Mache

Since I have decided to leave my carrots in longer, I had to transplant the mache to another bed. That way I'll have a place to plant my garlic. I was going to have to transplant it in the spring anyway if I wanted to let it go to seed (I'll see if I like it and it overwinters well). So the work wasn't wasted it was just done this fall instead of next spring.

The first chore was to sift some leaf mold. This bin was filled with leaves two years ago, we barely touched it. I actually fill two bins with leaves in the fall and we need just over one for our carbon additions to the compost during the year. But I like to fill a whole two bins. Last fall I topped it off with leaves again as it has gone down to half its size. Now it is just under half a bin tall and filled with wonderful leaf mold. The reality is that much of the top layer is filled with worm castings. I think it was worm heaven in there this year. Lower down there is a layer that is dried leaves that have turned into powder. I obviously should have added water and turned it, but this is an easy way to get some good organic matter without the work. And occasionally I run into an undecomposed clump of leaves that get screened out.

Leaf mold isn't as nutrient rich as compost, but it is still an excellent addition to the soil, and I don't make nearly enough compost to cover the garden. In fact I might have to buy some this spring, but with the added leaf mold, I think I'll have enough to cover the spring beds. I hope.

The next step was to double dig the bed. Since these beds are fairly new they don't need to be double dug yet. But I figure I don't want a year where I have to double dig all my beds. I like to get air in there occasionally. If I do three half beds a year, it will take me six years to get through the rotation. That seems about right. At my last house the soil was clay and the rocks were atrocious. It always took me hours, well days, to do a bed it was so much work. This bed didn't take long at all. I didn't time it but I wasn't horribly tired after I was done. I'll do another half in November sometime. And one more in the spring. Mostly I do a no till bed, but I find that double digging really helps to keep the soil aerated when you use that style of gardening. And I'm pleased to say that I now have WORMS! Yes my totally worm free garden is finally coming to life. It doesn't have nearly the numbers as my last garden yet, but it is well on its way.

Then it was the easy job of tossing the leaf mold on top of the soil and putting in my transplants. I'm not sure how far apart to put the mache. I put them about 5". I did forget to add fertilizer. Whoops. I sprinkled a little over the top. It wasn't a very heavy application as I don't want to burn the plants and I was too lazy to be careful about sprinkling around the edges. After planting they were covered with cat protection.