Practicing No-Till Gardening on Elm Street

He may not have full use of his right arm yet, but I know Robert is mostly recovered from the break in that arm which laid him low from the end of March into early June.  He has demonstrated his recovery this past week by creating a new garden bed along the back driveway that leads into the gardens.  And thoroughly enjoying the process despite some soreness.

His vision for the new area is to plant it with flowers and herbs, creating a pleasing sight as you enter the garden.  And in its preparation, he has carefully demonstrated our practice of no-till gardening.  After spreading a good thick layer of some of our rich black composted dirt, he laid newspapers over the dirt.  He wet the papers as he laid them so they would not blow away before he put the top layer of mulch over them. He used pine straw (as that is what we had the most of) for this mulch layer; it could be leaves or straw, old hay, whatever.  Now he is ready to begin the planting, parting the pine straw and making holes in the newspaper layer as he puts each plant in the soil.  The final step will be to pull the pine straw mulch back around the plant. 

And that is a simple demonstration of “no-till” gardening.  It works for vegetables as well as for flowers.  Our original garden bed was only tilled once, back in 2004 when we first began to grow a small area of vegetables for ourselves.   We have piled on the mulch and never used a hoe or tilled a bed since that. If we are sowing seeds, we part the mulch and sow and when the sprouts get to a reasonable size, we pull the mulch back around them.  We like doing things this way and have reasons for our preference for this method.  Let’s look at some of the reasons we believe this system works so well to build a healthy soil and healthy plants. 

It is beneficial to the soil.  You do not disturb the natural layering of the soil so nutrients, air and beneficial humus are most abundant near the surface where the plant roots can access them. 

Weed seeds are not exposed to the light and air that they need to germinate.  So there is not the necessity to hoe out the weeds.  There will be some weeds, but not as many as you find in a tilled garden and they are easily pulled by hand. 

A covering of mulch not only discourages weeds, it also helps to conserve water.  In addition, the organic materials of mulch prevent the run-off of rain as well as slow the evaporation of water. The mulch also tempers the effects of cold weather as well as the heat. 

Frequent applications of mulch to a garden build the soil and increase its fertility. The rich layers of organic materials in the beds are beneficial to the microorganisms that fight off pathogens and contain substances that help nutrients in the soil become more available to the plants.

It saves time.  You can plant sooner if you do not have to turn the soil and wait for it to dry out.  Just poke the plants into the ground or drop in the seeds. 

We have followed a book by Lee Reich, Weedless Gardening, as our guide to this method over the years we have been gardening on Elm Street.  The benefits of no-till above come from his writings.  It has worked for us and we see improvement in our soil each year.  We also enjoyed reading older books by a lady with a good sense of humor, Ruth Stout, who wrote How To Have A Green Thumb Without An Aching Back back in 1955.  So Robert’s exercise in creating this new gardening space is nothing new.  Matter of fact, this style of gardening goes way back and follows the process nature takes to create fertile soil – from the top down.  The first gardeners gardened this way too as they had little in the way of tools.  If you are interested in trying no-till gardening, we highly recommend that you read Lee Reich. 

Suzy

Compost Matters

Elm Street Garden compost piles 

Compost really does matter to us here at Elm Street Gardens.  It is the all-important addition to our garden year round.  We have added it constantly to our no-till beds over the years and have found it really pays off in the creation of the lovely loose rich soil in which our plants thrive. 

There is some science to creating this wonderful “black gold,” but it’s really pretty easy.  By observing at least roughly the correct ratio of “brown” to “green” (that means 75% carbon, such as dry leaves, to 25% nitrogen, green or wet stuff such as vegetable peelings) you can achieve most respectable compost.  Pile stuff up and it will compost sooner or later, but we have found that if we turn our piles every two weeks, they become usable compost much faster. It seems the microorganisms that turn the ingredients into rich black dirt benefit from the added oxygen that turning and, thus aerating the piles, contributes to the process.

                                                 Tom Davis expertly manouvers the 

                                                      tractor to turn the piles of compost.

Robert and I have had a compost pile in our lives since the early 1970’s.  We put kitchen scraps into a bin in our backyard in Atlanta and did add some other yard trimmings and leaves on occasion.  But the scale of that endeavor was small and way more disorganized than what we are achieving here on Elm Street.  And ask either of my children what they remember about our composting in those days and I feel sure they will tell you what a hated chore it was to “take out the compost.”  “Phew! That stinks!” was the usual objection to the task of carrying the kitchen bucket of scraps to the compost bin and emptying it.   But we’ve come a long way from that and the smells around our Elm Street compost piles these days are mostly pleasant earthy odors. 

Cucumber peelings ready to go in the kitchen

compost bucket in the Elm Street kitchen.

All sorts of garden and yard waste goes into the making of our compost.  Spent plants can go directly into the compost.  I also now have three compost buckets near the kitchen sink.  One is for the materials that our chickens adore and consume readily; this includes greens such as blemished lettuce, watermelon rinds and other fruit discards which they adore, leftover breads (which they regard as real treasures and are most entertaining as they madly chase the first one to grab the treasured piece but who can’t eat it as she is too busy keeping it from the others) and more.  One bucket is for things such as onion peels (I don’t give it to the chickens on the theory that it might make the eggs taste oniony) and other stems and roots and citrus and banana peels that are not favored by the chickens.  The third bucket is for eggshells, which I grind up in a food processor (I think a great example of modern appliances meeting traditional practices) and add to the compost piles. 

I like the picture of Tom Davis here as he expertly drives the tractor to turn the piles.  Tom is careful and caring in all he does in the gardens and uses his skills with this machinery to execute another age old task with care and precision. 

So those are some of the matters about compost on Elm Street.  It really does make a difference in our garden and the plants we grow.  And I now enjoy my excursions to empty the compost buckets.  We’ve got it right at last.

"Garden Lust"

We read a great write up on Elm Street Gardens yesterday in a blog from a young lady who has visited our gardens twice.  We really enjoyed "Garden Lust" and hope others will take the time to go to the link below and read it also.  Good writing and lovely pictures too.  I'm now a fan and follower of "landfieldgardendesign."

Suzy

http://landfieldgardendesign.blogspot.com/search/label/Elm%20Street%20Gardens

Farm Tour and Potluck

What a nice day we had on Sunday here at Elm Street Gardens! Our Farm Box customers and other friends joined us for a garden tour followed by a potluck supper. I hope everyone enjoyed our afternoon as much as Robert and I did. Brad and Megan of Three Centuries Farm - also managers of the ESG operation - led the garden tour and our Fort Creek Farm partners, Bob and Susan Woodall helped me organize in the kitchen and set up the dining room for serving the meal.  Everyone pitched in and I think we all had a fine supper that included many ingredients from our three Farm Box farms.

While I’m thinking about the food, I must say that we enjoyed some really creative recipes.  Megan and our intern, Zack from North Carolina, had a cook-off using the same five ingredients from our garden. Zack’s creation was "Squarugula Pizza," an unusual potato pizza embellished with arugula (and this young man did not know what arugula was until he got to Elm Street Gardens two weeks ago).  Megan rallied with another version of this garden pizza.  They both disappeared rapidly so I guess they were both winners.  We also had some very tasty and healthy quinoa dishes from Merle Bentley and “Green Magic Beans Alfredo” from Fort Creek's Chris Jackson.  Susan of Fort Creek presented a real winner too with her “Mexican Fiesta Casserole” using their grass fed beef. I will try to get them all to share the recipes for their creations for our blog.  And there was much, much more, including a terrific zucchini casserole from Beth Webster and for dessert, watermelon and plenty of chocolate.

Brad explains the process of growing shiitake mushrooms 

in the shade house.

Visiting and relaxing on the porch after a hearty meal.

Brad talks about the process used to grow healthy plants.

Participants gather on the porch after the potluck supper.

Farm Box folks learn about growing in the hoophouses 

with the use of a drip irrigation system.

Thanks to Zack Koontz for taking most 

of these photos of the event.

We had visitors of all ages.  Children ate enthusiastically and ran and played around the yard with our dog, Rives who loves to play "fetch," and visiting dog, Millie.  And there was some good porch time for older members of the group.  I think we all enjoyed the nice conservations we had with new acquaintances and the pleasure of just getting to know folks better.  We want to do this again.

Suzy

Exceptionally Easy Pickles

I fixed our first fresh cucumber of the season last night.  It was, about eight or nine inches long and just right for preparing in the simple easy way I learned from son, Brownlee, the master chef in our family.

This method for cucumber pickles is one of my favorites since it involves very little work or time, but really enhances the flavor of a nice fresh cucumber without overwhelming the natural flavor of the vegetable.  Brownlee says you can apply this technique to other fresh vegetables, such as sliced carrots and sweet Japanese turnips, too.

Peel and slice the cucumber and then mix the slices with a mixture of one-teaspoon kosher salt and one-tablespoon of sugar.  Let it sit and after five or ten minutes taste to see if it is too salty or too sweet.  If it is, rinse some or all of the slices and let sit for five minutes, taste again and adjust the salt and sugar as appropriate.  Refrigerate.  They are ready to eat in twenty minutes.

How much easier can it get? It is my kind of cooking:  Simple, quick, not too many ingredients and the fresh flavor shines.  You will be pleasantly surprised at the results.  Maybe we shouldn’t tell too many others just how easy this is . . .

Suzy

Singing in the Rain

I’m not much of a singer, but this lovely slow rain/drizzle has me just about singing with joy today.  It was raining when I woke up this morning and although not a heavy rain, it is great for our gardens, which have not had a rain such as this in quite a spell. 

While I was out emptying the compost bucket a while ago (actually the rain moderated itself to a fine drizzle), I spent some damp time admiring how lovely the garden looks.  The greens are greener, other colors more vibrant and it is obvious the birds are enjoying the rain too.  I loved the look of the raindrops on the day lily blossoms and took a few pictures of them.  And then of course, got into the spirit of things and couldn’t stand not photographing pictures of a few more plants with the raindrops upon them. I was especially capitvated with the ripening blueberries and the delicate sugar snap pea tendrils.

I’ve heard talk that we may be headed for a break in the weather cycle this summer and will have a milder, less dry summer.  I know all farmers are hoping that will be so. In the meantime, today’s needed rain is a lovely Mother’s Day present.  

Suzy

Endings and Beginnings

It came to me sometime in the past couple of days that Mother's Day is next week.  That means that I not only have to think about something special to do for my 99 year old mother, but also that the time for harvesting asparagus is about to end.  (I admit that statement says something about the randomness of my mind, but what can I say?)

Our garden-writer friend, Tom Woodham, told me some years back that his rule of thumb for picking asparagus was to pick it between Easter and Mother's Day.  Not terribly precise dates maybe, but it does give one a guideline, especially as to the ending date.  Of course, one starts to pick it as soon as the first stalks poke their heads through the earth whether that occurs on Easter or not.  

So we have essentially just one more week left to pick asparagus.  Already we have a number of the fern-like fronds of the asparagus plants gracing the beds where we have missed picking the stalks.  (I have been told that an asparagus stalk can grow four inches in a day and I believe it!)

Other spring endings loom:  In another month or so, maybe sooner this year because of the unusually warm spring we are having, it will be the end of many of our greens:  Lettuce, kale, turnips and so on.  I am especially sad about the lettuces, as they are my go-to green vegetable for many a meal and, most especially, a stand-by for lunch.  So while that ending is sad, I have to realize that the delights of summer are not far away.  Matter of fact, we had our first offering of cucumbers at the Fall Line Farmers Market this morning.  We have green tomatoes on a number of vines and plenty of other summer stand-bys in the ground and growing.  

On the ornamental side, the summer standards of day lilies and hydrangeas are opening more and more each day now also.  We like having plenty of blooms at Elm Street Gardens and Robert has been systematically planting hydrangeas of a number of varieties over the years we have been here.  We enjoy their long lasting flowers and occasionally even bring ourselves to part with some of these blossoms at farmers markets.  Day lilies add their cheerfulness to summer days and just plain make us feel good with their spots of color throughout the gardens. 

Okay, spring weather is feeling like a thing of the past and summer is "hot" upon us and I’ve talked myself into accepting these vegetal endings and new beginnings., Now, what can I do for my mother on her coming day that is really special??

Suzy

Day lilies, garlic plants with asparagus fronds to the rear

A spectacularly yellow day lily.

One of the oak leaf hydrangeas just beginning 

to open its long lasting blossoms.