Minimalist Gardening book by Minimalist Martha

You're probably wondering where I wandered off to. I wrote a book! My garden has done so well that I wrote down how I did it into a quick, short, sweet little book that you can buy on Amazon and read on your computer, phone or kindle. Sweet deal, right?

I'm very excited about it! I hope you're as excited as I am. I have a whole line up of short but sweet books on implementing minimalism to all areas of your life. I'll be sure to update you as soon as I finish each book. If ever I'm not posting - I'm just working on the next book!

I hope you've had a fantastic weekend and going into this new week be sure to lose a bit of stress by losing a bit of clutter!

Gardening - Seed Organization

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best solutions.

I have a lot of seeds. There are only a few things I 'hoard' - digital books and seeds!

Because knowledge and the ability to grow your own food are pretty darn important.

Storage of my digital book collection is a snap - obviously.

Storage of a seed collection can get a little more complicated... use what you have on hand unless something else better comes along.

Normally I store my seed collection like this...

In a box, thrown in, inside of packets - some open, some sealed, some knocking around in the bottom to create a 'surprise mix' for next spring. I also print out my own seed packets off of the computer to customize with our family name and so I can keep the seeds I save from our own garden and maximize our garden year after year.

But the disorganization...it can become really concerning.
And I kind of like the idea of having my seeds organized by WHEN I'm supposed to plant them! I can't help it if I'm a bit OCD and like to organize with 'tiers' in most cases. I don't just want my seeds organized, I want them organized by expiration date, alphabetically and chronologically by when they should be planted. That should be easy enough, right?

Eight months into my seed collecting - because I hit the bargain sales at the end of the last season - and Im still a mess! Until...today. Today I was picking up clutter I've left around the house - 5 minute or less guarantee- and I had a stack of empty and unused baseball card organizers (for folders).

Why? Coupons of course - I'll save that post for another day.

While I don't *Love* having to fold the seed packets I currently have, I am able to print out my own seed packets and keep them small - so that they fit a baseball card slot. This is perfect! (I'm so OCD I might repackage the seeds I have just so they fit).

Here is a great example - I'll post a photo of mine after I'm done today adding my own collection to my binder.

And that's what I'm sharing with you today. Cost? Very low - I spent no more than $2 on a binder just like the above, and about $10 last year on the baseball card holders. (I bet you could find them cheaper! I didn't shop around!)

I'll continue to refine and update you about my storage ideas - like this one.
Remember - improvise, think outside the box, and work smarter instead of harder if the situation presents itself.

Need some Baseball Card sized mini Seed packets? Print them! These are the ones that are my favorite, scaled down to fit baseball card inserts (A bit prettier than the yellow mini-envelope and perfect for saving your own seeds!)

Cleaning - Fish, You're doing it Wrong

First, I would like to say that I never wanted fish. And I fully expected them to die quickly. However, after we picked out fish I discovered these little guys (betas) are going to live up to around 7 years! WHY?!

Why indeed. We got the fish to teach the 5 year old and the 6 year old responsibility. They have to take care of the fish in order to 'upgrade' to other types of pets. Gerbils are next on the list. Daddy is going to be cleaning it - because Mommy has been cleaning up after the fish since day 1! Anywho - that is the point - too much cleaning!

Anyone that has a fish will tell you fish are easy to keep. They are lying in hopes that you will suffer through water changes as they have. The betta fish require especially require a great deal of water changes the smaller the bowl. And then as you research you find that you are a horrible person if your fish is in a bowl smaller than 2.5 gallons. This is where you feel guilty until you upgrade.

Things are complicated when you have more than one child - it is a rule of the universe that they will want the fish that cannot be placed in the same tank. Let us look at Betta fish math: Male+Male=Dead fish. Male+Female=Dead fish. Female+Female=Dead fish. Female+Female+Female=Your only one tank solution. Well. That sucks. Moving on!

In order to get a larger tank that would keep both fish happy and keep them in the same tank without them dying (We have one male and one female, I wouldn't recommend this with two males since they would stress each other out until one dies) I got a divider and split the new 10 gallon tank. I probably should have split it LONG ways but...I wasn't thinking at the time. Should have, could have, would have. Now I'm glad I didn't. Because it means a better way to deal with water changes.

Before the bigger tank, I was doing a water change every other day (All the water) for both fish bowls (1 gallon). The fish were boring and didn't have much room to swim. Enter guilty feeling mommy. After about two months of this - I was really sick of water changes. I upgraded to the 10 gallon tank. Now, I do a 10% water change...um, every day or every other day. "This is getting old fast" I have been saying for about 4 months.

I have looked into a lot of stuff - all things that complicated things and cost even more in maintenance, equipment we didn't plan to need for 7 years and lots of science. I'm a smart mommy - but I don't want to get all sciency up in my fish tank that I hate cleaning. I needed something EASY that required little or NO cleaning. Enter "the clams". 

I got clams for the tank, fresh water. It was really strange ordering 'live clams' on ebay but whatever. They got here - the female fish ATTACKED one and killed it about thirty seconds after I put it in the tank. We figure the female has some suppressed aggression issues she's struggling with. I think she needs help. But for now, I moved all the clams into the male side of the tank. His approach is "Whatever" and leaves them alone.

This has increased the 'bioload' of the tank which means I'm still doing daily water changes. Bioload - the simply explanation, is a bunch of animal waste in the water. Fun. The water on the male side of the tank is very clear. The clams are really doing their part! But for whatever reason, it's not helping the female side of the tank (Probably the divider) and there are still large particles caught in the rocks on the bottom of the tank. The problem? The clams need a current and I don't have a 'current' in the tank and I hadn't really planned on giving them one. When I add water to the tank, I do it on the male side to kick the water up and give them a daily current so they get food floating by them. So far it is workin g a bit. But not was well as I wished it was.

Now - what is a Minimalist Martha like myself to do?! I have all these water changes I'm doing, still siphoning water out of the tank almost daily and I have to haul a bucket of (slightly appreciated) nutrients out to my balcony garden. Personally, the garden doesn't *need* it and I don't need to carry buckets of water like this is the 1800's. I'm not wearing a prairie dress here, am I? I didn't think so.

I have been researching aquaponics for a few months. My over all opinion is the following:

Pros:

• No more water changes - OH MY GOODNESS WE HAVE A WINNER
• It takes care of itself - YES!
• No need to water the plants - This is AMAZING!

Cons:

• The set ups are ugly - Oh. That sucks.
• It's not really designed for a livingroom side table - Double bummer.
• The set ups are notoriously expensive - Not cool, man.
• They require a bit of engineering - Hmmm...I have some brain power.
• They are a more substantial investment then just getting the filtering system for the fish tank and maintaining that. - Extra not cool. More money, different science, same maintenance almost.

Then you go the DIY route and the aesthetics gets REALLY unsightly. I did find this cute little number and I *WANTED* it, almost ordered it but the thing is - we would need TWO. That means roughly $120 for two. Hmm....not cool. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2142509221/home-aquaponics-kit-self-cleaning-fish-tank-that-g 

We're back at the same investment as just getting the tank filtration system and cutting the betta's water down a bit. That would bring back the 'small tank guilt syndrome'. 

But while watching the video they provide, I saw what essentially made it work - a tube leading up is pretty obvious but the part that is difficult is the container on top. How do I suspend the plants above the tank without a really ugly look. It doesn't have to look space-age, but I don't want a wooden structure build on top of my fish tank in the livingroom. During some of the footage, for about 5 seconds, you see someone place a board on the top of the tank with holes cut into it. It is just barely bigger than the tank and that's how it stays up. Lightbulb moment for anyone else?

I had some foam board I save for random projects - well, this seemed worthy. I got the DIY bug and started looking at how I could grow stuff with this information. 

Then I came up with the following in about 20 minutes:

That is a piece of foam board ($1 at the dollar store - I love making stuff with foam board) cut slightly larger than the top of the tank and with a place cut out for a 'disposable' strawberry container. I plan on cutting the lid off incase you were wondering! I also wanted to make a shell that comes down about 3 inches all around the tank out of foam to sort of hide the hanging strawberry baskets. I'm not sure if I want to put that much effort in just yet. 

Now I still need a pump (being ordered) and some tubing for the pump, and a 'tee' split for the hose so it can water both strawberry containers - but in general, I hope that the finished project really will result in ZERO water changes ever again and lettuce/spices growing out of the top. Hello! I can get behind that!

Lastly - I still have to cut a hole in both sides of the little white 'frame' to feed the fish. Not a big deal!

My roughest estimate is that the pump, the air/water hose, the tee split and maybe some little clay bead things to place in the containers will run about $40. Not bad. No maintenance beyond feeding the fish. If I decide I don't want the pump on all the time, I can set it on a timer to run for 15 minutes on the hour.

So far - Minimalist Martha is planning on crossing "Clean Fish Tank" off the list of things to do - Forever!

I hope that this has sparked an idea or at least given you a warning about the illusion of 'easy to care for fish'!  My suggestion? If you really are going to get a tank - start with this optional DIY add on and save yourself the daily chores that goes along with fish!

Get Smart - Get Lazy - Take back some Mommy time by getting rid of or simplifying one chore at a time!

Minimalist Gardening - Self Watering Containers

I am a minimalist and I like things to be as efficient as possible. Many times, I refer to this as my 'lazy' streak. One of my lazy streaks was onset by my love of gardening but my dislike for maintaining the garden. Enter - the Minimalist Martha Mentality - where I try to outsmart gardening.

How do you outsmart Gardening?
First, I think of every way I kill my plants. Overwatering and underwatering. That about does it. And perhaps not adding plant food but in general plants don't really *need* extra food as long as the soil is okay.

Now I know what KILLS my garden. How do I get around it? I find some self-watering methods. I've looked at them all. Self-watering containers (fairly small or large and expensive), drip systems, timer systems, gravity fed rainwater systems, you name it and I looked it up.

What must I overcome?

• We rent
• We don't have a backyard - we have a balcony with no soil (obviously)
• The light in the house is not good enough to grow indoors
• I have to go through the master bedroom to get to the balcony which means when fiance is sleeping I might wake him if I have to water
• We don't want to choose between vacation and our garden crop

I kept circling back around to the self watering containers. But they are a bit expensive. And they don't look that big. And they need to be refilled frequently which means asking a neighbor to refill them every few days if we go on vacation. So this was the best option but not the best option. 

What did I end up doing? A revised version of this video:

I plan to create a tutorial on my version the next time I make a self watering container. My version is significantly easier (in my opinion). But I don't want to get into it too much. I have purple self watering container 'tubs'. I have a lot of them and I'm still learning.

The best thing about the tubs is that the covers act like mini greenhouses and you can plant right into the tubs and the seedlings are protected from animals, birds, squirrels, etc. (I've found evidence of squirrels and birds trying to get at them unsuccessfully). 

Why I love this version 

• I water once a month. That's it. And then I'm pretty bored honestly. 
• After they are set up, you don't have to set them up again - even for the next spring...you just plant right in them. Pretty awesome!
• I can add liquid fertilizer right to the water supply and don't have to worry about burning the roots because it holds so much water and dilutes perfectly
• I don't have to worry about when it rains because there are overflow holes that means the rain fills up the tubs and then the excess simply flows out. When it rains, my containers get filled up and it means just that much longer before I have to fill them up again!
• Being inside the tubs prevents the seedlings from getting blown over in storms and I can put the lids on for added protection if I want.
• While they can be a pain to move when they are full of soil, plants and water, they can still be moved and I like that - portable is awesome.
• When our apartment complex decides to spray the grass outside, I can put the lids on our plants and don't have to worry about pesticides or whatever green paint they are putting on the grass blowing onto our garden. Just one less thing to worry about.

What have I got planted? A lot. Let me list it for you:

• Gem Corn (It was crazy popular on pinterest and had to get some!)
• beans (to climb up the corn)
• lettuce (it really thrives as a ground cover in the tubs)
• Radishes (also a good ground cover in the tubs)
• Cucumbers (they are going to climb my balcony railing and look gorgeous I hope)
• Cherry Tomatoes (they will also climb my balcony railing from the OTHER end and look gorgeous I hope)
• Bell Peppers (they are not doing fantastic but I think it was my seed saving methods)
• Green onions (these are easy peasy to grow!)
• Strawberries (these have done the best out of everything! I plan to plant three more tubs of these next year!)

9 Strawberry plants just planted

Same 9 Strawberry plants - 2 months later and one watering

The gem corn and beans and lettuce have done very well

I also have a special project which will get a post all of its own - the Kitchen Scrap Garden. It is ONE tub planted with only scraps from the kitchen. So far I have planted the following:

• White Onion bottoms (have done very well)
• celery (the sun killed it I think)
• Bok Choy (the sun also killed it)
• Romaine Lettuce (the sun killed it really efficiently)
• Nappa Cabbage (It has been doing well but floundering recently)
• Leeks (these have been doing well also and are part of the onion family)

(Photo above was before the celery, bok choy and lettuce died)

So as you can see, the kitchen scrap garden is floundering a bit. But I'm still trying! I'll be posting updates (hopefully video) in the future. 

So far I really love my self-watering garden. It is very easy to take care of. After I set up the tubs I just check the water levels. The strawberries went an entire month without watering and have really flourished. 

I had radishes and lettuce planted in the front of our little apartment and right off the back and two weeks in a row the landscaping guys have taken a weedwacker to our little pieces of salad patch. This past week was especially frustrating as I asked the man that was trimming the front to please leave my lettuce and radishes alone and he apologized and immediately went to our backyard area and weedwacked the entire lettuce/radish area back there that was clearly marked off and covered with landscaping cloth.

So...I'm okay with the landscaping people being jerks. Because they can't get to my tub garden and that makes me very happy.

The hardest part about this tub garden is really not being needed. I sort of wander around the balcony a few moments and look to be needed and come back inside disappointed that I'm not but still happy the garden is thriving without me. 

I have found the cucumbers, corn, strawberries, green onions (they do well anywhere), beans, lettuce and tomatoes have really done well in self watering containers so far. I really plan on three more containers of strawberries next year. I did try spinach but it was just too warm I think. I'll try again in the fall. I haven't tried carrots yet but I plan to in the next couple of weeks. I have some extra soil and need to just put together a couple of 5 gallon self-watering buckets for the carrots so they have something deep to grow in.

Well that's all for the self-watering container garden for now! I highly recommend this if you would rather spend your summer doing fun stuff and avoid watering daily and pulling weeds (I found three weeds in two months). 

I hope this has given you an idea and sparked an adventure.

Comments or questions please post below!

Thanks for reading!