Raspberries and compost

Day lilies

You know summer is really here in Maine when the yards, fields, and roadsides are lined with these wonderful day lilies! I just love these plants! They are hardy, spread nicely, require little if any care, have nice green foliage before and after flowering, and they always look so beautiful.

Lavender in full bloom

I didn't want to forget to get a picture of lavender in this blog. It's been blooming for a few weeks now and is just spectacular this year! Must love the combination of compost I gave it and all the rain we've had. This lavender is a Munstead lavender plant, Lavandula angustifolia. Munstead lavender is hardy here in Maine so it's a great choice to grow. The leaves and flowers are edible. You can add 2 TBSP of minced leaf (and flowers too if you'd like) to a simple cake recipe to add a nice flavoring. You can also add it to a simple confectioneries sugar and water topping that is easily drizzled over that simple cake. It's also delicious in lemonade and iced tea. How about we discuss herbal iced tea and lemonade in our next post?

Raspberries are in full swing!

The other day I picked the last of my strawberries and went over to pick the first of our raspberries! We will have tons again this year. I've read how you are suppose to prune out dead branches in the fall but to be honest I can never tell which ones to prune then. They look the same to me. But in the spring you can tell the dead ones because they don't have green leaves growing on them so I prune them out in the spring.

I freeze a lot of raspberries. The secret to freezing berries is to freeze them in a thin layer on a cookie sheet until hard - a few hours. I've even left them on a cookie sheet over night and they are OK. After they are hard you then gently pop them off the cookie sheet, put them in freezer bags, suck out the air, seal and voila! your raspberries are ready for the freezer. I will try my hand at raspberry jam this year. Or I may try jelly. I don't really like the little seeds.

Raspberry Shortcake: But for now we are making strawberry biscuits (see an older strawberry posting for the recipe) and instead of putting strawberries on top we are putting warmed raspberries on top. Of course you can add whipped cream but I won't.

Raspberries and Yogurt: Another thing I love with raspberries (frozen raspberries is almost just as good in this as fresh) is to go to the local farmers' market and get some local goat milk yogurt. Add a ton of raspberries, a good dash of maple syrup, and some vanilla and we have a mouth watering and healthy treat. Delicious! If you have a farmers' market near you, go visit them. Bring your reusable bags (insulated ones are even better for this trip) and see what your local farmers have. For a while I didn't go. I figured I had a garden I didn't need to go to the farmers market. Boy was I wrong! The best bread in the world is there, as is the best yogurt! I can even buy goats milk soaps....all home made of course. If you haven't tried goats milk soap, it's a luxury that you must indulge in! If you eat meat you can also get humanely raised, antibiotic free, local meat. I hear it's delicious and is certainly way better than supporting those gosh awful factory farms that all of our grocery store meat comes from. Another thing I usually look for while at the market is an unusual vegetable that I'm not familiar with to try. As a matter of fact, that's where I learned about garlic scapes.

OK...now onto the practical side of gardening....compost!

What can you make out of several wood pallets?

A rustic compost bin of course!

Compost - what comes to mind when you think of compost? You may think of the fertilizer you can buy in a bag from a large box store or local garden center. Or maybe you think of the stuff a farmer delivers in a pick up truck. Some municipalities also collect composting materials and either sell it for a very reasonable price or give it away. Check your town for more information and/or to request they provide that service.

But do you know that compost, aka gardeners' gold, is a mixture of decomposed green plants and food from plants that you can use to make compost yourself! Composting is not only easy, it's fun and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the stuff.

Now for the dirt on composting or Compost 101: (taken from composting101.com)

There are many ways to make compost. For more details go to Google and just type in "making compost". I got the above site that way. I have a large enough back yard so I can be fairly lazy about making compost. If you live in a suburban neighborhood or have neighbors close by you need to consider the look of your bin or pile and the fact that you don't want to attract critters.
With that said, in the past I have just had a pile way out back that I threw stuff in. One issue with that is it takes longer, looks awful to most people who look at it, and can get moldy which can cause harm to your dogs if they eat it. So maybe that's not the best way to go. This year we made a bin out of wood pallets. I read somewhere that a large amount of trees that are cut down are used to make wood pallets. Something we just don't think about! So why not recycle those pallets for a good purpose. I have to be up front and say that this is not the prettiest compost bin I've ever laid my eyes on. It's good if it's out of sight a bit. We also made ours really large - 4 pallets wide. That is because we have a ton of maple trees on our yard that we rake leaves from in the fall and I want a place to house all those leaves. We'll see. If we don't fill it all we may remove a pallet section. But for now, the above picture lets you see what our pallet bin looks like.

Now to make compost, like I said, there are lots of ways. The best way is to have a proper mixture of brown and green plant material. The goal is to get the pile hot enough to kill any seeds, spores, weeds, etc. I have never been successful at getting my pile hot enough. When I was volunteering at MOFGA one day I put my arm into the compost pile and couldn't believe how hot it was in there!! I guess if I ever got lost in a snowstorm and came across a well made compost pile I'd take cover in it! I know; gross.

A great compost recipe and method is available here: http://www.cityfarmer.org/recipe.html Rather than repeat that information, just go to that site. It's easy to read and explains how to layer nitrogen rich material (green plant matter such as grass, garden trimmings, and food stuffs - no meat, oil, cheese!) with carbon rich material (brown plant matter like leaves, hay, straw, shredded paper).

Here's a great composting site geared to kids but the visuals are just great. Easy to read, understand, and follow. And fun!
http://www.gardenmosaics.cornell.edu/pgs/science/english/compost.aspx

When do you know you've got compost? When compost is finished it should look, feel and smell like rich, dark soil. You should not be able to recognize any of the items you put in there. Then it is ready to spread into your garden.

Below is another homemade compost bin. A friend of ours dog got sick from eating from her compost pile. So we decided not to put food into our open compost bin. Also we are fairly lazy when it comes to compost making. I hardly ever turn a pile. So this is where we put food scrapes. We just got a big Rubbermaid type garbage can. Drilled holes all over it and in the bottom too. and the food goes in there. Every once in a while I'll put in a layer of leaves or hay .

Compost bin from garbage can

Next is another link with pictures and information on other types of compost bins that are good if you are worried about space or what a compost bin in your yard looks like: http://www.gnb.ca/0009/0372/0003/0006-e.asp

Compost Aerator

I also use the compost aerator tool there in the above picture to stir up the compost in my garbage can compost bin. It works great and is very easy to use. It mixes up the composting stuff in the can. They are available at http://www.johnnyseeds.com or http://www.gardeners.com.

Also available at these and other places are compost pails to have near your kitchen sink. You need to have something handy to put your veggie and fruit peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, bread, pasta (remember no meat or dairy or oil). Once your compost pail is full empty it into your compost bin. If you don't want to spend money on a compost pail just use an old coffee can or a large Tupperware type plastic container. Just be sure whatever you use has a lid! Or else you'll have fruit fly mania! Be sure to keep the lid shut securely.

Compost Sink Side Pail

Well, it's a beautiful day outside and I'm done my mid-day break so I'm going to end here. Next week I'll post about the science behind compost as well as compost tea for plants and iced herbal teas for us humans, and whatever else that may be coming up in the garden. So until then happy gardening, cooking with your garden produce, and I hope you make it to your local farmers' market!