composting, seed sources and aphids

Excellent questions, Girl1! 

Yes, we do compost our vegetable scraps in a home-built wooden compost bin.  We do not use any of the compost for our potted seedlings yet for several reasons:  our compost is not yet mature;  we want to minimize any risk of pathogens getting into our baby seedlings; and since we cannot always afford to buy organic and we bill ourselves as chemical-free, some of our composted vegetable scraps may have pesticide residues.  We hope to upgrade to a freestanding bin that is all above-ground and also employ the help of some nice worms in the near future.  I hear worms are great for speeding the decomp of compost, and worm castings are one of nature's best fertilizers.  A properly maintained compost pile, with or without worms, should not offend the nostrils. 

The source of the vast majority of our seeds is located just outside Columbus in Gahanna, Ohio:  Ohio Heirloom Seeds.  http://www.ohioheirloomseeds.com/.  We are very happy with the quality of their seeds and highly recommend them to any home gardener.  We also purchase seeds from J. W. Jung Seed Company of Randolph, Wisconsin (http://www.jungseed.com/) and from Johnny's Selected Seeds of Winslow, Maine (http://www.johnnyseeds.com/). 

Aphid Control:  attracting hoverflies by companion planting is one of the best ways to control aphids naturally.  I consulted Geoff Hamilton's book Organic Gardening:  The essential guide to growing flowers, fruit, and vegetables the natural way.  According to Hamilton, whom I will quote from pg 46:  "There is absolutely no doubt that marigolds (Tagetes and Calendula), planted near tomatoes or roses, for example, greatly reduce the frequency of attack by aphids - the most persistent of all garden pests.  This is simply because they attract hover-flies whose larva devour aphids by the thousand.  Hover-flies are the most valuable pest predators in the garden.... by planting marigolds (Tagetes and Calendula), poppies (Papaver sp.), nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) or dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor) between plants, you minimize aphid attack."  Ladybugs also devour aphids. 

Aphids can be removed by rubbing the insects off with your fingers or hosing them off with a powerful spray of water.  I have read that neem oil application can be effective, or the following mixture:  1 tbsp Murphy's Oil Soap and 1 Tbsp baking soda to 1 gallon of water.  Diatomaceous earth apparently takes too long to work, although it is said to prevent the survival of newly hatched aphids.  Hamilton recommends spraying badly infested plants with insecticidal soap:  "This is a potassium-salt soap and is more effective than soft soap in the control of aphids, whitefly, red spider mites, scale insects and mealy bugs.  Control can only be achieved by hitting the insect, and the soap persists for only one day."   I would go for the Murphy's Oil Soap & baking soda and water mixture - that gardener says it works overnight.  So plant your marigolds, nasturtiums, and poppies and if you find something that works, please keep me posted!  Happy gardening :)

Easter Update

Happy Easter! 

Greenhouse Update:
Seeds that germinated from the first batch of herbs, celery and brassicas are doing great. They have all been up-potted into 3.5” square pots. The ones we haven’t sold yet are growing bigger every day in our outdoor greenhouse. These include: Sweet Basil, Lemon Basil, Common Chives, Fernleaf Dill, Florence Fennel, Sweet Marjoram, Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley, Common Thyme, Sweet Violet, Catnip, Waltham Broccoli, Arcadia Broccoli, Snowball Cauliflower, Copenhagen Market Cabbage, Franklin hybrid Brussels Sprouts, Tango hybrid Celery, several different kinds of lettuce and a spring salad mix called Ovation Greens, which includes Red Mustard, Mizuna, Tatsoi, Kale & Arugula. Mmm, delicious! Unless otherwise noted, all vegetable varieties are open-pollinated heirlooms.

On the Bench:
Currently sprouting on the bench is the second batch of herbs, along with all the heirloom summer vegetables, including the following: Cilantro, Caraway, Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary, Moss-Curled Parsley, Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley, Sweet Marjoram, Black Beauty Eggplant, Jalapeno Pepper, Golden Calwonder Bell Pepper (green to golden), Calwonder Bell Pepper (green to red), and the following varieties of heirloom tomatoes: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Chocolate Cherry Tomato, Mortgage Lifter, Pink Brandywine, Roma VFN, and Yellow Brandywine.

Things I’ve Learned this Month:
Certain seeds like parsley and rosemary must be stratified for at least a week in the freezer, then soaked overnight, before they will sprout. Even then, parsley will take its sweet time, usually about a 70% germination rate after 2 weeks. Other seeds, like cilantro and sage, seem to benefit from cold-moist stratification, which is where you put the seeds between a couple layers of damp paper towel & keep them in the fridge for at least a week.

Beagle puppies like to eat broccoli sprouts. Our neighbor’s female beagle puppy made a quick snack of 17 Waltham broccoli plants! I don’t blame her - I tried one myself, and they are delicious! The plants all survived - strong root systems, and the ones that lost all their leaves are sprouting new ones. We have so many broccoli plants we’re trying to plant them in our friends’ gardens!

Celery seeds need light to germinate. Most of our celery has its second set of leaves now.

French Tarragon cannot be grown from seed. True French Tarragon plants produce sterile seed; therefore I am in search of real, live French Tarragon plants from which to take cuttings.

Sage and Rosemary are easier to start from cuttings than growing them from seed. I am still trying to grow them both from seed, because I’ve heard the plants are of higher quality this way. I had 0% germination with the first batch, so I am trying again with the second batch, this time following stratification.

Not all seeds like to be grown on a heat mat. Cilantro in particular, and the other herbs which require stratification - I suspect may do better under cool germination conditions. Except parsley, which likes 70 degrees to sprout.

Not all seeds like to be constantly moist. Some like marjoram and thyme seem to do better when we let them dry out a little between waterings.

I am going to have to create a page for each specific herb to keep track of all the things I’m learning.
Spring plant sales are oriented much more around retail holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day than actual correct planting times for this area of Ohio. We will need to follow this schedule next year instead of aiming to have things ready by correct planting times.

Near Future: Our next delivery is scheduled for 4/29, and the third delivery around 5/5 or 5/6. Once the summer vegetables are ready, we will revisit our first two stores to deliver these in mid-May. Our clients seem to like my brochures, labels and signage. I enjoy every aspect of this work - there is so much to learn!

So What & Why Now

So What? 
I started this blog as a way to keep track of what we're learning about farming, share with others and learn from them too.  ERB Gardens will be posting updates, cultivation tips and recipes for its clients and their customers online.  For now, this blog will serve as ERB Gardens' online home. 

Why Now? 
With Ohio's economy reeling from the recession, chronic lack of jobs, unemployment benefits expiring and people moving to other states, it seems obvious to me that the best way to find a job here is to create your own.  Ohio's economy is clearly in need of restructuring, and whoever decides to stay in Ohio needs to eat.  In an age of rising oil prices, devaluation of the dollar and massive inflation looming on the horizon, the answer to "What's for dinner?" could become increasingly elusive for a lot of people.  When most of us can no longer afford the food that comes on big trucks from out of state, where will we turn? 

The corporate agri-industry that grows the vast majority of food on supermarket shelves depends on petrochemicals for fertilizers, herbicides, & pesticides, not to mention all the gas it takes to ship the produce across the continent.  One day, perhaps sooner than we think, this dependence will make it more economical for people to buy locally grown, organic food.  Every day, more & more people are deciding they don't want to feed their families pesticides & GMOs anymore.  The more demand there is for locally grown organic food, the lower the price will go relative to their chemically-produced counterparts, shipped in from AZ, NV, Canada and other places far away from Ohio or wherever you are.  I am only one of a growing tide of people who believe that the best way to obtain food security is to start growing it ourselves and buying from local organic farmers.