The Garden in Early April

Garden thyme wearing yesterday morning's frost

Mild winters have their pros and cons. On the plus side is not needing so much wood to heat the house. On the down side, more overwintering insect pests survive. This past winter being mild, meant fresh greens, root crops, and broccoli all winter long. Unfortunately not only did those garden goodies keep growing, so did the weeds.

Parsnips bed

Almost everything I planted last fall has bolted, except the parsnips, alliums, and lettuce (thankfully, we're loving lettuce and broccoli salads.) That means it's time to harvest whatever's left and clean things up a bit. Some plants I'll let grow for seed, what I can I'll store, the rest will be fed to the goats.

Fall planted garlic

The exception is the garlic, which I'll harvest when the tops begin to die back. I've never had garlic do this well and as you can imagine, I'm really pleased. We use a lot of garlic so I've gradually been increasing it. Hopefully this fall I can plant a whole bed's worth!

Volunteer Red Pontiac potatoes

After my piddly potato harvest last year, I'm amazed at how many volunteers I have. It would appear I'm not all that great at harvesting potatoes as I thought. Pictured above are volunteer Red Pontiacs. Dan likes these but I couldn't find them locally as seed potatoes. Instead, I planted 10 pounds of Red Norlands. I hope the potatoes do well this year. I've missed them as a staple in our diet.

Spring planted peas and turnips

My spring planted peas and turnips are making a showing. Not many of the turnips came up, which is a little disappointing because these are a new variety for us, Golden Ball. If I can get enough for a taste and more seeds, I'll be happy.

Vardaman sweet potato slips

Sweet potato slips are the only thing I got an early start on. Things were/are just too disorganized with our kitchen remodel for me to get to starting any seeds. Fortunately we have a long growing season, so everything can be directly sown.

As you can see from the first photo, we are not past danger of frost yet. According to NOAA's frost/ freeze data, I have a 50% chance of frost on April 15, a 10% chance on May 5. As most gardeners know, the trick is to not be in too big a hurry! I usually start my spring planting the latter half of this month. I am so looking forward to that.

The Garden in Early April © April 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Compost Worm Countdown, ......... 2 ..........

"Remember ...Bedding is your friend!!"

Tom Stewart, Worms-a-crawling Farm

I've gradually been working on the next step in my compost worm preparations, bedding. I say gradually, because we have a pretty good size worm bed frame. I'm thinking big, though I now understand why a lot of folks start with smaller plastic totes. :)

Composting worms do not burrow into the ground like earthworms, they like it closer to the surface, where there is plenty of decomposing organic matter. That means they need a dark, moist, protective environment to live in. Bedding provides that and here's what I've learned about it so far....

Shredded cardboard & newspaper for worm bedding

Shredded cardboard always seems to be the most highly recommended, as well as paper. These must be the non-glossy type and the colored inks must be soy based (thankfully common nowadays). Egg cartons (which I don't have) and leftover rolls from toilet paper (which I do have) or paper towels (have on occasion) are good too. Initially I found shredding the cardboard to be time consuming. I tried scissors and a box cutter, but eventually figured out that if I wet down the cardboard first, it was much easier to tear. This is good, because being able to use cardboard, junk mail, and scrap paper for the worms, is one of the reasons I wanted them. There's never a shortage of these items, so this is the perfect "no waste" way to dispose of them.

Barn muckings from last year, slow to completely decompose over winter.

Partially rotted manure or plant matter is good too, as long as it's not fresh. Manure, straw, and hay from cleaning out the goat shed and chicken coop are the basis for my compost piles, which I turn as I remember, and sift as needed. I use the finished sifted compost for the garden, and can add the larger partially decomposed matter can be added to the worm bed as needed.

The problem with fresh manure or green plants, is that they generate heat as they begin to decompose, which is how we know our compost piles are working. Worms prefer temperatures more like we do. Plus, the worms need the microbes found in decomposing matter. This is what they actually eat, not the matter itself.

Last autumn's leaf rakings. 

Autumn leaves are good too, though their down side is that they don't absorb and hold moisture by themselves; better to mix with cardboard. Most of my leaves end up as winter mulch for garden beds, but I did have one pile that is decomposing, which is good.

The bedding needs to be wetted down to keep it damp, not soggy, just damp. Non-chlorinated water only.

Lastly, some food....

Kitchen compost bucket

Most of our kitchen and garden scraps get fed to either the chickens or the goats. Exceptions are anything that's rotting or moldy. Other than that, about the only thing we have left is coffee grounds, tea brewings (bagged or loose), the occasional forgotten item in the refrigerator, and onion and garlic skins.  Those last items (onion and garlic waste) are a no-no for worms however, because of the volatile oils they contain. The other thing that cannot be used, is non-manure waste from animals (bones, fat, dairy products, etc.)

The bedding needs to be prepared at least several days to a week before adding the worms. This gives the bed a chance to begin to establish the microorganisms that the worms eat.

Bedding mixed & damp.

Since my bed frame is large, it finally occurred to me to put a divider in it to start. This will give me time to fill the other side with more bedding by the time the worms need it. Actually, this is similar to Tom's method of harvesting casts.

Now it just has to sit and age a bit. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't dry out. Still on my to-do list, is a cover for the bed. Even just mixing this up attracted a curious robin. After that I'll be ready for my worms!

Want more info? Try these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
http://triplegwormfarm.com/
http://www.happydranch.com/articles/index.html
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/

Related Posts:
Compost Worm Countdown, 3...............
Compost Worm Countdown, ................1

Compost Worm Countdown, ......... 2 .......... © April 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

New Kitchen Floor: Applying the Poly

The instructions on the can said to wait at least 4 hours in between coats. The instructions on the can said that if coats were applied within 12 hours of one another, no sanding was required. Our goal was to make a day of it and get three coats down. Enter reality.

Applying the 1st coat of polyurethane finish.

We started right after breakfast. By sunset, the first coat still wasn't dry. It had rained the night before and turned colder, so admittedly that wasn't in our favor. Neither is the fact that the only functioning bathroom in the house, is off the kitchen. Fortunately there was another way the bathroom could be accessed...

How we got to the bathroom

... through the pantry window.

So, one coat down and two to go. At least. The first coat dried a little rough, so sanding will be necessary no matter how long the drying time. Accidental kitty foot prints don't help either.....

Is this anything like leaving your handprint in newly poured concrete?
NOT

You'd think that by now we'd know better than to have very high expectations for the time frame of our projects. At least we know from experience that this too shall pass.

Next: Done!

New Kitchen Floor: Applying the Poly © April 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/