Wild Foods Garden Things and Music at the Gandhi Garden

Recently I took a bike ride to collect some wild yarrow and blackberries.  Yarrow is an herb with lots of uses and benefits. The blackberries were about 20-30% ripe, so I was able to collect about a cup. Theyre really tart, but also really tasty!

I also recently got an email from a Wild Foodies group in Philadelphia about the plant of the week, Rose of Sharon.  I hadnt heard of it, and when I saw a picture, I recognized it as a plant that my landlord has growing up and down the edges of his property.  I found a recipe to stuff the violet, pink, and white flowers in goat cheese and bread and fry them.  That seems tasty, but I also want to find a recipe that doesnt completely hide the taste of the flower.  I believe the leaves are edible as well.  Theres food all around us!

I found this praying mantis hanging out in my Kale a couple days in a row.  Good luck or something, right?

Then I found these melting, drippy mushrooms growing on my straw bale garden next to some watermelon and pumpkin seedlings.  It was a hot day, but Ive never seen that before.  Trippy!

At work the other day, I was playing with a little butterfly or moth.  It looked a bit like a monarch on the top of its wings, but with the wings up, it looks more moth-like.  What do you think?  He wanted to eat my finger.  Silly guy!

A few nights ago, some friends of mine with the SAGE Coallition threw a cookout/concert in downtown Trenton at the Gandhi Garden (219 East Hanover St Trenton, NJ).  Vita and the Woolf played an awesome set, and Ruff House brought the funk!  It was a great time!

Vita and the Woolf

Ruff House

I also recently harvested a bunch of Queen Annes Lace (wild carrot) flowers to make a jam.  I need to collect a bit more, but Ill post pictures when thats finished.  Its suppossed to be very tasty, so Im excited to see how it turns out.

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Things To Avoid In a Compost Pile

In our earlier article we have discussed on the various ingredients which you can add to the compost pile. Now as we know most of the products which we can see around us can be composted. But to make the process of composting smooth and to prevent any unwanted impacts on the plants we should shun some elements in the process of composting. In this article we will discuss some of them.

Coal/Charcoal:

Avoid coal or charcoal ashes. They are known for their slow decaying rate. This is the reason why archaeologist used charcoals for calculating age of ancient and prehistoric materials which are more than thousand years old. So when our basic purpose is to decompose the materials quickly, it makes sense to avoid such material. Besides coals some times contains excessive amount of sulfur and iron which can be toxic to most of the plants. So just to fill the gap created by shrinking of the compost pile don’t add charcoal or coal ash. The impact might not be as good as you have predicted.

Colored Papers:

Colored, glossy papers usually contains chemicals which some time infested with heavy metals such Lead or Mercury. These chemicals can be very lethal to the well being of the plant as well as for the person who will consume the crop. Though now a days governments around the world have made strict laws to prevent the use of heavy metals in the production of color pigments, we are never quite sure about the contains. So if you are interested in using papers, use the white ones. Paper is basically cellulose so it will break down slowly. Add the paper in small amount and prevent it from forming a layer by spreading them through out your compost pile.

Diseased Plants:

It is basically a common sense to avoid diseased plants or part of them. The pathogens present in the plants can some time survive the heat generated by the compost pile and then it can cause fresh attack on the plants where you are putting your compost. Potato tubers which are affected by wart diseases or the stalks affected by sclerotia should not be put inside the pile. Cabbages affected by club root, celery leaves with blight, onions with mildew are some of the example of the diseased plants which are very hard to destroy and only an “ideal compost pile” provide the necessary condition to destroy these pathogenic organisms. So if you have any doubt about the steady heating of the your compost pile it is better to avoid these plants.    

Pet Droppings:

Cats and dogs droppings contain disease causing pathogens. Cat droppings in particular contains nematodes and other parasites which can enter through mouth and can cause eye or brain diseases. This is also the reason why children and pregnant women are advised not to handle cat litter.

Non-biodegradable Items:

As the name suggests they are not going to get decomposed in the pile. Materials such as plastic, aluminum and other metals, glass, synthetic fibers etc. are not going to add any value to your compost heap. They though, are not necessarily toxic to the plant but it will remain as it is and would be of no help in the composting process. Real rubber is though organic in origin and biodegradable, the rate of degradation is pretty slow. So it should also be avoided.

Sludge:

If you live in a place where there is little or no industry, the sludge from your sewage is may be safe to use in the compost. None the less, it is not a very good idea to use sludge in your compost. Most of the time the toxic materials get infested in the sludge and can cause disaster for your garden. Most of the gardening experts also recommends not to use them. If you are getting treated sludge which are available commercially in different garden centers you may use it but make sure these are treated under EPA’s(environmental Protection Agency) guidance.

Toxic Chemicals:

Never put insecticides or pesticides inside the compost pile. It will kill those organisms which conduct the process of composting. And as an organic gardener we should always be at a safe distance from those hazardous chemicals.

I hope you liked this article. Post your thoughts in the comment box.

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Backyard Garden Update

Expanded Garden

I recently expanded the garden to make room for some more crops.  I extended the existing in-ground raised bed, and dug two more.  I planted lettuce and carrots in the 1st extension, chard and onions in the 2nd extension, and kale in the 3rd extension.  Im seeing a lot of grass pop up in the 2nd extension, rather than chard and onions, but well see how it goes.  The lettuce is growing well, and nothing yet in the kale bed.  I pulled back the cucumbers, no more of those for this season.  Im still harvesting chard, tomatoes, peppers, and sage.

Three new beds dug and planted.

Before the expansion

The basil seems to have some sort of nutrient deficiency.  I thought it might be calcium or potassium, so I made a solution of crushed egg shells and water, shook it up well, added some wood ash for potassium, and poured that around the basil roots.  It hasnt helped yet after two days.  I think the other basil plant looks like it needs nitrogen, so Im going to get some of that in there (biochar charged with pee, or just pee).

Sad Basil

Happy Tomatoes

Fermenting Wood Chips for Stropharia 

Hopefully Ill be seeing these in my garden soon!

Ive been interested in mycology for years, experimenting with oyster mushrooms, lions mane, and listening to lectues by Paul Stamets in my free time.  I even got to see Paul talk at Burning Man in 2013.  I saw him talk again in Philadelphia in 2014, and one of the things he talked about was his "mycototes."  Its a system where he ferments wood chips, submerged in water, for about a month.  Then he drains the water, and the result is a fungus substrate that can be rapidly colonized by mycellium, especially Stropharia, (garden giant, or winecap mushroom).  I know some guys starting a gourmet mushroom cultivation business in Philadelphia, who traded me some stropharia spawn on sawdust for some bricks of coco coir that I had.  I soaked some woodchips in a trashcan for about a month.  The trashcan had a leak, so I had to refill it frequently, and occasionally the water level dropped and left the wood chips unsubmerged.  However, the experiment seems to have worked.  The fermenting woodchips were colonized with anaerobic bacteria, which died off when exposed to air after draining the wood chips.  I filled a burlap sack with the wood chips, mixed in the stropharia spawn, dug a hole behind the shed, and dropped the sack into the hole, and covered it lightly with a tarp.  Ive been watering occasionally, and the burlap sack is now filled with mycellium.  Ill save some of this for future spawn, and Im going to mix the rest in around the woodchips in my garden.  Hopefully well have lots of garden giant mushrooms popping up and going into our dinner!

Beautiful!  Look at all that white stringy fungi mycellium.

Drying Herbs

My Girlfriend got me a dehydrator for my birthday, so Ive been drying herbs from my garden and my parents herb spiral.  Right now Ive got some thick leaf oregano drying.  Fresh herbs in homegrown tomato-basil sauce for the win!

Plans for solar dehydrator

I saw a neighbor of mine was getting rid of some old windows, so I grabbed one and am planning on using it to make a solar dehydrator like these here:

Sprouts

My girlfriend also got me a sprouting kit for my birthday.  Sprouts are tasty on sandwiches, and can be grown year-round indoors without light.  Super cool!

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