THE LAZY BERKSHIRE GARDENER: Week of February 2, 2023

We have a new wood-stove this winter and, as a result, a new byproduct: dead trees were cut on our property in 2021 and the hardwood logs have been feeding the stove for months — now the wood ash has piled up in drifts next to the compost bin. A thin layer added to compost once a month is fine for providing calcium and potassium; however, too much at once will wreck the process and could alter the pH balance. I need to find more uses for this abundant, feathery-soft grey fluff; even though I’m lazy, I don’t like being wasteful. I’ve read that wood ash is good for growing vegetables. I’ll be looking into how much I should use on my garden, and when. Then I’ll share my findings! For now, the ash will continue to pile up.

Some thoughts on compost: I love it. Mostly I love that I don’t waste nutrients such as egg shells and tough, woody stems of broccoli. I’m not going to eat those slimy greens or sprouted onions, but our garden microbes love them. We add food scraps (rinsed shells, veggies and fruits – no nuts, meats or butters) to our outdoor compost bin almost year-round. Last March, I thought I’d left the bin uncovered after adding some onion skins and shells one night only to find them exposed the following morning. The next day the cover was off a second time, but the bin was still in place. No one claimed responsibility, yet the lid had been delicately pried off. Raccoon? Bear? 

We stopped adding to the bin and moved a larger 5-gallon bucket into our unheated mudroom/breezeway for a more secure attempt at scrap-retention. That night, a young bear stopped by at around 7:30 p.m. wondering why the ambrosial aromas were now behind glass. Uh oh. Off went the scraps to our basement. For about a month we took our collected compostables to Meadow Farm in Lee, figuring the bear would go elsewhere and eventually become occupied with easier alternatives once the woodland shrubs and plants started showing green. Come April, we added scraps to our bin again with no issues.

A successful compost comes from adding about two-thirds carbon (dried leaves, straw, paper) and one-third nitrogen (moist or green food scraps and coffee grounds) to a pile or bin on a regular basis. Every time we add to mix, we give everything a quick salad-toss and bury the fresh additions in the central, unfrozen core. Compost happens through the microorganisms, worms, fungi and insects consuming and metabolizing this larger organic material. Reminder — too much wood ash at once will disturb or kill that micro-activity. While the microbe traffic slows in winter, the core remains unfrozen and we continue adding to it.

Compost does not take much work on my part, and is thus a vital tool to this lazy gardener. By adding compost to my clay soil, it will drain better and allow roots to spread. If I add it to sandy or rocky soil, the compost drains more slowly and holds the moisture around the roots. Magic sauce! Plus, by doing this I avoid that guilt I feel from wasting anything. 

You may not have the space for compost – don’t let that stop you from adding it to your gardens in spring! Bags of the stuff are available at hardware stores and garden centers. Add it regularly and all your plants will thank you by being healthier and pest-resistant. The improved soil structure and introduced microorganisms will help plants take up nutrients and combat disease. If you feel guilty about wasting those kitchen nutrients as I do, check out this Berkshire business, founded in 2021, that will collect your compostables: https://www.Tommyscompost.com. They collect scraps in central and northern Berkshire County. Maybe they will come to you, too.

Food scraps get me thinking about my vegetable garden. We have three raised beds and I rotate roughly six types of crops through them. This will be the third season. By rotating crops, you can prevent overwintering pests or disease in the soil from attacking their favored crop every year. I drew up my plan in February, resolving to have a map that would make things easier at planting time. Some crops like lettuces and herbs can fill in around the larger plants. This season, beets will grow where the tomatoes were last year. I might add chard and spinach to the beet section because they are part of the same ‘family,’ meaning they need similar nutrients and have similar pests. 

I will plant the tomatoes where I had lettuce, arugula and some last-minute beans in 2022. I did leave a few rosettes of arugula out there this fall and snow has buried them. We’ll see if they sprout fresh leaves in April. If so, I’ll have plenty of time to eat the arugula or move it before I set out tomatoes there in early June. Lettuce will go where the peas and some other beans were. The peas and beans will take over the spot held by garlic in 2022. I’ve already planted garlic where the squash and cucumber produced in 2022.  Finally, the squash moves to the empty beet location.

Time for me to shop for some fresh seed. Maybe I’ll choose a new variety or two but I’ll stick to my six broad family groups. Have you tried saving seeds from flowering plants or vegetables?  I will save some where I know the variety is open-pollinated and not a special hybrid. I’ve had the most success with dill, cilantro and arugula. Purple, yellow and green beans are fun to save and grow. Seed-saving is another way to be less wasteful – especially if I let the green beans get too fat and tough to eat; at least I can save the seed. Those pods? They go straight to the compost.

I have arugula seeds still in the pods because I let some plants flower last September. I cut the stems with plump pods and dropped them in a brown paper bag to dry on a hook in our breezeway. On a quiet, cold afternoon in January, I carefully popped open the pods to release the tiny arugula seeds. The pod structure has a delicate center membrane suspending and separating the seeds. Lovely. The dried seeds can be saved in old spice containers or envelopes. Just keep them away from moisture and in the dark. I’ll spread the seed in the “lettuce” part of my vegetable garden in April, and I’ll have arugula all summer. Yum.

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