar in places that I didn't want to grow food).
2. The same cinnamon that quickly evicts fire ants from your raised beds (they'll move nearby) may also work as a rooting hormone (or as a fungicide) for starting new plants.
3. Onion juice serves as an instant pain reliever for fire ant and mosquito bites and bee stings too.
4. Shrimp shells or fish heads may help produce healthy plants.
5. Hydrogen peroxide is the major discovery of the year. Not only did it help me quickly root lemongrass stalks I bought from the Asian grocery store but it also promotes plant germination and health. Two tablespoons of store bought peroxide, a 3% concentration, is added to every quart of water.
   

 
Last week we used the lazy man's version of the seed sowing process I learned at Hampton Park Greenhouse to start our fall seeds at the community garden. If we were following all of the protocols Hampton Park sets in place the pots would have been cleaned and sanitized before use and we would have used sterile potting mix to get our seeds started.

Is it just me or does the blazing summer heat feel like the bully waiting outside your climate controlled door to smack you upside the head? Contrary to popular belief, high temperatures do not spell the end of the growing season. In the Coastal Plains of the Carolinas, there are several vegetable seeds you can sow today for fall and winter harvests.

Using information from Clemson Extension's Planning a Garden Chart we'll break those vegetables into categories that will benefit gardeners of all skill levels. If you don't live in South Carolina, check out this handy list of Cooperative Extension services compiled by the University of New Hampshire for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

General tips

• Work in the garden in the early morning and late afternoon hours.
• Save yourself some grief and start small.  Container gardening is an easy way to get started. Wait til you master a small space, to consider expansion.
  
• Beans, tomatoes and squash don't thrive when their leaves get wet. Water plants at the base either by hand watering or installing drip hoses on a timer.
  
• Use non chlorinated water whenever possible. When we run out of rain water, we fill our rain barrels with city water and wait 24 hours to let the chlorine evaporate before use.
• Compost tea is an awesome organic fertilizer that's very easy to make. We just throw painters screen bags filled with finished compost in our rain barrels and water away.
• Leaf mold should be an organic gardener's best friend especially for leafy green and root vegetables. We grab our neighbors bags of leaves and allow them to decompose before adding them to our raised beds as fertilizer and/or mulch.
• Mulch like crazy so your plants retain moisture. At least 2"-3" deep of mulch.
  

Easy Fall Vegetables
Beets (August 1 - 20)
Carrots (August 1 - 20)
Collards (August 1 - 25)*
Eggplant (July 20 - 25)
Kale (August 15 - 25)
Lettuce (August 15 - 25)
Mustard Greens (August 15 - October 1)*
Rutabaga (August 1 - 20)
Turnips (August 25 - October 15)
*Asian greens should also do well when planted during this season

Fall Vegetables that Need a Little More Love
Broccoli (August 10 - September 15)
Brussels Sprouts (August 1 - 15)
Irish Potatoes (July 15 - 30)
Lima Beans (August 1 - 10)
Pole Beans (August 1 - 10)
Southern Peas (August 1 - 10)

High Maintenance Fall Vegetables
Tomatoes (July 25 - 30)

Tomatoes are heavy feeders that need constant attention to remove suckers and crowded leaves to improve air flow and prevent disease. Composting in place by scattering kitchen waste around the base of plants is an organic fertilizer technique that is free and easy to apply. Using this method for the first time, tomato production in our salsa bed was the best its ever been. The Farmer Fred Rant blog shows you how to store green tomatoes indoors over the winter and offers a fried green tomato recipe.
 
Summer and Winter Squash (August 20 - 25)

Squash borers, cutworms, and slugs are like kryptonite to every cucurbit we attempt to plant. Melons that volunteer from our compost pile seem immune to this problem. While we direct seed most plants, we will start our squash plants inside the house in a sterile soil dusted with diatomaceous earth. Then the seedlings will be transplanted to the garden with a toilet paper roll barrier. If you are blessed with more squash or zucchini than you can handle and live in the Greater Charleston or North Charleston area, drop me a line. Water squash plants at soil level and place them in full sun to avoid the evil powdery mildew (check out Doug Green's Garden website for more details).

Need more hands on fall gardening tips, soil or seeds?

Please join us at Chicora Place Community Garden (3107 North Carolina Avenue) for our monthly garden work days. The second Saturday of each month from 9 am - 4 pm. The next work day is scheduled for Saturday, August 11, 2012.

Salsa garden and front yard raised bed work in pictures.  The moral of this story is that our parents might need to revisit their position on garbage picking.

Holla if you hear me.