Winterizing the garden

We are still trying to finish putting our garden to bed for the winter.  We layered two more rows with a thin layer of vermicompost and a thick layer of our compost.  We have a nice pile of compost that was too wet to use as a feedstock for the worms, so we are using it as a top dressing in the garden.  It was nice to see an abundance of worms in the compost as we transferred it to the rows.  I never thought that I would be excited to see multitudes of worms, but it confirms that the life in the soil is thriving. 

I still have some immature lettuce under a row cover.  I am going to wait to see what happens over the next week.  The ground is still able to maintain some heat but the lettuce hasn't grown in the last two weeks.  It looks healthy and I might steal some outside leaves this week.

I planted snap peas this past summer for a fall crop.  It was a real treat to be able to eat fresh garden snap peas in October.  That is something that I will definately do again.  I still have some leeks in the garden that need to be pulled.  Even in December, I like to harvest something fresh from the garden.

Make the choice to know where your food comes from.

Holmes on Homes

I am not sure if anyone has ever watched the show called "Holmes on Homes".  The show is about people who have a problem with the house (leaks, cracked drywall, etc.) and the expert, Mike Holmes, is brought in to diagnose the problem.  Many times the house looks great cosmetically but the underlying structure is bad.

What does this have to do with my garden?  If the underlying structure (soil) in your house (garden) is not right, all the paint, furniture and decorations (fertilizers and pesticides) will only mask what really matters for long term sustainability of your house (garden).  If the foundation is rotten the house will eventually collapse.

I was reading a press release today from Monsanto regarding the extension of rights to corn seed technology.  They were talking about how the corn rootworm has become a real problem for farmers.  Their answer is genetically modified seed that will tolerate pesticides and roundup.  The foundation is crumbling (soil) and they are told by Monsanto to throw on another coat of paint (pesticides and weed killers).  Really?

The soil is the foundation that needs to be strong to support a truly beautiful house.