PEAS & RADISHES

Last week the first bed was turned and prepped and lo and behold! We have one bed with good, humus-rich, amended soil. This bed received the bulk of last-year's compost plus a thick layer of straw mulch that overwintered and was turned into the bed. For the first time in 7 years, no further amending is required.

While turning the bed, found a stray carrot that survived the winter. Melanie the bunny (who is kind of in shock after her recent recapture following several weeks on the lam) was the lucky recipient.

Captivity has its benefits, babe.

Another denizen is Methuselah, the onion, now beginning his third year in the bed. Methuselah is a volunteer - no one knows how he got his start, but now that he's established he seems content.

Here's Methuselah and the peas, his new neighbors.

Also in the hood: radishes.

Then the wind picked up again with 40 mph gusts, so the straw mulch was out of the question.

One bed down, several more to go.

Several frosts this week. Yesterday it snowed. Today is sunny, breezy and cold.

P.S. from last post: Mom says quit adding wood ash to the compost - our soil is alkaline enough already. I guess I should be skewing my compost slightly acid, not neutral.

MAKING COMPOST

My garden has terrible soil, so my mission is to make as much compost as I can for as cheap as possible, using mainly recycled materials. Of those I have: the lumber from my neighbor's old fence, a pile of branches from spring pruning, 7 bags of maple leaves "harvested" from the courtyard at work, piles of bunny manure, straw, lawn clippings, leaves and sand, and the partially-composted contents of my little black composting bin where I put my compostable kitchen waste.

First I consult my Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and take notes on a dry-erase board for guidance.

Next, the bins. Using the recyled lumber, I build a two-bin system so I can easily turn the pile from one side to the other. Like this:

I even used recycled wood screws. Next the Encyclopia recommends adding structure for aeration, which speeds up composting. It suggests building the pile on a wood palette or something that will get it off the ground, and placing aeration tubes every 3 feet using lengths of wide pvc pipe with holes drilled in it. I don't have a palette or pvc pipe so I rummage around the yard for comparable free materials.

TA DA! Tomato cages and trimmed-down branches from my pruning pile!

Then I realize that I probably should not compost directly against my fence unless I want to replace the fence. Another rummage through the garage and I am back with the remains of Emily's first-grade learning fair project - a black foam tri-fold that makes a perfect backstop for the pile.

After laying a lattice of branches, out come the bags of maple leaves, which are nice and dry and easily chopped with the mower into a beatiful, fluffy first layer. On top of that goes a layer of bunny manure, then some topsoil and a sprinkling of wood ash.

Here's how it looks when the first layer is done.

So now it's just a matter of repeating the layers, with a variety of materials for my veg-matter layer. This time I pull up my black plastic compost bin where I keep all my kitchen waste. The contents look like the world's nastiest layer cake:

Third layer. >>>

It begins to sprinkle. A few dark clouds move over the house, but back behind the fence it's sunny and mostly dry. For the rest of the afternoon it is sunny with intermittent sprinkles. The wind kicks up from time to time, specifically when I am trying to spread the ash. Because Ma Nature is a big flirt.

Kept at it all afternoon until the pile was four layers high. Neatly restacked my lumber pile. Found a few planks with mantis nests on them, so put them in their own protected mantis nursery spot. Burned some of the pruning pile so I'll have some wood ash for the next layers. Layed the branch lattice in the second bin so it's ready for turning in 3 weeks. Raked up all the leaves the wind scattered. Put away the lawnmower & tools.

Cost of the entire project?

$14.85 + tax for a pitchfork, plus paid Emily a buck a bag to bag up all those maple leaves back in January. So in all, about $22.00 for better garden soil this summer.

Composting is sexy.

Last weekend: new steps (thanks Dale and Darcy!)and fresh gravel on the walk. Emily finishes the graveling of the walkway.

This weekend: ankle reconstruction surgery is complete and we're all taking a break.

But then she tripped on the front steps and broke her ankle.

This weekend: rebuild the front steps.
Next Monday: reconstructive surgery.

Kudos to Carol who was a very busy farmerette this week.

On Monday she turned 65 - a milestone she nearly missed after a close call two weeks ago when she fell through the ice and into the creek while trying to rescue the puppies. A harrowing solo battle against thick ice, waist-deep water and steep banks ensued, followed by a frigid trudge back to the house with a heavy heart, having seen one puppy drowned and the other lost under the ice. A scale-model Jack London epic, this episode.

Carol rescued herself in time to make her movie date with her daughter. (The movie? Atonement. Yes, nothing calms the nerves after a near-tragedy like more tragedy. If only we'd chosen Into the Wild - we could have had tragedy AND irony.) On her return, a miraculous discovery: Daisy the puppy was shivering on her doorstep and waiting to be let in.

So Carol lived to see 65 and Daisy her oral stage, and both agreed to stay out of the creek until spring.

This week Carol also attended an all-day food safety seminar as well as visits to her attorney and the local ag offices where she learned some very good things to advance the farm plan.

More snow. This time of year the lichens are blazing oranges and neon yellows. Almost as if you could warm your hands at this old fencepost.

Quail run every which way over the garden to frequent the feeders. Last week we had robins and goldfinches. This week mainly the usual suspects: juncos, crowned sparrows, chickadees, housefinches and doves.