Found in the Compost

I am finally getting down to the bottom of the old compost heap that came with the house, scraping concrete at last. I think I'll get maybe 40 more gallons of useful compost, and the rest will go into the compost tumblers for finishing off. Then I'll take down the old bin with the rotting slats and peeling paint and replace it with... who knows what? A playhouse for the girls? A hen house? Well, we'll see how it looks without the rotting vegetation first.

All season, I've been amused, annoyed, and occasionally astounded by what I've found in the compost, both the heap and the compost we had trucked in for the garden. So far, I've found:

• Pot sherds, both plastic and clay
• Old plant labels
• Entirely too many rocks
• A disturbing amount of broken glass
• Random bits of wire and plastic and twine
• A few coins
• A used toothbrush
• An empty cigarette lighter (but no butts)
• Bits of rusted chain, pipe, and metal
• A whole tire iron, of a rather old design
• These cheeky fellows:

Cast iron compost bugs - not a critter I usually find in the heap.

 But I have to say that my favorite compost find was what greeted me in the bin this morning:

Oysters in the compost.

Yup, those are delicious oyster mushrooms, growing from some spawn in a spent mushroom kit I'd discarded in the compost. I love it when that happens. These babies are destined to be my breakfast tomorrow, along with scrambled eggs and sauteed wild ramps. So, if you happen to find a mushroom growing next to the seedling you bought from me, don't panic. It's probably a beneficial mushroom from the mycological amendments I use, and it might even be a tasty gourmet mushroom. If you're wondering, take a picture and send it to me.

Now, I didn't find these two in the compost, but they're worth sharing anyway.

Annelise waters the newly-planted zucchini.

Eleanor on her way to water the nasturtiums.

Annelise and I planted her giant pumpkin today! She is so excited. She can't wait to grow a champion squash and enter it into the county fair. We'll see if she can keep up with it. Also planted today: Baby Pam and Sugar Pie pumpkins, Kabocha squash, Parthenon zucchini, husk cherries, Little Leaf and Endeavor cukes for Beverly Bootstraps, one Sun Gold cherry tomato, and one Valencia tomato. Tomorrow: more cukes, melons, spinach, delicata and spaghetti squash, some other varieties of tomato, the two varieties of fingerling potatoes, various flowers, and, if I can get the beds finished, corn.

The Peril of the Peas

Last week, the greenhouse was abuzz with - not bees! - drama. The peas were just overgrowing everything, and I had to think of a quick solution. So I got out a trellis net and created a pea hammock!

Hey, look! There's kale under there!

And now the bush beans are safe from strangulation.

The following day, I got a large order for brassicas from a small farm in Westford who lost their entire crop to cutworms. Grr! So I went to the greenhouse to see how many kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower seedlings I had for them. The good news: lots, more than enough kale, plenty of broccoli (though I'm now mostly cleared out of that), and all the remaining brussels sprouts and cauliflower. The bad news: APHIDS. EVERYWHERE.

Apparently, the kale that had previously been overgrown by the peas had become infested with aphids. When I lifted up the pea vines into the hammock, all those aphids looked up, blinked in the sunlight a bit, and said, Hey, look! More kale! Yum! And they ran riot through the greenhouse. Apparently, aphids who like kale also like zinnias, and I actually lost two seedlings to them (not to worry, those of you with zinnia orders, I have more than enough to go around). Oh, how I miss my ladybugs.

So for the next three days, while the rain came down, I was out there sniffling with a cold and spraying with organic insecticidal soap solution. I sprayed three times/day for the first two days, then 2x/day, then once the morning of delivery, and one more time at delivery. I'm pleased to say that by then, there were almost no aphids left, and I've seen very little of them in the greenhouse since. And in the bargain, I nipped nascent thrip and whitefly infestations in the bud, too. Moving my remaining brassicas out to the coldframes has helped, too.

I'm learning a great deal more about parasites, both from direct experience, and from various mailing lists. Aside from aphids, thrips, whiteflies, and cutworms, I've also heard that this is a particularly bad year for wireworms. Look for bright orange, segmented worms in your soil and kill them on sight! I have turned up a few in the compost but none so far in the garden. Keeping my fingers crossed. Nematodes will apparently take care of them, but then what do you do about the tomatoes? Sigh.

Meantime, I'm getting a slow but steady trickle of orders, and I suspect that I'm approaching the breakeven point. I'm hoping that the Beverly Farmers' Market will put me over the top. I'm also planning another craigslist ad featuring tomatoes, which are currently completely overrunning the greenhouse. I keep running out of trays, then space in which to put them, then potting soil, then trays again. But thanks to some donated plastic pots, I am blissfully catching up with the teeny stuff left in the seedling trays: sage, mexican oregano, various flowers. And I'm starting to sell out of a few things, like dill and zucchini (only two left!). If you're considering putting in an order soon, check the updated order form to see what we have left.