The natural look of perennials.
Red plastic mulch on tomatoes.
Vermi-Cast or more commonly known as worm poop!
20 Qt and 6 Qt Bags of Vermi-Cast
Worm Bin Composting: Natures Way of Replenishing the Earth.
Mother Earth's Farm specialty salad greens with edible flowers.
This bin is ready to be turned. Notice the difference between the center material and that around the edge.
Keven is my son and a big part of my success at market. Without him I wouldn't be able to be there this year.
Keven is a typical 11 year old. He would rather be playing than sitting and manning my booth.
A true hummingbird draw. I have this in my yard specifically for that purpose. And the hummingbirds come and fight over it. It's also a beautiful addition to the salads.
Beebalm is a member of the mint family and it will spread like one too. But when it brings the hummingbirds I don't seem to mind.
Flowers are definitely one of the greatest joys of gardening. The variety of color, shapes, and sizes is truly astounding.
Lilies are especially exquisite with the creamy texture of their petals.
I go for what nature gives me in the perennial bed, including a few "weeds". I had a horticulture teacher once say, "There's no such thing as a weed, only a plant out of place." There are a few plants I know of that I would have a hard time agreeing with on that. But mostly I do. "Weeds" definitely have a place in my garden.
This mulch is called IRT. It has little holes in the fabric that allows water and air in to reach the soil and roots.
The color red is supposed to help the plant produce a better, more abundant crop and confuse the pests. It also helps warm the soil, keep moisture in, and keep the weeds down.
I use regular PVC pipe for high hoops over my beds. I stick the ends over 2' pieces of rebar.
Hog wire helps give the plastic support in inclimate weather and provides verticle support for vining plants.
Actually the kale growing in the pathway is Walking Stick Kale and not grown to eat, (except by the rabbit). Anyway, I try to keep my walking paths to a minimum.
This is an early shot in the greenhouse. I love that black soil. It's wonderful to work in and smells so good.
Here are the workers at VermiCulture Northwest. And they do a great job!
Here they are turning leaves into black gold.
The worm bins are fed a wide variety of bedding and food stock. Then the material is moved off the bottom to one end of the bin where it cures. From there it goes into holding bins to dry and then it is processed through an 1/8 inch screen leaving a fine coffee ground looking material with fine flecks of organic matter.
Vermi-Cast is the product name I have given the refined material I screen out of my worm bins.
Some people need a little, some need alot. This is for the one who needs a little.
Tomatoes are heavy feeders and boy do they love castings. So I combine the two in this product. It has alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal (organic), soft rock phosphate, Sul-Po-Mag, and egg shell (also organic). Wow! The tomatoes love it!!
This is a book I have written where I have consolidated the nuts and bolts of worm composting. There is a lot of material available covering the reproduction to how to use the end product. In this little book you will find only the basics of a how to book.
These beauties are edible and in my opinion are some of the most flavorful of all the edible flowers. They have the spicey bite of a radish with a touch of honey. The spur is the source of the sweet.
Like bright rays of sunshine, these flowers add delightful color to a salad. Or just sprinkle them around the table.
These have a slight hint of wintergreen to the taste. They offer a touch of blue to the color spectrum of the edible flowers.
Here's a look at the some of the specialty salad mix I grow in the greenhouse.
When I get to do it like I want, I grow greens in the greenhouse from February through December.
Yep, that's me last year. My hair's a little longer right now, but otherwise you'd recognize me on the street.
