On your mark, get set, compost.
April 12 - Temp: 44 degrees, bluebird sky, blustery northwest wind to 25 mph…it was cold.
Cherry Ridge CSA members: Read all the way through, next weekend (April 19-20) there will be lots for our members to do.
Today was manure day. We get our manure from an alpaca farm in Bellvale, NY, just around the corner from here. Why alpaca manure? In a word, because it pretty much doesn’t smell, and it makes great compost. They’ve got plenty, and we need plenty, because the soil gets depleted from heavy gardening. We’re organic, and we don’t fertilize with anything non-natural. Composted manure puts organic material into the soil, which is necessary in soils such as ours that are heavy, rocky, and with a high clay content.
This week I need to get our soil tested to make sure it’s got sufficient phosphorus and other minerals. Cornell cooperative will do this for you, and then you’re pretty sure to get it right. While I’m pretty sure our soil needs nitrogen (which is why I’m adding compost) I have a feeling that our soil may be light in other minerals as well. Lack of an essential mineral can make your plants stunted, and since our corn last year really didn’t come on like previous years, I’m suspicious.
Having gotten the truck unloaded to a pile waiting for next weekend (and our helpers), I moved on to early season cleanup work. The garden is finally starting to look alive, but it’s been cold so nothing’s really taken off yet aside from the garlic.
Dad was out a couple weekends ago, and he really helped me get the process of cutting and picking up about half of the raspberry canes, so he gets featured this week :) We cut our raspberries to the ground in early spring, which gives us fall-bearing raspberries.
I picked up the rest of these today…and in the midst of doing that, I finally found our friend the killdeer, who is back again this year (4th year). It wasn’t easy to find her (it never is) but today I found her nest and will mark it. Generally, the little killdeer hatch on May 15, just prior to when we need their nesting space for whatever vegetable row they’re living in.
They spend a day or two in the garden, and then they’re out of there, that fast.
So here’s the plan for next weekend, April 19-20…please e-mail me if you’re in the CSA and are available to come up and help (my sister will be here to help, btw):
- seed tray plant trimming - seed trays need to be thinned
- row marking - rows need to be laid out, then rototilled, and then composted
The more volunteers, the quicker we’ll get it done; there are a lot of rows to mark!
Below - pictures of what’s peeking through, including chives,
our first asparagus (!),
and rhubarb
