Wigglers

Just thinking a little about worms. They are a wiggly important part of our gardens. We have earth worms in our raised veggie beds. They seemed to have done very well during the winter leaving all of their great worm castings with no work on my part. Here is a picture of two of the monsters that came out while I was working up one of the beds. They must have been 8-10" long.

We also have another type of worm friend that is part of our veggie garden world. We have a worm composting box. In the box we have a colony of red wigglers. Red wigglers (Eisenia Foetida ) are great for composting. We used a design that is offered on the Metro website.


(Here is the link: Http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=554/level=3 )
Mine was a gift from my husband for my birthday, but you can even use salvage materials so there doesn’t need to be a big investment. And the worms a gift from a friend in college. My box has been in use for over 10 years. It is placed behind our workshop so the fruit flies don’t bother anyone. There it is also shaded to protect the worms from the summer sun. I used to collect my fruit and veggie waste out of my kitchen in a 1 gallon mustard container, but it was clear plastic and my family got tired of seeing the mass sitting on our countertop. So this Christmas I received a ceramic bucket, which I must admit is a vast improvement. If you take out your kitchen waste daily than a bucket under the sink can be used or you could use an old cookie jar with a lid if you wanted to wait a couple of days. My worms eat all of our household fruit and veggie waste. They also get coffee grounds, tea (loose and bags), the crusts off my children bread and even the occasional paper towel. They also get a scoop or two of leaves in the fall. I have learned not to include squash seeds or prune pits. The first germinated when we used the compost in our lettuce bed and the latter just encouraged mice. We try to turn the mass occasionally, but it is not done on a regular schedule. Our worms are very happy and reproduce well. I have given some them to friends several times to start their own colonies or for their gardening classes. Red wigglers are available via seed companies like the Oregon based Territorial Seeds, but I would recommend asking friends and neighbors first. They may have a Red Wiggler colony of their own or may know someone that can share.

Just thinking a little about worms. They are a wiggly important part of our gardens. We have earth worms in our raised veggie beds. They seemed to have done very well during the winter leaving all of their great worm castings with no work on my part. Here is a picture of two of the monsters that came out while I was working up one of the beds. They must have been 8-10" long.

We also have another type of worm friend that is part of our veggie garden world. We have a worm composting box. In the box we have a colony of red wigglers. Red wigglers (Eisenia Foetida ) are great for composting. We used a design that is offered on the Metro website.


(Here is the link: Http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=554/level=3 )
Mine was a gift from my husband for my birthday, but you can even use salvage materials so there doesn’t need to be a big investment. And the worms a gift from a friend in college. My box has been in use for over 10 years. It is placed behind our workshop so the fruit flies don’t bother anyone. There it is also shaded to protect the worms from the summer sun. I used to collect my fruit and veggie waste out of my kitchen in a 1 gallon mustard container, but it was clear plastic and my family got tired of seeing the mass sitting on our countertop. So this Christmas I received a ceramic bucket, which I must admit is a vast improvement. If you take out your kitchen waste daily than a bucket under the sink can be used or you could use an old cookie jar with a lid if you wanted to wait a couple of days. My worms eat all of our household fruit and veggie waste. They also get coffee grounds, tea (loose and bags), the crusts off my children bread and even the occasional paper towel. They also get a scoop or two of leaves in the fall. I have learned not to include squash seeds or prune pits. The first germinated when we used the compost in our lettuce bed and the latter just encouraged mice. We try to turn the mass occasionally, but it is not done on a regular schedule. Our worms are very happy and reproduce well. I have given some them to friends several times to start their own colonies or for their gardening classes. Red wigglers are available via seed companies like the Oregon based Territorial Seeds, but I would recommend asking friends and neighbors first. They may have a Red Wiggler colony of their own or may know someone that can share.

Cutting Celery and Par-Cel

There are two items still growing in our veggie beds that are left over from last year. These two plants are Cutting Celery and Par-Cel. I have never grown either before and I am shocked to see that they both survived our winter and my parsley did not.

The Cutting Celery is a type of celery that looks much like the tops of the celery stocks that we are familiar with, but it tastes a little more bitter than celery. It has a dark green, lustrous foliage. I personally would recommend it to be used in soups, stews or making of stocks. Somewhere the longer cooking and blending of flavors would mellow out the Cutting Celery bitterness. The bitterness does not seem to bother our pet rabbit who seems to enjoy it and munches on it daily.

Par-Cel looks like a curly parsley, but it tastes like a celery stock. It is very often mistaken for curly parsley while we are at markets. Par-Cel has a milder flavor that the Cutting Celery therefore I would recommend using it for soups and stocks, but also in salads. I like it in tuna and chicken salads for sandwiches or in potato salads.

We will carrying both of these plants again this year. If you are planting a veggie garden this year I would recommend giving one or both of these a try. They do not require much space or special care. I will definitely be including them again in our garden.

There are two items still growing in our veggie beds that are left over from last year. These two plants are Cutting Celery and Par-Cel. I have never grown either before and I am shocked to see that they both survived our winter and my parsley did not.

The Cutting Celery is a type of celery that looks much like the tops of the celery stocks that we are familiar with, but it tastes a little more bitter than celery. It has a dark green, lustrous foliage. I personally would recommend it to be used in soups, stews or making of stocks. Somewhere the longer cooking and blending of flavors would mellow out the Cutting Celery bitterness. The bitterness does not seem to bother our pet rabbit who seems to enjoy it and munches on it daily.

Par-Cel looks like a curly parsley, but it tastes like a celery stock. It is very often mistaken for curly parsley while we are at markets. Par-Cel has a milder flavor that the Cutting Celery therefore I would recommend using it for soups and stocks, but also in salads. I like it in tuna and chicken salads for sandwiches or in potato salads.

We will carrying both of these plants again this year. If you are planting a veggie garden this year I would recommend giving one or both of these a try. They do not require much space or special care. I will definitely be including them again in our garden.

First plants of the season

Spring has now sprung and we are all looking forward to a supply of fresh veggies again. February was unusually warm so I took advantage of the weather and started our garden a little earlier this year. I have planted 3 things. Peas: both pod and snow. We all love them and we are glad to see them I have planted them along our old fencing in hopes that will climb that.



Radishes: Cherry Bell. We had a great time eating all of the radishes last year. This year I have started earlier and we are planning on multiple crops. These were planted in February and my youngest assistant and I planned another row this weekend. Radishes can be planted repeatedly every 10 days to 2 weeks from March until September in our area. However, I usually don’t have great luck with them mid July- mid August. My spot is a little hot for them.


Carrots: Nutri-Red. I planned these on the same day as the radishes in February and we just started to see the first few coming through about a March 20th. These can also be planted repeatedly through June and then again in September, but then you may want to try an over wintering variety.



In our area any of these thing can start being planted now. Or as soon as you can work your ground. Any questions let me know: mtherbal@aol.com

Spring has now sprung and we are all looking forward to a supply of fresh veggies again. February was unusually warm so I took advantage of the weather and started our garden a little earlier this year. I have planted 3 things. Peas: both pod and snow. We all love them and we are glad to see them I have planted them along our old fencing in hopes that will climb that.



Radishes: Cherry Bell. We had a great time eating all of the radishes last year. This year I have started earlier and we are planning on multiple crops. These were planted in February and my youngest assistant and I planned another row this weekend. Radishes can be planted repeatedly every 10 days to 2 weeks from March until September in our area. However, I usually don’t have great luck with them mid July- mid August. My spot is a little hot for them.


Carrots: Nutri-Red. I planned these on the same day as the radishes in February and we just started to see the first few coming through about a March 20th. These can also be planted repeatedly through June and then again in September, but then you may want to try an over wintering variety.



In our area any of these thing can start being planted now. Or as soon as you can work your ground. Any questions let me know: mtherbal@aol.com

First Day of Spring 2010

If you are looking for a great way to get started for the 2010 gardening season, our 2010 Plant List is up on our website.

http://mountainsideherbalnursery.com/plantlist2010.html



Also if you are looking for an idea for when things should be planted in our area, I would also like to suggest taking a look at the Oregon State Extension Service website.


http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/grow/grow/planting.html

If you are looking for a great way to get started for the 2010 gardening season, our 2010 Plant List is up on our website.

http://mountainsideherbalnursery.com/plantlist2010.html



Also if you are looking for an idea for when things should be planted in our area, I would also like to suggest taking a look at the Oregon State Extension Service website.


http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/grow/grow/planting.html

Test Gardens Part 3

It is now mid August and our raised beds are growing and providing some great examples of some of the veggie plants that we had for sale earlier this year. We have had lots of beans, but mostly just bush beans so far. We have harvested several tomatoes of various colors and sizes so far. We have also harvested several cucumbers mostly White Stallions and Persienne Cornichon. Here is a look at a few of the vegetables that we have harvested.

This is one of our kohlrabi. They did suffer a little slug damage, but that quickly scabbed over. They have been very nice and mild.

We picked about 3 lbs of beans in one day and about same amount a week later.

It is now mid August and our raised beds are growing and providing some great examples of some of the veggie plants that we had for sale earlier this year. We have had lots of beans, but mostly just bush beans so far. We have harvested several tomatoes of various colors and sizes so far. We have also harvested several cucumbers mostly White Stallions and Persienne Cornichon. Here is a look at a few of the vegetables that we have harvested.

This is one of our kohlrabi. They did suffer a little slug damage, but that quickly scabbed over. They have been very nice and mild.

We picked about 3 lbs of beans in one day and about same amount a week later.