This week at the Community Garden we harvested Kale, Romain Lettuce, Collard Greens and Hon Tsai Tai (Asian Broccoli) for a local community district food bank. Here are a few pics of the growth progression. Plants are very happy, lush and green. The clover proves to be an amazing cover crop. We also pulled some of the clover up because it is overtaking some of the smaller plants. Not to mention, I love the smell of clover; it brings back memories of picking the flowers to make necklaces and bracelets.
This weeks Community Garden featured a workshop on Vermicomposting. Thanks to Paul Arkwright III, Ambassador of Trustees Garden for making it happen. Here it a quick step by step of how it can be done.
1st we started with a plastic storage bin with several 1/2 inch holes drilled in the bottom for drainage and sides to create airflow. We covered the bottom with some small rocks for better drainage.
Next we shredder newspapers. *note it is best to avoid the ads with waxy paper.
Then we layered soil on top of the paper, poured in water and mixed together, we repeated this step, creating several layers before adding the warms.
Finally we added a little Red Wigglers and covered them with a layer of shredded papers and dirt.
You then place the lid on the container and set the warm bin on top of another container to catch the compost liquid also known as leachate.
Worms prefer dark, and thrive in temperatures from 55 to 75°F. One should be fed once or twice a week. Some things that are suggested to see them are vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells and untreated yard waste. Foods to avoid are citrus fruits, garlic, onions, meat, bones, oils and dairy. As the leachate fills up in the bottom in you can recycle it back through by pouring it on top and mixing around. When diluted liquid leachate is excellent for feeding plants.
As you can see from the pictures it was fun for the whole community. Kids love playing with worms and dirt. This was a very exciting garden experience for the last one of 2014.
Have a great and safe New Year's to all!!!
Think Green for 2015!!!
~Blessings & Love~
The clover looks as if it's working just wonderfully! Gosh, those beds are so beautiful! I, too, have fond memories of clovers from when I was a child. i spent many-a-times searching for four leaf clovers :)
ReplyDeleteI can not help but to think how much happier the other clover/lettuce bed looks compared to the bare soil bed with kale :). It is full and rich and the clover is protecting the soil!
I love diversity.
If there are any extra spaces in my bed, I throw something down to protect the soil...
Thanks for sharing your experience :) Worms are one of my favorite composting pets :) I love to give them the coffee grounds and juice pulp from friends and neighbors as well. Just remember that red wigglers eat half their weight a day- so how ever many LBS you have of them - they can eat half that in one day! :) It's important not to over feed.
Thanks for helping to promote global worming :)