Compost Update - June 17

Things are looking pretty good at the compost bins! The temperature today in the active pile was around 120°F, with some hotter areas! I gave the pile a good mix, removed some stickers and covered with more browns.

Reminder of the week: PLEASE REMOVE ALL STICKERS! Double-check your scraps before/while you're depositing them, remove any remaining stickers and place in the trash bin to your left. These stickers keep popping up wherever you look and will never degrade because they're made of plastic. Please redouble your efforts to avoid this nuisance!

The active bin is filling up quickly but the compost in the middle bin is not finished yet, so Marcelo dug a whole in our "bad soil" pile and transferred a good amount of compost into it so it can continue to mature there. He then mixed some of the soon to be finished compost with soil and we added the mixture to the potato bins, which are growing nicely. (Fore more on what's going on at the Kitchen Garden, see our blog).

Compost visitor

Earlier this week I made a quick visit to the compost bin and spotted a baby praying mantis in the middle bin. These are considered beneficial insects because they prey on other insects, but apparently some of the most abundant species in our area are non-native and quite voracious, eating both good and bad bugs. Let's hope this is one of the good ones!

- Gabriela.

June 10th at the Kitchen Garden

Another day with full attendance at the Kitchen Garden! Els, Linda M, Linda H, Iris, Mark, Marcelo, Solange, Susan, Laura, Blanca and Gabriela were there.

The day started with an iced herbal tea tasting that Gabriela made mostly with herbs from the garden. Then we dived into action! In addition to tending individual plots there was some weeding, installation of tomato cages, planting of new seedlings (including some that Els and Linda M went to purchase from Sprain Brook nursery), compost management, leveling of paths between beds and a heroic removal of a dangling branch from the pine tree by Mark P (unfortunately we could not capture the colorful operation in pictures!)

Here are some pics from the day by Iris

Potato bins are now close to the pussy willow. Please remember to water them!

 

Solange installing tomato cages

Tending to one of the newly relocated plots

Iris proudly showcasing her peas

Solange and Susan exchanging ideas.

Kitchen Garden Update - June 3rd

It was a very busy Saturday and everyone was in attendance: Mark P, Linda M, Laura, Els, Linda H, Blanca, Susan, Iris, Marcelo, Solange, and Gabriela. Unfortunately no pictures were taken!

The main activity of the day was to plant the seedlings that Iris and Gabriela had purchased the day before and some that we had started from seed: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red cabbage, collards, herbs, peppers, eggplants, and marigolds. We also sprinkled some lettuce seeds in between the seedlings for the next harvest. Iris planted a passion flower plant in the box where we had morning glories last year (over by the fence) and some are coming back. Marcelo moved a lot of mint over by that fence too. Gabriela had planted potato seed in two containers (sprouted potatoes from the CSA donated by MJ) over the week.

Susan sprayed the poison ivy with the vinegar mix we used last year. Gabriela will prepare more and make a second round during the week. Susan and Gabriela talked about possibly planting native flowers and shrubs on the outside of the fence on Oak St, and also dreamed about fruit trees shared with the neighboring property (Zion church).

Gabriela managed the compost pile. We have run out of browns (dry leaves and such) but are working on getting more as soon as possible.

Iris brought Japanese knotweed from her backyard to make an inoculant following a recipe provided by Doug DeCandia in his class. She cut it up, added some Epsom salts, Els added worm castings and they left it soaking in water in the shade.

Laura and Blanca found one or more cabbage worms and Susan thinks we have leaf borers on our spinach and beet greens. We will have to keep an eye on them--hopefully as we expand the palette of plants in the garden things will balance out.

- Iris & Gabriela.

Healthy Soil Workshop: May 11

Doug DeCandia led a wonderful workhsop an taught us about the connection between healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people. 

We started at the Kitchen Garden where Doug talked about and demonstrated the importance of keeping soil covered, minimizing soil disturbance, and what the wild plants (or "weeds") are telling us about our garden, and how they can actually be our allies. 

We then moved indoors and shared our gardening experiences and questions, and learned some recipes to nurture the soil and plant microorganisms (think about probiotics).

It was a very informative and transformative class where we learned, as Doug puts it, about regenerative, life supporting approaches to growing food (in contrast with the life-suppressing methods of industrial agriculture). 

If you missed the class (and even if you didn't!) you may want to check out Doug's YouTube channel:  Bionutrient Food and Farming in Westchester, which has many short and super useful videos showing how to actually do it all! And here is a link to the inoculant recipes.

May 20 at the Kitchen and Labyrinth Gardens

Marcelo, Susan, Gabriela, Iris, Linda H, Blanca, Solange, Lenore and Chris were at the garden this Saturday.

Lenore, Marcelo, Chris and Gabriela focused on the Labyrinth and did some trimming, planting, weeding, watering, and replacing border stones. The Labyrinth is looking pretty good, thought there are some problem areas. We are hoping to get advice from a seasoned gardener on what plants may be best suited to the partially shaded conditions, and how to improve soil conditions. The idea is to choose native plants that will not require watering once established.

Meanwhile, at the Kitchen Garden, the rest of the crew worked on weeding individual beds, lamented some discoloration on the leaves that Susan thinks might signal leaf borers (on the spinach and kale--we cut off those leaves and threw them in the garbage, not the compost), cut down the cover crop in the middle bed and spread it on top of the bed. Marcelo also spread hay on the newly relocated beds and at the front of the garden by Oak St.

Iris and Gabriela.

Compost update: Paper cups and egg shells

May 19th, 2017.

The active pile is filling up quickly and getting hot. The warmest part was at 120°F!

Two observations for this week:

1. Paper cups are, for the most part, non-compostable, as they are usually lined with a plastic film. These, unfortunately, belong to the trash (and it's best to avoid them as much as possible).

   

   Don't be confused by the recycle symbol! It indicates that the cup is made with recycled material, but it is NOT recyclable.

2. Egg shells need to be thoroughly crushed. They take forever to decompose and usually look intact even after everything else is fully composted. They can go to the soil anyway and will VERY SLOWLY provide calcium and other nutrients, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE IN TINY PIECES. An alternative is to use the shells to prepare a liquid fertilizer for blooms.  

   

   These shells probably spent close to a year in the compost pile and are still intact!

   

   Crush the shells before composting. The smaller the better!

Thank you for helping return these nutrients back to the earth!
 

Compost Update April 6-13

Looks like our worms and microorganisms keep working hard! Last Friday the active bin was around 108°F!

Unfortunately, there are still some issues with the scraps. The last couple visits (April 6 and April 13) there were whole paper bags in the active bin and whole fruits and veggies. While paper can be composted, IT NEEDS TO BE IN SMALL PIECES.

BIG ASK OF THE WEEK:

• If you are collecting your scraps in paper bags, empty the contents in the active bin and then PLEASE RIP THE BAG IN SMALL PIECES, COVERING THE SCRAPS. If needed, add more "browns" from the left bin to make sure the scraps are covered. 
• By the way, covering the scraps will become increasingly critical as the weather gets warmer because the decomposing scraps may attract vermin and become a nuisance. 

Paper bags are OK, but not whole!

That's more like it!