We Vegetable Gardeners Know What to do with those Keurig Cups

It seems as if every one of our neighbors and relatives received one of those Keurig individual coffee makers. If you are not familiar with them they are pretty neat, especially if you want to enjoy a quick, fresh cup of coffee.

They give you the flexibility of making an individual cup of coffee in a wide range of flavors (over 200 the last time I checked their website) without having to make a whole pot, measuring the grounds and so on.

With the convenience of making your own cup of specialized coffee though comes the added waste of the cup itself. They are made out of a thin plastic, that can be recycled if you live in a part of the world that accepts <1> or <2> grade plastics, but us vegetable gardeners can put them to better use and better yet they can serve us two fold as I will show you in a moment.









First let us diagnose the evidence in question, in this case the cup. There are a number of cup manufacturers, however the cup is made from the same material and are all the same size. The top will be either foil or a thick paper. The top is strong enough to keep the contents of the cup in (i.e. the grounds), but pliable enough so the machine can puncture a hole into it.


Inside the cup, the contents if you will, are coffee grinds and a filter. The machine punctures a hole into the top and one in the bottom of the cup. Water is then sent through the top hole where it is mixed with the grounds of the cup and eventually comes out of the bottom hole and into your waiting coffee cup.








Now that you have the basics of how it operates, how can it actually help vegetable gardeners? Well very simply, let’s start with the obvious and that is the coffee grinds and filter sitting inside the cup. Both make for a great addition to any compost pile. To get the grinds and filter out, first remove the top foil or paper covering on the cup. Then dump the coffee grinds into a separate bowl (or whatever you use to collect your kitchen waste).



The next step is to remove the filter. It is attached fairly well to the cup so I used a knife and simply cut it and then put the filter into the same bowl with the grinds. We have the grinds and filter ready to go into our compost pile but we still have the cup. Do not throw that cup away!









You now have in your hands the makings of a great seed starter. And although the cup is small, it works perfect for starting such things indoors as celery or oregano and thyme, the small seeded variety vegetable and herb plants.







What makes the cup a perfect fit as a seed starter is your coffee machine has done a portion of the work for you already; it punctured the drainage hole on the bottom, so all the cup needs now is some soil and seeds!








There you have it. Using your Keurig coffee make as a means to add to the compost pile and create seed starters all while you get to enjoy a nice cup of hot joe!

Enjoy!

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

Seed Starting isn’t As Hard As You Think It Is

You are likely bombarded by gardening magazines and catalogs that tell you oh, if you are going to start from seed, you need all of these supplies, and the price tag alone is enough to put you into shock!

Peppers and tomatoes, among all of them, are the worst culprits by far. If you have done your research, you know that tomatoes and peppers need an average germination temp of 75-90 degrees, preferably from bottom heat (best results are achieved by bottom heat IMO). The catalogs tell you to buy seed heating mats. Well, if you've ever priced these out, they can cost a pretty penny! They usually average $30+ for one of a decent size. Now before you stroke out at the price tag, there is a much easier solution!

I personally use heating pads. Yes, the ones made for people! They work just as well, and come in every shape and size imaginable, and they are often 1/2 price or less! However, if this is the way you want to try, make sure you do your tests first! Rule number one above all, NEVER leave them on when you are not at home where you can check on them once in a while. I can't stress that enough; I never leave ANYTHING that produces heat on when I leave the house, it is not worth the risk!

Second of all, always do a test run. Get your seedling tray, fill the cells with your choice of soil, but do not plant the seeds just yet. Put it on top of the heating pad, and before putting a dome lid on, put a small thermometer (or even two if you want to be extra careful and want to average out the difference). Let it run for an hour or so, and check the temp. This will allow you to know what kind of temp you are going to be looking at, so you can adjust accordingly without damaging your seeds.

I find that about 85 degrees does wonders for tomatoes and peppers. My tomato seeds all sprout between 3 and 5 days, and the peppers take about 5 to 8 days. A much faster time frame then most seed packets tell you! Something else I have found extremely helpful, is to add a few sprinkles of cinnamon to the top of the soil every week. Cinnamon has natural antifungal/antibacterial properties, which means it easily prevents damp off if applied regularly. Bye bye No Damp!

About the Author
Megan McDonald is a garden blog writer for Heirloom Garden Girl. Megan’s garden specialties are tomatoes, peppers, heirlooms and organics. She is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

The Man Who is Afraid of Plants

If you have not seen this video yet, you absolutely must. I could not stop laughing.

Composting…the Simple Way to Better Vegetable Garden Soil

Whether you start your vegetables directly from seed or you buy a plant from a local garden or home center, you won’t give it much of a chance if your soil is simply not that good to begin with. What I mean by that is, and this stems from a conversation I had with a friend, if your soil lacks in nutrients or the pH level is too high or too low, seeds may never germinate and plants will never grow to their full potential. Then what happens is you blame the seeds, maybe they were too old, or the plants, ah they looked dead to begin with, as opposed to getting at the root of the problem…literally.

Like a skyscraper, your plants need a solid foundation. If a skyscraper has a poor foundation it could never get built because the base would never be strong enough to support it. Same goes for your plants. If you have a poor foundation, in this case your soil, they will never grow. You are in luck. There is one technique you can implement immediately that will have a long lasting effect on your foundation for many years to come…composting.

Composting is when you take organic material (i.e. leaves, twigs, grass clippings, last night’s left overs etc.) and let them decompose into its final usable product, humus. There are a number of ways you can compost, and which one you choose should not only fit the amount of space that you have but your lifestyle as well.

For example, trench composting, which I will touch on again in a moment, is one of the easiest and least labor intensive forms of composting is virtually ideal for anyone, especially those with very little time. You dig a big hole (hence, trench) and dump your organic material into the hole and then bury it. Nature does the work while you are hard at work uploading your vegetable gardening photos to our Facebook page.

Other forms of composting include vermicomposting, the use of red wiggler worms to do the work, and a compost pile. A simple Google or Bing search on any of these will give you step by step instructions on how to get started.

Always start small. I recommend you keep a big Tupperware bowl close by where you can put your coffee grinds, egg shells and food left overs in so you can bury them in your garden. When the Tupperware bowl gets full or near full, take it out back and dig a hole about 24 inches deep, put the contents of the bowl into the hole and then cover. Repeat these steps over choosing a new location each time and never use the same location earlier then 1 to 3 months. On a side note, do not bury steak or ham bones or meat for that matter. The bones will never break down and the meat could attract unwanted rodents.

After you get the hang of trench composting move on over and start a compost pile. This is where you will put all of your leaves, twigs and grass clippings. Over time the pile will breakdown into a nice, rich soil that your plants will love. Just remember to turn the pile over with your pitchfork once in a while. It will help speed things up.

So why do you compost in the first place? Beyond the “keeping it out of the landfill” aspect, composting adds nutrients into your soil, creates volume in your soil which allows for better soil retention and water drainage and helps maintain a constant yet beneficial soil pH level. All items you need in order to grow healthy and safe vegetables.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

F!#*ing Weeds and Other Annoying Issues in the Home Vegetable Garden

The number one issue of most home vegetable gardeners that I talk to that aggravates them the most are weeds. The getting down on your knees with a pair of good garden gloves, gripping the weed tight, pulling the persistent pest in the hopes that you get the root, only to find out that a few days later you didn’t, and the weed is back. This describes a common problem that we all face as home vegetable gardeners but are some others.

To get more answers I turned to, where else, our Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook where we received a plethora of answers. Here are the most popular.

Rabbits

They are cute and cuddly until they get into your lettuce patch and then they become something on your wish list for tomorrow night’s dinner. Many remedies were listed from human hair to the family dog and everything in between. Regardless of the remedy the rabbit was the top critter on the list of annoyances.

Deer

Not an issue where I live, thankfully, but for many of our responders, deer rank right up there as a problem. Due to their size and their appetite your garden is an inviting atmosphere for them, especially if you leave it unprotected. Six foot high fences and coverings were listed as potential deer deterrents, although one person did say a shotgun during hunting season works well. I’ll leave that up to you guys.

Weather

I can attest to this one. Nothing can be more aggravating than the unpredictability of the weather. Just when you thought the fear of frost was gone, bang, mother nature laughs at you and delivers a nice healthy dose of frigid temps overnight, delaying your vegetable gardening season.

The Neighbor’s Cat

I am fortunate as I do not have this issue. My neighbors do not have any pets besides the indoor domesticated fish, more commonly known as the goldfish, although I doubt the fish will be hurting my garden anytime soon. However, for a lot of responders the neighbor’s cat is a big problem because it likes to use their gardens as the litter box. Many simple told their neighbor and the issue seem to go away, but for some it took trapping the cat. Use your own judgment, they are your neighbors.

There were countless others posted, too many to list here, and I am sure you have your own.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.