Wish Upon A Chef

Talk about role reversal! Last year my vegetable garden flourished and nearly buried me alive with produce while my herb garden waned and struggled.  Now this year, my vegetable garden is dying a slow and painful death and my herbs are crowding and spilling over from their allotted space into the flower garden that borders them.  I guess it's too much to ask to have two green thumbs at once. 

I've already harvested once from my basil plant and not even two weeks later, it's time to harvest again.  The most obvious thing to make with fresh basil, of course, is pesto.  Quick and easy with only a few quality ingredients, pesto can be made ahead and frozen so it's a great way to get that burst of fresh summertime flavor long after the season has passed. 

I purchased a couple of plastic ice cube trays from Dollar Tree which made perfect portion sizes for the pesto.  Once they are frozen, the pesto cubes pop right out of the trays and can be transferred to a freezer storage bag.


Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe
Yield: Approximately 1 cup.


2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used walnuts and toasted them just a bit)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula.

Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

At this point, you can portion the pesto into desired containers and freeze. 

Now that you've built your composting bin and introduced your worms to the bin and allowed them to adjust to their new surroundings, it's time to make them fat and happy.  They will start turning their bedding and food scraps into compost immediately and after several months you will be able to harvest some compost for your flower and vegetable garden.  It won't take long before you notice the increased growth and vigor of plants treated with your homemade vermicompost. 

Your worms will eat most anything that was once growing.  I've included a list of items below that are compostable but it's in no way a complete list.  You will soon learn what your little buddies like to eat best and how quickly they can process the amount you are giving them.  I keep a one gallon resealable container in my refrigerator that I add my food scraps to as I'm preparing dinner and I'm honestly amazed at how much stuff I collect in a week that would normally go straight into the trash. 

A few tips to keep in mind when feeding the worms: 

You don't need to feed your worms every day.  I've started out feeding once a week and will adjust accordingly as I see how quickly the worms process.  If you have a foul odor or notice flies, gnats, or maggots in your bin, that is a sign that you are feeding too much/too often and your worms cannot keep up.  You will notice other insects in your bin and that's totally fine.  The more the merrier when it comes to breaking down the items into compost.  Do make sure your lid stays on tight (consider a bungee strap if there is a chance it could easily be removed) to prevent intruders such as raccoons, opossums, etc. 

When collecting your vegetable/fruit scraps, chop them into smaller bits so it's easier and quicker for the worms to work through them.  When adding the food to the bin, don't just scatter it all over the top of the bedding as worms will migrate to the source of food so the idea is to get them all to migrate to one area of the bin at the same time and have them all working together.  If the food is scattered, your worms will be scattered and it will take longer.  Work your way around the bin by feeding in each of the four corners and then in the middle of the bin each time you add food.  Raise the bedding just a bit and place the food just under the shredded paper and cover it back over.  Worms like to burrow into darkness and won't be too happy to have to rise to the surface for food.  Remember to check the bedding for moisture and use a spray bottle to wet it if it's drying out.

Compostable Items

Fruits
Vegetables
Newspaper
Cardboard
Office paper
Coffee grounds
Tea leaves/bags
Paper towels/napkins
Leaves
Grass clippings (avoid if you have your lawn chemically treated for weeds)
Sawdust (non-treated, non-aromatic woods only)

Do not include items such as meat, dairy products, oily foods, spicy or salty foods.  Some citrus is okay, but don't add alot at one time.  I read that it can have the same effect on the worms as the feeling of getting lemon juice into a cut on your skin.  OUCH! 

The easiest and best way to use your compost is to top dress the soil around your plants with a thin layer of the castings.  A 1/4" deep layer on top of the soil has been proven to increase plant growth by as much as 25%.  The castings can also be added to water and used as foliage spray and has been shown to drastically reduce plant pests, including aphids.  To make the worm "tea," add about a cup of castings to a gallon of water and allow to steep for 24 hours.  It can then be sprayed on the leaves or used to feed/water the plants.  You should see results in about 3 days. 

When I first started this project, I was afraid that the thought of hundreds of worms in my backyard would freak me out.  But if I had to be honest, I now worry about my worms almost like I do my dog.  Are they too hot or cold outside?  Are they happy and well fed?  I check on them daily and will continue to sporadically report their progress as my project moves along.  If you are also vermicomposting, please leave me a comment and let me know how it's working for you!

Gardening has always been a hobby of mine but until recently I haven't had much time or space to dedicate to it. My maternal great-grandmother had a green thumb and I was lucky enough to inherit her same love of plants and flowers through the years. I bought a house back in the mid '90s that had established flower beds but then later moved into a condo for several years with no outdoor space and then the conditions in that other not-to-be-mentioned place where I lived weren't right for gardening at all ~ too shady, too many deer and a spouse who didn't want me to make "a mess" in his yard. Now that I am the woman of the house, I can make as big of a mess in my yard as I want to!

Last year was my first attempt at vegetable gardening after a long absence and this year I've also added alot of flowers and herbs to the beds in the back of my house.  During the winter I started adding my fruit and vegetable scraps to my garden area in the hopes of enriching the soil and when I saw that my local library was offering a free one-hour workshop on composting, I decided to check it out and see what I could learn.  The workshop focused on vermicomposting, which is the process by which worms are used to break down food scraps and other items such as grass and leaves that are added to their territory.  The result is a rich earthy matter that can be added to soil.  With the exception of one or two items, I had everything already on hand to put together a composting bin so I was eager to get started.  I will attempt to share my composting experiences with you through a series of blog posts, and today we'll focus on building a bin.

The idea behind this method of composting is that you can do it anywhere so if you are limited on space the bin can be kept on a patio, in a garage, or in a laundry/mudroom room inside your house.  Keep in mind that there are worms involved and supposedly they won't leave the confines of the bin, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am knowing there would be hundreds of worms in my laundry room ~ sounds to me like a possible remake of the movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ~ so my bin is going to be kept in the far corner of my back yard.



 Items you will need:

A container with a lid  (I used a Rubbermaid plastic tote)
Bungee cord (to secure lid), optional
Drill with drill bit (I used 3/4" bit)
Styrofoam packing peanuts
Landscape fabric (the stuff you put down to keep weeds from growing)
Plastic garden fencing
Shredded newspaper
A couple scoops of potting soil or garden dirt
  


Use the drill to drill holes in the lid and around the container, about 1" or 2" below the rim. You can also drill them in the bottom if you plan to put the container outside. (It may be helpful to know at this point that there is a "forward" and a "reverse" on the drill.  It works much better if you have it in "foward" as I found out about halfway around the tub.)

Fill the tub with a couple of inches of packing peanuts. Cut the plastic fencing to fit and lay over the peanuts and then cover the fencing with a piece of landscaping fabric. This creates a false floor for your bin and allows an area for any drainage that may occur.  If you need to remove the contents of your bin at any time, you can just pick up the fencing and pull it out of the bin easier.

At this point you're ready to use the newspapers and potting soil to make bedding for the worms, add the worms and start feeding them scraps.  I will continue with these steps in the next post.