willowdancer's Profile

A novice gardener in southern TN (zone 7b) I design jewelry for a living and travel around to craft shows, renaissance festivals, and science fiction/fantasy/anime conventions to vend my wares. When I am not busy making jewelry, I enjoy working and playing in my garden. I am working towards having a sustainable homestead on two acres and supplementing our household income with the sale of our surplus vegetables and other products from the garden. My prefered method of garden is a modified french intensive method that utilized double digging, companion planting, and organic practices. Other topics that are garden related that interest me are water conservation, vermiculture, and raising chickens.

Garden Log 2.26.2012
the long vegetable bed I had been working on is now completely dug, top dressed, edged with rocks and has a layer of landscaping fabric over it.  now, I love that the weed barrier landscape fabric is black; I figure it will help warm the soil up and ...

Garden Log 2.24.2012
It is that time of year again. The clay we call dirt here has dried out enough to dig beds again, those small purple 4-lobed flowers with orange throats 9I have no idea what they are!) are popping up everywhere, daffodils are bouncing their heads i...

Garden Log 9.30.2011
Today was a beautiful day and I spent the majority of it ouside playing in the garden. The most progress was made in the longest bed; it hasn't been to difficult to double dig because the top 10" is very nice from where I prepared it last year. Below...

Garden Log 9.28.2011
First things first there was a GIANT brown recluse in the bath room the other day; good thing I had just done my business otherwise seeing this thing would have scared it right out of me: WHEW!!! My sweet darling of a he-man saved me from it w...

Reading Materials
Books I am reading this week: Home farm Handbook, Barnyard in your Backyard, Let it Rot!, carrots love tomatoes (and roses love garlic), and Great garden companions. Last week I finished up Worms eat my garbage, pests and diseases, and Making your sm...