Compost : Garbage to Gardeners Gold

On Thursday June 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 I will be giving a talk on composting at Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, 1305 Plank Rd, in Menasha, Wisconsin. Composting is a passion of mine, and I will be discussing ideas for small space yards and gardens, simple composting ideas, and how this impacts the environment both by adding organic matter to build healthy soil and by reducing the amount of organic material that ends up in the landfill. Its free and open to the public, hope to see lots of people there!

Vegetable Garden 2009

Finally! Who said gardening teaches patience? Today, about two weeks later than typical planting time, the garden is 95% in the ground. This morning I planted Bloomsdale spinach, French grey shallots, Black Krim, Silvery Fir tree, Roma, San Marzano, Crimson Cushion, Tigerella, Brandywine tomatoes, Sugar Baby watermelon, acorn squash, basil, parsley, yellow summer squash, zucchini, bi color sweet corn (can't remember the variety name, have it at home) green beans, and tomorrow morning will be the final planting that consists of 15 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, summer savory and Scarlet Nantes carrots. Whew! Jeff tilled the garden on Monday and incorporating all the compost and coffee grounds has really improved the quality and tilth of the soil. This morning there were worms wriggling everywhere, happy that it has stopped raining. Summer salads and steamed veggies here we come! The food perennials, the raspberries and asparagus look fantastic, planted last year the raspberries already could use some thinning, and the asparagus shows promise for next years harvest.