This past Wednesday we were honored with a visit from worm and compost specialist Don Smith. We had our homemade worm inn on hand, and Don showed us the A-Z on how to establish a colony of red wigglers. According to Don (and all the web sites I've looked at) you can compost pounds of kitchen and garden leavings every week with one of these setups and the result is apparently one of the best soil supplements on earth. We all had cookies and water to celebrate Martha Galvan's "10 eatables in the garden" win.
Photos by Jeannie Cohen
Don moving worms to their new home
Barb about to add an egg carton "hotel room"
Hotel residents getting ready to explore
Neighbor and friend Craig Davis videoed the lecture, and we will post it here when it's ready. I am going to keep the inn at my house for now, as I worry about leaving the worms without parental supervision. I will be bringing them back and forth to the Demonstration Garden whenever we have a Worm Day. (Yesterday they had beet leaves and appeared to be most happy. Jeannie Cohen and I saw a baby. Anyone who wants to visit the worms, please come by. My phone number is 310.278.2987) Also, visit the Organic Control (Orcon) site listed on the right side of this blog if you want to order your own supply of worms.
I also wanted to mention an interesting concept: eating locally by the season. I very rarely buy fruit at the market anymore. Instead, I eat fruit from my garden, at the time when it is actually ripe and available. So, in the spring I have strawberries, proceeding to Anna apples and plums. The mulberries start in. The apples last for months and months on into the summer, when I have other berries like blueberries and blackberries and continued strawberries. Next are the figs. Concord grapes arrive in late summer. In the fall there are tangerines, followed by mineolas and then oranges. My dad has a banana plant, and I haven't even been able to face all the bananas currently ripening.
I also wanted to mention an interesting concept: eating locally by the season. I very rarely buy fruit at the market anymore. Instead, I eat fruit from my garden, at the time when it is actually ripe and available. So, in the spring I have strawberries, proceeding to Anna apples and plums. The mulberries start in. The apples last for months and months on into the summer, when I have other berries like blueberries and blackberries and continued strawberries. Next are the figs. Concord grapes arrive in late summer. In the fall there are tangerines, followed by mineolas and then oranges. My dad has a banana plant, and I haven't even been able to face all the bananas currently ripening.
You just have to get used to the idea that your variety depends on the season and what you've decided to grow.
Following is a photo provided by Don of the beautiful California Native Verbena Lilacina that is flourishing in our butterfly garden. We all want one at home!! You can get them at the nursery at the Veteran's complex on Wilshire in West L.A.
Following is a photo provided by Don of the beautiful California Native Verbena Lilacina that is flourishing in our butterfly garden. We all want one at home!! You can get them at the nursery at the Veteran's complex on Wilshire in West L.A.
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