Worms

The county has a local SmartGardening series they put on throughout the region highlighting the benefits of composting.  They sell traditional compost bins along with worm bins to anyone interested.  I've always been somewhat interested in this endeavor,  I have read that worm castings and tea are some of the most beneficial fertilizers one can provide for their plants.  Plus, I've always liked worms, especially on the end of a hook.

So for $65 I got a Wriggly Wranch stackable worm bin, which included a coconut coir brick (bedding) and a 1/2 pound of "red wiggler" composting worms to get started.  Apparently the traditional garden worm or nightcrawler is not the best "variety" for composting.  I was handed a small sack containing the worms, but when I got everything set up and dumped the worms in, I found that the 1/2 pound of worms was really 1/2 pound of castings/dirt and just a handful of worms.  I was expecting a spaghetti-ball of slimy goodness, but what I got was maybe 50 or so.

I needed a worm fix, and fast.

After a bit of online searching, I found this "dealer," Steve, located in Northridge.  I came across a blog post by a woman who went to Steve's house to buy worm castings ($1 a pound,)  but then wrote about how unkempt and dirty the guy's house was.  She talked about how nice the old man was and how he allowed her in to his backyard to show her his setup (at her request), but then talks shit (and not from the worm) about him in her post. Not cool.

I send the guy an email inquiring about his prices and he promptly gets back to me with his price:  $25 a pound - cash.   He explains that he works out of his house (like most dealers I've arrested)  and that he is available at all hours (also like most dealers I've arrested) - provided I give him a couple hours notice to get everything ready, oh and don't forget - bring cash!

Please don't tell anyone I spent $25 for worms, but his price was actually very reasonable compared to what I found online.  One place was selling them for $40, plus shipping! However, you get approximately one thousand worms per pound, that's alot of hungry garbage chewers.

So after a visit to the mall and dinner at Claim Jumper, I called Steve and told him that we were 5 minutes out.  "I have them ready for you," he told me, "remember to bring cash."   We swung by his house and he met me at the door.  He hands me a damp pizza box containing some of the bedding the worms were living in, and I hand over my cash.  He then produced a coffee can full of worms and spread them out into the pizza box.  A spaghetti-ball of slimy goodness. He tells me, put the pizza box in the wormery, they love to eat corrugated  cardboard.

I told Steve my wife probably wouldn't appreciate the worms slithering out of the unsecured box and into our brand-new car during the ride home, so he generously offered a couple of plastic bags to contain the mess.  In all, Steve was very nice and answered a few of my questions before I left.

We got home and I dumped 'em into their new home.  They've got plenty to eat and lots of work to do. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Seedlings and more

I've enjoyed everyone's photos of their seedling progress, so I figured I'd put mine up as well.  I'm growing some new tomato varieties this year including Mortgage Lifter, Caspian Pink, as well as Brandy Boy - a hybrid variety of my favorite Brandywine which promises better yields and disease-resistance compared to the heirloom.  I'm a bit skeptical, but have read rave reviews. We'll have to see how it turns out.

I started my seeds in the Bio Dome again as I was very pleased with how it worked out last year.  It's time to break out the red cups for the tomatoes!

The compost pile I started at the end of last summer is nice and dark now, and will be ready for the spring planting.  I added some to the pot of lettuce still growing and it made quite the difference.   I really enjoy the convenience of snipping fresh, homegrown lettuce from the pots on the patio. 

Sweet Mint

Romaine and Spinach

The Swiss Chard is ready and the colors are phenomenal. They say Swiss Chard is good for the brain, but why do these leaves have to look like little green brain hemispheres?

Swiss Chard

Garlic

I planted some garlic last fall among the lettuce and chard and while it seems to be doing okay, I'm concerned it won't be ready before I have to make way for the peppers/tomatoes for the summer.  Let's see if we can get it done before the end of April!

How to dry herbs

I've got tons of fresh parsley growing in the garden that I just can't keep up with.  The kids are getting pretty fed up as well, after all, who wouldn't want their peanut butter and jelly sandwich garnished with a little sprig of parsley?   I listened to a Gardenfork podcast episode in which they demonstrated how to dry your own herbs.

As I was making Sunday Sauce today while watching the Daytona 500, I brought in some of the parsley to add to the meatballs.  Having a bunch left over, I decide to give the drying process a try.   This works well with basil and oregano as well.

After washing the leaves, cut or rip them from the stems and spread out on a piece of wax paper.  Put them into the microwave and cook on high for 50 seconds.  Open the door and give them a little stir and then microwave a second time for 40 seconds.   You might have to experiment with the times depending on your microwave.  You may hear some popping or crackling while they cook, but that's normal.  At this point, all of the moisture in the leaves should be gone and the leaves will be nice and brittle. You can crush them in a mortar and pestle, or just rub them in your hand to get the desired texture. 

As you can see in the pictures, the herbs maintain their original color.

Fresh parsley after drying and crushing

Quite a contrast from the store-bought

This process also works well with fresh bay leaves.   Since I cook alot of Italian food, I go through  a bit of bay.  I came across a bay laurel plant at the local nursery last fall and snatched it up. 

Bay leaves.  The fresh ones are on top

  The whole process took 10 minutes at best.  Easy stuff.

Raptors

Given the rodent problems I experience each year, I've decided to switch to the big guns.

Sager Hawk

Goshawk

Eagle owl

Vulture

Actually, a friend's neighbor is an exotic birds handler/trainer and is in the movie business.  He has numerous trained raptors at his home and he was kind enough to show us his beautiful birds.  The vulture, Dexter, is the third largest flying bird in the world, and has an 8 foot wingspan!  He's been in several movies including the last Indiana Jones release.

Now if I can only get them to swing by the house,,,

Random thought

Should I be embarrassed that I woke up this morning and actually got excited about heading out to my local nursery to listen to an hour-long lecture on Organic Vegetable Gardening?  Geek that I am, I did just that.  The representative from EB Stone organics put on an informative presentation complete with coupons for fertilizers at a substantial savings.  I stocked up for the upcoming season and it was nice to revisit some of the concepts I've been through before, but somehow forgot to employ along the way.

Funny, I couldn't get the kids to tag along.

2010 Results

I meant to put up the results of the last year when the last plant came out of the ground,  but since that was over a month ago I guess it's better late than never.  I've been trying to come up with a good excuse as to why I haven't posted for a few weeks, but alas, I have none.     Much has happened since my last entry - Christmas and the New Year, a freak snowstorm in Southern California, and the seed catalog porn has been devoured and filed away.

So here's what worked for me last year:

TOMATOES
SunSugar - Excellent
Paul Robeson - Excellent
Virginia Sweets - Awful, no fruit
Rutgers - Small, didn't care for the taste
Early Wonder - Small, early but nothing to get excited about
La Roma - Poor, small fruit/ scrawny plant
Amish Paste - Great taste, large fruit, light production
Celebrity - Great, as always
Zapotec Pleated - Very late season, but the taste was great as well as the production

PEPPERS
Jalapeno, Carmen, Lipstick and Relleno all did excellent.  Very productive and the fruit tasted great.

The zucchini did well as usual.  The cucumbers sucked - again.  I swear the plant grows great, but I can't keep those damn aphids away.  Whatever fruit formed was bitter as well. This was the first year with the new drip irrigation system and I was very pleased with how it all worked out.

Here's what the winter crop looks like now:

Cabbage

Cabbage and Cauliflower

Swiss Chard

Romaine lettuce and Garlic

Last tomato/Winter garden

Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, and here's hoping everyone had as great a time as we did spent with family and friends.  Lots to be thankful for, indeed.   Despite the bruises and pulled hamstrings from the flag-football game with the kids earlier in the day, I still managed to drag my knife through the turkey and the rest of the trimmings.

There's a turkey carcass underneath

As long as we're talking turkey, here's a photo of the turkey stock brewin' away on the stove after the last of the guests have left.  It's become something I look forward to making each year,  even though turkey soup isn't high on my list of favorites.   This year I made it with fresh thyme, rosemary and parsley (all from the garden)  in addition to the usual odori that go into the pot.  The parsley looks great this time of year.

Look at that knife blurr - mad knife skills!

I've got the winter crop all set now that the weather has turned cold.  My apologies to my friends up north and back east, but we've been experiencing some rather brisk weather in LA, and when I say brisk, I mean it's been in the low 30's at night.  Apparently the result of some Alaskan winds caught up in the jet stream, this cold weather is teasing us with the promise of a third season (winter) that we never seem to experience.  The cabbage seems to be enjoying it.

Cabbage

I also put in some Brussel Sprouts (never grew them before) and cauliflower.  I dug in some onion and garlic bulbs that I hope will be ready before the summer garden goes in.  I'm growing seedlings of Swiss Chard again, along with Romaine and other varieties of lettuce.  Let's see if I can coax the carrot seedlings to sprout as well.

Swiss Chard, Romaine, Head Lettuce

On a sad note, I picked the last tomato of the season.  You guessed it, Celebrity.  I'm actually thrilled that I was able to harvest a tomato after Thanksgiving!  Ever the one to share, this one was offered up on the the altar of my cutting board and added to a pot of Chili I made for the Notre Dame - USC game (ND came through after eight consecutive losses to those Trojans).  Way to go Irish!  I'm sure my November tomato made all the difference.

The last tomato of the season