Veggies and Composting in Spring

We have been working hard in our veggie gardens, getting them looking beautiful for our Forage, Harvest and Feast courses and as tasty as possible for us to eat from everyday – its a real working garden. Baby girl knows that if she find a packet and puts on her boots, she can get a tasty snack. “Peas!” she shouts, banging on the door. Its one of her first words. “More!” is another one.Snack time!Here is our rich, warm compost pile. When it gets turned over, you can see the steam billowing out.

Its beautiful. But its hard work. It’s really like having another pet.

You have to feed it and make sure it doesn’t get too hot or too cold and that it gets enough nutrients and oxygen. The optimum temperature for a compost pile is about 60 degrees so that the pathogens and weed seeds are inactivated. It gets nice and cosy like this because of all the microorganisms eating away at the degradable matter. Id love to finish off a stew or even a pot of rice in there one day!

But if you have a big old dry compost heap, it can even catch on fire in hot weather – seriously.

You can read all about it here. If you want something cute on compost Q and A, then check this out.

If it gets too cold, it will slow down the composting process and stop it doing its job. If it gets too hot, the poor little microbes die. We definitely don’t want that to happen, so we have to turn over the compost pile regularly. And if  the compost doesn’t get enough nutrients or air it wont work either.

I could go on for ever. There is so much more. But I don’t want to bore you with a big pile of know-you-know-what.

Pretty maids, I mean cabbages, all in a row

Broad beans and Leeks

Calendula, Lavender, Artemesia, Onions, Thyme, Lemon Pelargonium and Rosemary.

The first beautiful Artichokes of the season

Calendula, Borage, black Mustard and Swiss Chard

How many recipes have you got in your head now? I just have to see plants, any edible plants, and my mouth starts drooling with all the recipes going through my mind. You know the Matrix movie with all those green numbers and letters whizzing down the screen? It’s like that in my mind, except those numbers are all plant combos and recipes. Totally normal.

I’ll end off with a photo of our stunning King Protea which flowers at the same time every year without fail, heralding the beginning of Spring.

Happy gardening!

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