Wet Noodles in the Garden

Weeding my asparagus patch this weekend was a joy. Weed a foot, celebrate with a spear, weed another foot, munch some more. Have you ever had asparagus fresh from the ground; raw, crunchy, juicy, and sweet? It was a discovery for me that asparagus could be so delicious. It was more reminiscent of fresh ‘mange-tout’ sweet peas than it was of the steamed spears traditionally laid out sparingly and artistically next to a fancy piece of animal flesh. I ate a dozen out there in the field, slowly burning the skin on the back of my neck.

Once these weeds are out of the way, this asparagus spear is my reward!

As I pulled the weeds up through the mulch I was surprised at the number of earthworms at work in there. When I was digging the holes for my new plants this spring I saw very few earthworms, yet here beneath an inch of grass they were having a huge party on the surface of the earth.

Everyone knows worms are meant to be a sign of a healthy soil. I wanted to take a moment of your time to talk about what it is these fleshy noodles actually do.

Worms live in the ground, of course. Like rodents, they like to keep a door to the outside world in their domicile. From this hole they reach out and grab at decaying organic matter. You can see evidence of this in fields where debris is left in the fall. It looks like many consecutive circles, each circle being the territory around a worm’s hole.

They eat this organic matter and defecate in their hole, deeper in the soil. This way nutrients are spread throughout the soil profile. This organic matter, now worm casts, contains nutrients that are more easily available to the plants thanks to Mr. Worm’s digestion.

The tunnels created by the worms also have positive effects. They aerate the soil, and create conditions for better drainage and water infiltration.  The channels also provide an easy avenue in which plant roots can travel deeper in the soil to find further sources of water. Even their wee, noble bodies decompose and provide nitrogen for the plants. A healthy population of earthworms can actually build topsoil, by how much seems to vary from one study to another. This is excellent news for me on my site, where the topsoil is a mere foot before reaching pure bedrock.

I will end on a darker note. The earthworm is not native to Canada. It appears its presence

is having a drastic impact on the ecology of our old growth forests. National parks advise people to avoid dumping left over earthworms from fishing trips in the forest. Take them home, feed them to your dog, just don’t empty that container (even if it is just dirt, they might have laid eggs in there!) in our forests.

Flowering Chum!

Have a lovely week, I wish you good health and happiness!

Spring Begins-- Eden's Rise Year 2

After a week dashing off to my orchard every day after work to plant until sundown, Eden’s Rise is now 160 bushes richer. Currants, blueberries, haskaps, and gooseberries were the primary focus of this planting.

Astonishing numbers of flowers are appearing on last year’s Saskatoon bushes and the asparagus shoots are purple undead fingers pushing out from the earth. Rebirth, baby. Along the pathway in the middle of the orchard Crocus flowers bloomed, then delicate blue Muscaris followed.

The thick layer of coconut coir and dried grass mulch that surrounded every tree and bush has now completely disappeared. This could either be due to a natural process called ‘decomposition’, or, equally likely, garden gnomes stealing it as kindling to light their winter fires. Live and let live, but I will need more mulch if I am to combat weeds and weather. Far from last year’s drought, we began this spring with an unprecedented amount of water, with part of Ottawa heavily affected by floods. Who knows what this summer might bring, but mulch is that magical ingredient that promises to save you from everything. I hope.

It is a comfort, as I begin the long and frankly dull process of gathering and spreading mulch, that last year’s mulch is by now incorporated into the soil around my trees. Some of that mulch is now ‘organic matter’, which is extremely beneficial in the soil. Because the particles are tiny, they wildly increase the water holding capacity of your soil. Organic matter releases nutrients to plants over time and improves the structure of your soil. Even if the gnomes steal 90% of my mulch, at least some of it will have some lasting benefits after disappearing from the surface.

A large pile of horse manure waits to be distributed among the plants this spring. Since this will be applied beneath a layer of mulch (to avoid runoff at the next rainfall) I have my work cut out for me getting all of the trees ready. Once the trees are larger, the mulch will not be necessary. While the trees are young and the roots still finding their way it is important to reduce the amount of weed competition. If you think spreading mulch is boring, I dare you to try to pull grass out of an untilled clay field. I can tell you it is no picnic.

Catnip, onions, and strawberries all survived the winter and have already grown a surprising amount. I am pleased the catnip turns out to be a perennial (I did not do my research before planting; beware, it can become as invasive as mint). I planted catnip because not only does it attracts cats (and who doesn’t want an orchard full of cats?), it is said to repel mosquitoes. Maybe this is just another trick from the Catnip Marketing Board but I think it’s worth trying anything that makes such claims.

These are the first stirrings of life after a long winter!

See you soon!