hint: not the bird.

Vermaculture is the process of using worms to help you compost. Other than strolling outside and rooting beneath leaves and rocks to find our staunch local population, red worms (eisenia fetida) are the most commercially available worms to use in your vermaculture system.  They can eat nearly half their weight in food a day and their castings (the more scientific name for worm poop) have an amazingly high nutritional value for your plants.  Good things to put in your worm bin are vegetable or fruit scraps, stale bread, coffee grounds & filters, crushed egg shells, tea bags and other organic waste.  Avoid dairy products, oil or meat products.
Keep it sweet!  A worm bin should smell like rich wet dirt and if it smells rancid that’s an indicator that there’s a problem in your system. (usually too much moisture or too much food)
Mid-winter is a good time to begin your  mini-farm of sorts, employing the same closed circle many real organic farms enjoy.
Animals graze . fertilize soil . feeds plants . repeat!
Even apartment dwellers may amuse themselves by lording it over their own small compostville.

best off
it’s quite simple really.

a small working mulch farm in the corner of this dudes apartment kitchen.

To Make it:
* 10 gallon opaque plastic box with lid. A short, wide container is best because earthworms really only do their thing in the top few inches of dirt.
* A drill or other piercing device to punch small holes
* Old paper products like newspaper for bedding (non glossy/ no color, dyes contain chemicals harmful to worms)
* Water * Dirt * Food scraps
* A tray to put under your worm bin
* a herd of worms found or purchase
A pound costs about $30. Some sites are:
unclejimswormfarm.com
redwormsforsale.com
Use a 1/16th inch drill bit to punch holes in top/sides & bottom of your container about 1 inch apart for good ventilation. The tray under your bin will protect your floor. (Plus excess water will drain rather than drown your worms!)
Rip paper into 1 inch strips/ mist with water/ squeeze out excess & fluff up.
On top of this layer add a handful of dirt.  This will help the worms digest their food.  Now add your worms and a good amount of food scraps on top of them.  Keep in mind that too much food is just as bad for your worm bin as too little so it’s advantageous to do some math to figure out how much you should actually add.  If you’re starting with 1/2 lb of worms and they can eat half their body weight in a day, then you should only add 1/4 lb of scraps a day to your worm bin, or about 1 1/2 lb a week.
After adding the food add a layer of dry shredded newspaper on top.  This will help keep fruit flies out of your worm bin (though if they end up inside it’s not harmful, only annoying) Put the lid on your bin and place where the temperature will stay between 55-77 degrees, out of direct sunlight, and where you will
remember to toss your kitchen waste into it.  Keep feeding your worms every few days and if things look too dry,  spray it with a bit of water.  Don’t stir things around too much because this may trigger bacterial processes that will make the bin heat up and you will end up with cooked worms.  When you’re ready to harvest simply push everything in the bin over to one side, add a new layer of damp bedding, and only put food on the new side.  In a month or two the worms will have eaten everything from the old side and will have moved on to the new leaving you with (almost) worm free castings.  You can look forward to adding this “black gold” to your garden beds this spring.

yummy rich mulch for your pleasure:)

So I politely dug up and tucked the frilly lettuce into cozy pots, watered them

and allowed the excess water to drain before inviting them all into our dining room for the next several months. I’m not sure how the lettuce will react to watching us shovel down bowlfuls of mixed greens and romaine, but I will let you know. I promise to try  not to kill these startled refuges by over or under watering, but I should appologize in advance for excelling in this area.

Excuse me now, I need to go put a log on the fire. Welcome to winter my friends,

I have just stumbled into a magnificent new friend. Her name is Ruth Stout. Sadly she is no longer in this world becoming one with her garden back in 1980 at the age of 96. We could have had great fun. She hated weeding and spent all her time out-witting that drugery by heaping loads of mulch (her favorite was hay)thick on her garden in all seasons. Born in Kansas in 1884, Ruth was raised as a Quaker on her family’s farm. She was known for being brilliant with an eccentric edge. Back when gardens were wearily worked over with manicured precicion, Ruth threw her sprouting potatoes in with the roses and covered great portions of her yard with hay. She developed, or rediscovered, a gardening method that she claims, properly, was invented by God.  “For it was God who decreed that each year leaves would fall and cover the bare earth, and that in the spring, plants germinated under their blanket of leaves would miraculously regenerate.”  From this and other simple observations, Ruth decided that everyone should do what God does, and cover their garden area with “permanent mulch.” And then, as she had, they would discover that “There is peace in the garden.  Peace and results.” Ruth Stout’s much loved “No-Work Garden Book” is  all about using straw as a
really deep mulch; to control        
pests, to keep weeds down, to
keep things from drying out,
and as it breaks down, it’s
like adding compost to the
soil.  I discovered it does a
good job of holding off
weeds, reduces watering,
(especially helpful with
this summer’s drought)
and nurtures big, healthy
earthworms.

Ruth advises:

“I beg everyone to start with a mulch 8 inches deep; otherwise, weeds may come through, and it would be a pity to be discouraged at the very start. But when I am asked how many bales (or tons) of hay are necessary to cover any given area, I can’t answer from my own experience, for I gardened in this way for years, and therefore didn’t keep track of such details.

However, I now have some information on this from Mr. Dick Clemence, my A-Number-One adviser. He says, “I should think of 25 50-pound bales as about the minimum for 50 feet by 50 feet, or about a half-ton of loose hay. That should give a fair starting cover, but an equal quantity in reserve would be desirable.” That is a better answer than the one I have been giving, which is: You need at least twice as much as you would think.
What Should I Use for Mulch? Spoiled* or regular hay, straw, leaves, pine needles, sawdust, weeds, garbage — any vegetable matter that rots. *It’s hay that for some reason isn’t good enough to feed livestock. It may have, for instance, become moldy — if it was moist when put in the haymow — but it is just as effective for mulching as good hay, and a great deal cheaper. One man in a group I addressed was determined not to let me get away with claiming that it was all right to throw a lot of hay full of grass seeds on one’s garden, and the rest of the audience was with him. I was getting nowhere and was bordering on desperation, when, finally, I asked him: “If you were going to make a lawn, would you plant the grass seed
and then cover it with several inches of hay?” Put that way, he at last realized that a lot of hay on top of tiny seeds would keep them from germinating.
Now, you can lay chunks of baled hay between the rows of vegetables in your garden and, in a wet season, have a hearty growth of weeds right on top of the hay. To kill unwanted weeds all you need do is turn over the chunk of hay. This isn’t much of a job but some ardent disciples of my system are capable of getting indignant with me (in a nice way, of course) because they are put to that bother. I have relieved them of all plowing, hoeing, cultivating, weeding, watering, spraying and making compost piles; how is it that I haven’t thought of some way to avoid this turning over of those chunks of hay?”- Ruth Stout
Go Ruth:)…………………….want to get to know Ruth better?

She wrote for Mother earth news and has a bunch of books including the best known:

So this winter, when

you long to mess around in sun warmed soil- pick up a gardening book and dream.

tulips
You can plant tulip bulbs with a tulip bulb planter. It is a round cylinder that you press into the ground, remove the dirt and place the bulbs in the ground, cover with remaining dirt and you’re done. Bulbs should be planted in late October/early November so that they can bloom in the spring. You can select a section of your lawn,
maybe rimming the driveway and plant tulips, daffodils (or any early spring bloom) in the lawn. They should finsh blooming before the lawn
gets too high, and then just mow ‘em down until next spring.

The kings of France selected  the Bearded Iris
 (Iris germanica) as their emblem, the fleur-de-lis.

Irises
grow from a root called a rhizome. You don’t need to plant the rhizomes very deep, in fact, the very top of the rhizome should be slightly above the surface of the ground. Plant them about 12 inches apart.The patch will get very crowded after several years, so you may wish to dig it up and gift these gems around to your friends. I have several patches to get to one day soon.
daffodils
Also can be planted outside of the garden. Generally bulbs should be planted so the bottom rests at a depth that’s two-and-a-half times the bulb’s diameter. In well-drained or sandy soil, plant an inch or two deeper to increase longevity and discourage rodents. Because bulbs look best planted in groups, you are better off using a garden spade instead of a bulb planter, which encourages you to plant bulbs singly. A spade makes it easier to set bulbs side by side in large groups. Plant groups of bulbs in holes no smaller than a dinner plate, or dig wide, curving trenches and position the bulbs in the bottom.
Jack Holland and Joan Gilsdorf of Salisbury have coaxed their early spring garden into an amazing festival of daffodils, they and their neighbors enjoy each year.

hyacinth 

Layer different types of bulbs from bottom to top in the same hole to create companion plantings or a succession of bloom in a given location. For example, dig a 6-inch-deep hole and place several Dutch hyacinths in the bottom, lightly cover them with soil, then plant a handful of grape hyacinths at a 5-inch depth. The two types of hyacinths bloom at the same time in spring. The grape hyacinths create a softening skirt beneath the more massive Dutch hyacinths. As another benefit, the leaves of the grape hyacinth bulbs appear in autumn and remain all winter, providing a marker for the dormant Dutch hyacinth bulbs, so you won’t inadvertently plant on top of the hyacinths or dig them up.

garlic 

Flowers are lovely, but garlic is golden! Purchase locally grown garlic bulbs (elephant garlic best) from the farmer’s market. Plant the small, individual cloves that break off from the bulb. Don’t break them up until you plant them. The outer cloves of each garlic will produce the largest bulbs. Like onions, garlic is great for wide-row growing. Plant the cloves the full depth of the bulb — three or four inches apart, and firm the soil. Try a row 10 to 12 inches wide. To grow big garlic bulbs, plant the cloves in late fall. They’ll mature the following summer.
Harvest garlic when the tops have only six to eight green leaves left. It should take at least 100 days for spring-planted garlic. Pull the heads up and let them dry for a few days, and then cure them in an airy place, like onions. Braiding is an excellent way to cure garlic. Store it in a cool place.
If you leave garlic bulbs in the ground over the winter, let them go to seed the following season. The top of the seed stalk will produce 10 to 15 tiny bulbs that you can plant for a future crop.

So we end as we begin again...

ON THE SUBJECT OF BULBS

HOW TO BUY BULBS
Look them over just like you would fruit, bulbs should be firm, unblemished and large.

TIP
Plant soon after purchase or store in a cool dark place.

PLANT
Prepare a planting hole a few inches deeper than the recommended planting depth shown on the planting chart. Mix compost, well-rotted manure, or peat moss into the soil removed. Add a slow acting organic fertilizer to the bottom of the hole; then add enough soil to bring the hole to the proper planting depth. For a maximum effect, space bulbs only a few inches apart. Fill in the planting hole and water thoroughly.

NATURALIZING BULBS
One particularly successful type of naturalized planting is the woodland garden. Most spring bulbs will thrive in areas dominated by deciduous trees, since the trees allow plenty of light in the spring when the bulbs are in leaf.
SOMETHING TO LOOK
FORWARD TO..…………………….but for now, lets force the issue

INDOOR WINTER BLOOMS
Now is also the time of the year to begin potting your favorite spring bulbs to prepare them for winter flowering. Tulips, narcissus (daffodils), hyacinths, crocus, scillas, grape hyacinths, and lily of the valley can be forced into flower in late winter and early spring. A pot of tulips on the window sill in February can make a winter-worn gardener renew the desire to survive the winter.
Begin by potting the bulbs in clean, sterile clay or plastic pots. Normally the “noses” of the bulbs are exposed. Do not bury the bulbs. The soil should be an open mixture of good garden loam (three parts), peat moss (two parts), and sand (one part). Don’t worry about soil fertility or feeding bulbs because they have enough stored food to flower one time. Keep the soil loose.

Plant the bulbs close together in the pot. Usually 6 tulip bulbs, 3 hyacinths, 6 daffodils, or 15 crocus, will fit into a 6-inch pot. The flat side of the tulip bulb should be placed next to the rim of the pot since the largest leaf will always emerge and grow on that side, producing a more desirable looking pot.

Allow 1/4-inch of space at the top of the pot so it can be watered easily. The bulbs should be watered immediately upon planting, and thereafter the soil should never be allowed to become dry.
Bulbs must be given a cold temperature treatment of 35– 48 degrees F for a minimum of 12 weeks. This cold treatment can be provided by placing in a cold frame,
an unheated attic or cellar. Near Christmas  place the pots in a cool, sunny location
at a temperature of 50–60 degrees F  for the first week or until the shoots and
leaves begin to expand. Then, they can be moved to warmer locations such
as the living room. Avoid direct sunlight.
BLOOM IN WATER
Hyacinths, crocus, and narcissus also can be forced in water. Special clear, glass vases are made for hyacinths or crocus. The bulb is placed in the upper portion, water in the lower portion. The vase is then kept in a cool, dark room (preferably under 50 degrees F) for four to eight weeks until the root system has developed and the top elongates. At this point it should be placed in a bright window, where the plant soon will blossom.
Bunch-flowering narcissus, such as Paper White and Soleil d’Or, can be grown in shallow pans of water filled with crushed rocks or pebbles.
FORCED WINTER BULBS make lovely gifts .

for some joyful color mid winter!

Well, we had a good run, drought and all. At it’s height our garden was prolific and the picture of what I had hoped it would be. We were showered with tomatoes, peppers, herbs, fruits of all kinds and before it got too hot, colorful tasty lettuces. Our fickle friend Irene directed her wrath elsewhere, while here on Delmarva a half heartedtrouncing crushed the garden and shook every apple off our trees.
No matter, some of those apples were up pretty high. We gathered boxes of those along with bundles of sticks (to start wood stove fires with in winter.) When life gives you hurricanes-  make apple sauce!
note to self for next year
Early on when the peach and apple trees were
loaded with buds, then tiny fruit, did I say to
myself, “ Hmmm, I wonder if I should cull
this tree?” The answer, which I did not do is
“Yes!” Even though you are dazzled by all
that potential fruit growing ever more plump,
you must pull it off at this point, or it will
snap the branches off your tree, like a sinking
boat with one person too many. Hurricanes and drought further bully our over fruited trees, and I’m sad to say a few suffered very bad trims by Mother Nature.
tidying up- (post storm or season)
*Dip your pruning tool in a mixture of 10 percent denatured alcohol and water when cutting off diseased branches to ensure you don’t spread the diseases. Prune areas parallel and 6 inches from the growing branches to provide a smooth cut. Avoid leaving any stubs. Don’t apply any type of sealant, the tree will do its best to form scar tissue to protect the wound. A sealant  tends to trap moisture inviting rot and fungus infection. NOTE: the main pruning of trees should be done in deep winter.
* Pick up any diseased or rotting fruit off the ground. Rotting fruit will not only attract wildlife and insects, but it can also infect the tree with fungi spores. Treat the fruit tree with a fungicide if the tree has been infested with a fungus.
* Clear and clip any broken or dead plants out of your garden. You may get a few more weeks out of the plant. Don’t put diseased plants into your compost.

Almost done tomato plants with green tomatoes may be cut at the base stem and hung upside down-& your maters will still ripen. Some gardeners wipe down their tomato cages with a 50/50 bleach water mix before stowing for the winter. I applaud that, but that is simply time I don’t have. Next year I may use all bamboo fences, they took on the wind far better .
*Harvest the individual leaves of tarragon, rosemary, basil, sage and other culinary herbs and dry them indoors. Herb leaves are most intensely flavored right before the plant blooms. Snip foliage in the morning after the dew has dried. To dry herbs for storage, tie the cut stems together and hang them upside down in a dry location.
Cover with a paper bag to avoid losing the shattered leaves. Store dried herbs in glass jars away from light and heat. Fresh basil can also be frozen in plastic containers. Finely chop basil and cover with olive oil. Freeze in ice cube tray, pop out and stow in freezer bags.
*Plant winter greens asap if you haven’t gotten to it. With our mild weather, you can have them through December.

The Zen of Gardening is to sit at the foot of nature and feel grateful for the single blossom. There is a triumph in the hmm of bees, taste of a sun warmed tomato or the mere texture of dirt combed beneath your fingers. It is nurture and repetition of task, pulling weeds, watering, weeding and watering again. The mysteries of a garden are thick and variable, but quietly riveting, if gardening is a book, I am lost in the first chapter. As my summer garden winds down I must make some notes to-self for next year.
stuff that has worked well:
* the old carpets/ covered with playground mulch walkways. (high marks!)
* bamboo tomato “cages”- stake verticals and tie several height lengths of bamboo to frame both sides of the row of tomato plants-(fencing the row between). Weave heavy string back and forth to hold up the plants as they grow. (In heavy winds or with big high producing plants those scrawny metal tomato cages will fall over.) There are also square (box-kite) shaped wooden tomato cages you can fashion.
* Bamboo is wonderful stuff! BUT not in YOUR garden. You can help keep the bamboo in check in your nice friend’s garden by sawing it into useful garden stakes. It also weathers beautifully when fashioned into fences, a trellis or grape arbor.

While we are on the subject of tomatoes-in early July some evil and ravenous horn-worms rudely gobbled to the stem several of my prize tomato plants. The worms sport an amazingly effective pattern that allows them to munch away virtually under your nose until some perception shifts and you utter choice words while plucking them (gloves on) off your precious plants. I wasn’t keen to crush them, so I threw them into the bay for a croaker fish to enjoy. Of course they do turn into lovely moths, if you are more zen than me. When I do have a garden dilemma- going online is very informative- for instance next year I will plant carrots, parsley and allow the Queen anne’s lace to grow amongst the tomatos. These plants offend horn-worms! (Brava!)
From the Gardensalive.com website:
“Plant‘companion plants’ to attract miniature parasitic wasps—so small we can barely see them—that lay their eggs in or on the hungry, hungry caterpillars. After the eggs hatch, the developing wasp larvae spin cocoons on the back of their prey for protection as they slowly consume the pest to fuel their growth to adulthood.
(That’s why you should never squish a hornworm that has what looks like grains of rice stuck to its back. Pick the pest off the plant, put it in a jar with some tomato leaves for food and cover the jar with large-holed screening. That will allow the baby wasps that emerge from those little cocoons to escape and go lay eggs in more hornworms.)
Back to the Plants of Attraction: These highly beneficial little waspies like a little nectar and pollen to cleanse their palates in between caterpillar meals, especially from tiny flowers that grow in umbrella-like clusters, like dill, fennel, Queen Anne’s lace and biennials like carrots and parsley left in the garden for a second year. They also like compound, daisy-like flowers, tansy, spearmint, clover, sweet alyssum and many others. The wasps are native almost everywhere—so “if you plant it, they will come”.
The Horn worm does develope into a pretty moth- My friend Randy Stadler loves the hornworms and their winged evolution equally, but then he mainly purchases his tomatoes.

Not all plants get along with each other!

For instance BASIL: great with tomatoes, improves growth and flavor. Pals around with peppers, oregano, asparagus and petunias. Not at all fond of  rue or sage.
DILL: Nurtures cabbage. Annoys carrots, caraway, lavendar or tomatoes. Best Buddy for lettuce!
FENNEL: Fennel is not a team player, actually inhibiting growth and may actually kill neighbor plants.
OoPS!
that explains a few unhappy areas!
Fennel is worthwhile in the garden, tasty and attracts helpful ladybugs, syrphid flies, tachnid flies, beneficial parasitoid wasps and hoverflies. (just plant it with like plants)
BORAGE: brings on the bees! It also enhances the taste of strawberries.
FOUR-O’CLOCKS: Attracts Japanese beetles for dinner and poisons them as a bonus.
NASTURTIUM: is a valuable asset in the garden especially if you have fruit trees. GARLIC-creates  a naturally occurring sulfer fungicide offering disease prevention
for apple trees, pear trees, cucumbers, peas, lettuce and celery. Plant under peach trees to help repel borers. There is much more on line  and good books on the subject as well…I’ll remind you of this around January as we dream of next summer:)

Ah-ha. So the secret is paying attention to your garden. Water it like mad. Weed it like crazy.
Wrestle the horn worms off your tomatoes and toss them in the bay for the fish to chew on.
Then one day… after it actually rains a bit, you will stand in awe at the cukes & monster zucchini, bushels of tomatoes, herbs, lettuce & greens ambushing the yard. It’s lovely. It’s a lot!
Sure you can can. But I find it is hard to open up and use your precious little jars of what not. I have some pickled figs from at least 15 years ago. (I can’t bear to eat them-ok maybe I shouldn’t, but they still look great tucked in their syrup.) Hazel Kraft, of Frenchtown, now long gone, taught me how to make them and shared her coveted cinnamon oil!
Freezing is fine, just harvest in early morning, wash & dry well and remove any  uninvited varmits. If your freezer goes down, you will have a lot of eating to do.
This year I am going to try drying. After all the sun is certainly turned up to bake. After searching through a bunch of websites, I chose a simple dryer. There are more complex, surely more efficient ones to build, but this one looks enchantingly simple. My friend Linda Croxson of Locustville, VA. keeps  her dried tomatoes in a jar of olive oil.
I am a slave to them.

This was not hard to build.

but I had trouble keeping ants out, and here in Maryland with the our summer air saturated with humidity- some of my tomatoes molded.

I whined to friends and they lent me a commercial version….

which had to be plugged in so it was much less romantic.

Tomatoes sliced at about 1/4 inch wide dried in about 24 hours. Although the bottom trays dried much faster and I even managed to burn some. Some of the top trays still attracted some mold! I washed the trays and kept a sharp eye out. So I did get some. The drier I truly wanted to build is below. I collected all the materials together, except time:( well maybe next summer.

TESTS FOR DRYNESS:
Rely on appearance and feel to judge dryness.
Cool a test handful a few minutes before deciding whether the food is done.
Consider fruit dry when no wetness can be squeezed from a piece which has been cut – it should be rather tough and pliable.
Consider vegetables dry when brittle.
STORAGE :
Ensure food is thoroughly cool before storing.
Store in small quantities in glass or food-grade plastic. Check supplies frequently for contamination or dampness. Keep in a dry, cool place (between 4 C/40 F and 21 C/70 F).

** There is  much more info on line:
howtogardenadvice.com/harvesting/how_to_dehydrate_dry_vegetables.html

pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

Every year around this time I say- “well here we are in the summer drought.” The lawn withers, lettuce bolts and the trees bail excess fruit off their stressed branches. The bad news is, we were crazy dry in June! I transplanted two highly coveted Kiwi plants (one male/one female; you need both) and even with my dedicated watering, both turned into curled parchment love letters to the elegant vines they would never be. I went to www.drought.unl.edu to get my garden fortune told and they say “drought will persist with some improvement.” So keep your watering wands steady. In the face of few gathering clouds, how does one water most economically? I have reached this time intensive conclusion…Drum roll please!
Hold On!  To build suspense, here are those that did not win:
soaker hoses- weepy, complaining long black snakelike things you trip over at night  that create a great wet splotch nourishing plants & weeds alike.
sprinkler hoses- it may be me, but someone put those evenly spaced sprinkle holes precisely where my plants aren’t.
hose & spray-pretty ok, if you don’t knock the bejesus out of your pepper plant with the turbo stream. Also this method involves a lot of standing and staring at other things that need doing. water drip bottles- tidy, water goes right where you want in a slow steady stream. Idyllic but those plastic milk & soda bottles all require filling. Good if your property comes with willing elves.
And the winner is ……!
a wimpy little whirling
sprinkler- the go’round kind.
Place in the center of your
plants and adjust the water flow so the force sprays out to a diameter of just what you wish to be watered.
Go and do a 5 minute task. The garden gets incrementally watered (well) and you do little annoying house or weeding chores that are lovely to scratch off your list.
Smart Garden drought tips
Plant Drought Tolerant Vegetables Some vegetables don’t need as much water as others:Amaranth, cow beans, corn, mustard greens, purlane, spinach, tomatoes, chard.Mulch & use Compost. 2-3 inches,
and create a bowl dipping down toward plant.
Double or Triple Dig between plantings: aerates your soil making it easier for the roots of your plants to grow down, to pick up the water that is already deep in the soil.
Water at Night or early morning
& just the right amount, based on plant needs and recent weather.
the garden is growing well.

GOOD IDEAS!

I collected a bunch of driftwood and wove a fence for the peas.

heres another view- and note the use of a weird frame from the dump to grow the lemon cucumbers..

 The BIG picture of the garden- shows my boat seed starter vessel

and the entrance- why not have some fun?

Garden Warrior guest Randy Stadler from Stadler Nursery. He and his lovely wife Bobbie live in Manokin, MD. Randy has combined his love of nature with a life-long passion for photography. Here are a few postcards from his backyard:

The Black Swallowtail caterpiller shows up in gardens all summer (mainly on parsley).  If you want a butterfly garden, you need to accept caterpillers.  Yes, they eat your plants, but Cardinals and Wrens love to feed their babies with caterpillers. We have an anise plant in the garden just so we can watch the caterpillers grow.

Mimosa may be a non native tree, but they provide nectar to many insects and to hummingbirds.  We need to feed bees when they do not have our vegetable flowers and fruit flowers.

Mulch is your friend!

I hope so anyway, I have invited several busloads of it over, and it has taken residence around my tomato and pepper plants. It looks nice, very tidy so I like it. I dug my evil cutgrass devil ditch 6 inches deep and stuffed it with mulch. This with an elegant trim of brick may hold off the lawn. (I’ll let you know) As someone with no time for dabbling in a garden that inches bigger every year, I am looking for magic. The weeds will come but perhaps not in a tsunami, and with this little head start maybe my hometeam plants will be able to hold the floor this time.Learn as you go. I do have a few new tricks from the early  skirmishes.
plan: When you lay out the edge of your garden/ think curves/ as in how the poor sap that mows the front yard can easily allow the lawnmower wheel to hug that brick trim.
prep: Try to cull out weed roots as you dig up and turn your garden over pre-mulch. If weeds do sneak forth, dispatch them.
cheap paint scraper: Costs maybe a buck!  Greatto use in cast seed gardens, where weeds and seeds have equal footing. (As a friend of mine calls it an Anarchy Garden) Slide the flat scraper forward just under the soil to loosen weeds, grab them by the hand full and toss. Wait until weeds and plants are about 2-3 inches tall, so you can identify any friendly plants you’d prefer not to annihilate. This has been a very windy, dry spring. The mulch will help to maintain the
moisture in the soil, keep your plants in place and serves as nature’s insulating blanket. Many organic types of mulch can improve soil aeration, structure (aggregation of soil particles) and drainage over time as they decompose. various mulches. To hedge your bets… put down a nice layer of newspaper (no color)or cardboard.  Weedcloth can be an ok weed stop, but it is hard to plant through and weeds will eventually pound their way through and turn it into a matt. Cover with 2-3 inches of mulch. Colored dyed mulches should not be used in vegetable gardens. Natural pine mulch is my choice, has a nice color and is fairly easy to work with. Untreated playground mulch is cheapest, light colored but coarse, making it is best for walkways. Dig down about 5 inches, lay in old carpet upside down and fill “walkway trench with 4-5 inches of mulch. Mulch is nice to walk on and a wheel barrel rolls over it nicely. However, there can be a downside to mulching. If not applied correctly (to correct depth) over mulching can create an environment which can harbor organisms capable of causing bark rot. Too deep a layer of organic mulch can also provide an environment which may support a variety of harmful fungi, bacteria and especially harmful insects (termites). Keep wood mulches away from your house foundation/use pea gravel  here for good drainage. Avoid frequent watering as mulching results in less of a need. Rake or turn mulch periodically to aerate.
Mulches like straw blow away easily and the weeds will break through. Pine needles are great, although very acidic and maybe hard to find. M
playground mulched walkways
around raised beds with pine mulch.
lined with bricks found at Habitat.
GOOD GREENS!!!!

Look for brightly colored crisp leaves that have no signs of browning or sliminess, as these greens perish easily. Refrigerate quickly after purchase without washing. When ready to use, remove leaves from heads (if they grow on heads) and separate. Swish leaves in a bowl of cool water and then wash under running water to remove any dirt and grit.  Allow leaves to dry before use, either in a salad spinner or by lying on a towel or paper towel. To protect its integrity, do not cut salad greens; rather tear the leaves into manageable pieces. Salad greens can be eaten this way, with any assortment of other vegetables, cheeses, meats, and dressings. Salad greens can also be braised or wilted and used in entrees or side dishes.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Lettuce and other salad greens are extremely low calorie, providing less than 10 calories per shredded cup. Dark-colored lettuces generally have more than half a day’s worth of beta-carotene. Green leaf lettuce and romaine are also excellent sources of vitamin K and good sources of vitamin C. Arugula is a good source of vitamin K and folate.
STORAGE: Store unwashed leaves wrapped in a lightly damp paper towel, sealed in a plastic bag with the air removed in the refrigerator’s crisper for six to seven days. Water speeds decay and storing the leaves unwashed will keep them fresh longer. Romaine lettuces keep the longest.
Yummy to ADD: The Farmer’s Market will be inspirational in June! Beyond basic salad
throw in fresh basil, cilantro, mint or other herbs, edible flowers like day lily, squash blossom, Nasturtiums & Pansies. Seek out young wild fennel, asparagus and turnip, greens.Of course fresh peas, thin slices of zuchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomato, carrots, fresh beans add crunch. Don’t forget fruits like rasberries, blueberries or strawberries, these are a real treat with mixed greens in a light vinegrette.

It was a mixed garden; bulbs, vegetables, the odd flower, weeds, and the weeds were winning.
It was the first lovely day in April. You must remember! We were all down on our knees worshiping the SUN. …I stayed home to “work on the Calendar Guide” and well… dug this whole sucker up instead. My new garden strategy is to divide and conquer- in neat little regimented plots heavily mulched and nice marching rows of happy seedlings….but NO!

There are unnamed others determined to trench my lovely garden into burial berms for well, their stuff. Here are my countermeasures- scatter your tomato cages to protect the tiny  plants from paws and use paw annoying spikey wood mulch. As the plants get established the pets go elsewhere. (so to speak)

STRATEGIZE!

1) dig up all the bulbs- pull out the weeds and evil grass roots from the dirt balls and move them to the suburbs- or under a tree somewhere.
2) plant your seeds in tidy long mounds of cunning topsoil- placed upon your standard dirt. (no weed seeds invited)
3) mulch heavily in between the rows with this year’s latest fashion mulch. Red mulch is stunning next to green foliage!
4) use found objects like the old patio couch turned on it’s side for a pea & bean trellis, repurposed building materials as garden dividers, sculptures and containers to add interest. Plan and plant with a nod to color
plant texture &  height.
Make it a pretty veggie garden!