Serendipitous Timing, Garden Maintenance and Black Soldier Fly Larvae Creep me out

Well La Milpa Organica has closed down.  Apparently there were some labor issues with the state.  I don't know the whole story and since it was their private affair I didn't pry.  Yet that is serendipity at its finest.  I had just blogged that one needs to hop on the phone and call their local Farm Bureau for a place to volunteer.  I'm right there with you!

I called Tierra Miguel Farm and I am going to start volunteering on Saturdays.  It's an hour drive each way but since they are closed Sundays its roughly the same amount of driving I was doing.  La Milpa was 30+ minutes each way.  They are looking for some projects that I can do that are in tune with my interests but experience is experience.  Plus they are a Biodynamic Farm and I really want to learn.  When I know enough about biodynamics I'll post some stuff but right now it is a mystery.  So Saturday at 9 am - very excited.

Knocking out some much needed garden maintenance.  A lot of people in this world are so worried about doing things the wrong way that they never do anything.  This cannot be said about me.  Honestly, I have just begun to accept that the first time I do something I am going to mess up.  It is a real treat when I don't.  So what have I messed up so far this year on the garden?  At first I started with poor soil, small pots, and overcrowding.  I had a few successes - the potatoes, green onions, garlic and sunflowers being the best.  Then I made the broccoli leggy.  Leggy means that it got too tall before it really started to form.  I had hung baskets on the inside of the patio railing.   This only gave them a little light so the seedlings grew 3X the normal size to get to the light.  This made my broccoli unhealthy and open to attack by the imported cabbage moth.  Who is back by the way.

Look at the legs on that one

I solved all those issues and then I left the lettuce in the hot sun too long.   We were having those really cool mornings then we got socked with a week of sun and heat.  I should have covered it with shade cloth.  It didn't hurt the lettuce because my soil was good and retained the moisture.  But when it gets hot like that it bolts, or goes to seed.  It will also become bitter.

So now all of those are under control and I now know what to look for.  I just planted some Romaine Lettuce, Thyme, Lemon Balm, tri-colored Cauliflower, more Broccoli, California Poppy's, Nasturtiums and some assorted Carrots.  I'm stoked about the purple, white, and green cauliflower and the orange, purple, yellow, and white carrots.  Next week I'll start up some more green and red leaf lettuce.  One thing I haven't been very good about is Succession Planting.  That is planting so that as I harvest it I have some to replace it.  The key to this is a Garden Journal!  Good record keeping is essential to allow you to learn what works and what doesn't.  I'm not that good at keeping records.  My checkbook stays balanced for 3 days after payday and then I'm reconstructing all the spending at the end of the month.  I never learn.  Yet a Log for your garden is essential.  It really does take your gardening to the next level.  Even if you only have a window sill garden, knowing when you planted what will help you grow more effectively.  This will undoubtedly translate to higher yields and lower over all costs.  Both of which are good in my book.

While I was messing about with planting I decided to put some worm castings on top of my soil.  Here was the plan.  I have a big soil tub that I mix soil with composted steer manure.  Then as I fill up my pots I mix the soil with compost.  I press the soil down to smooth it and to create a seed bed.  I then seed the pot according to the plant spacing required.  I then lightly cover the seeds with a layer of soil to the depth indicated on the package.  I water thoroughly.  Next I was going to add a layer of worm castings but my bin is way too wet and my castings look like mud.  Finally, I top it off with hay that my rabbits kick out of their cages.  Later I'll add some rabbit manure to the surface to slowly leach out as I water.  Rabbit pills, as they are called, are pretty high in Nitrogen.  I didn't try and add worms to the pots as I am trying to build up the number of worms I have plus this mud issue. Plus I haven't refined my potting mix just yet.

Back to the worm bin.  The mud is just nasty and the problem is that my bin is too wet.  I never water my worms.  The combination of the black bin with the yellow top insures that moisture stays built up in there.  So I have over fed them.  As the food breaks down it releases moisture.  It is all this moisture that is turning my once beautiful worm castings to muck.  The solution is simple - stop feeding them for awhile and leave the lid off to dry out a bit.  In a couple of days this should be back to normal.

While I was digging around in there I saw these.

BTW see the supposedly compostable potato chip bag all in one piece after months of sitting in here???

Yikes!  They creep me out.  I have never seen Black Soldier Fly Larvae before.  Apparently, these guys are great at composting too.  I was so worried that I had gotten something in the bin that I didn't want.  But these guys are good to go in the composting world.  They even have their own blog - Black Soldier Fly Blog.  No matter how beneficial they are they still creep me out and I'm not about to handle them bare handed.

Mulching my pots.  I use the hay my rabbits kick out of their cages.  I'm cheap I know.

Coop

Earth worms in a potted plant's soil?

A friend of mine asked me about putting worms in potted plants.  Here is what I sent him.

"I wouldn't do it.  The thing you are after with the earthworms are their castings. They also loosen the soil but if you are doing pots your soil will be aerated. Just change out the soil each time you re-plant. What I would do is just start a worm composter. You can buy one or build one. I built my own. Then I bought a pound of red wigglers. After about 4 months they double. They eat half their weight of your compostable stuff. That includes paper and paper products - napkins. 1 lb = 1/2lb of food per DAY. The thing doesn't smell in fact it smells like moist earth. They really do the trick. Then you can add that stuff in your potting mix or you can take it and dissolve it in a watering can and make worm tea - sounds gross I know but it is like all natural steroids for your plants. If you start one but are worried about waiting 2 months to get a supply you can buy worm castings from nurseries. That would hold you over till you started to get some for free.  Send me some pics when you get it started. Also if you want to build your own worm bin I can help you out."

Then I found Growing Power's website and sent him another email.

"So I have to amend my previous posting.http://www.growingpower.org/growing.htm.  This website is an urban farm and they advocate putting a handful of worms into each pot. They produce a ton of food and are going strong so I would have to say they know what they are talking about. If you want to be creative try two pots - one with and one without and see which does better. Just plant the same thing in each.
Let me know what you decide." 

The jury is out for me on this one.  There are a lot of variables at play here.  Do they have a high turnover on the plants potted and are constantly adding new soil mixture?  They use mostly compost in their pots so does this make it ok?  Is it dependent on the size of the pot?  Most of the stuff I'm reading on the internet is off of forums and there seems to be a resounding negative to doing this.  I have to admit that my first reaction of saying NO was because "We've never done it that way" mentality.   

OK, let's look at this logically:
1. Worms are beneficial in the garden because they eat organic material and deposit castings.  They help build soil. 
2.  The mucus they do excreet helps soil to clump together which helps in water retention.
3.  They aerate the soil, loosening it up for roots to grow deep in search of water. 
4.  The micro-organisms associated with the worms help digest minerals and place them into a form that plants use.
5. The one bad comment is that their burrowing allows water to run out of the plant too fast. But if you treat your potted plant's soil like you would if you had a huge garden then you shouldn't have this problem.  Basically, mulch your pots to help with evaporation and you won't have to drench them with water which would add to compacting the soil over time.

I'm ammending my first opinion and saying go for it.  I used to treat my pots like they were their own entity and somehow different then if I was growing in a field.  They are not.  Building good soil is the same whether its in a field or in a pot.  If anyone has experience with this I'd love to hear about it.

Coop