Winter Work

It’s still hard to believe it’s February when it feels like March. I keep having to remind myself what time of the year it is.

One of the Lemur Center technicians asked me if I liked winter gardening better than summer gardening today. I had to reply I liked summer better, even if the hot, sticky North Carolina summer days are brutal. Most of the winter is spent building soil and beds, but the summer is the time you get to sit back (when you’re not slaving in the summer heat with a hose) and watch your plants grow and produce.

This week I spent most of my time turning the soil in last year’s beds. We still have a gooey layer of clay, but the more it’s worked and the more organic matter we add to it, the better it will be for the plants. I also started an experiment: I turned four beds, but left two uncovered and covered one with grass clippings and the other with leaves and grass clippings. I am curious to see which will have the better soil…

The Fava beans (Vicia faba) are bouncing back finally. We planted these back in December, but the unusually hot weather almost killed them. All of them have new green growth on them and many have flowers on them. Hopefully the seasonably cold weather will return long enough for these to produce pods.

After a suggestion to grow Malabar spinach (Basella alba) for the lemurs, I started a new bed near one of the enclosures so we could use the fencing as a trellis. The ring-tailed lemur couple will definitely appreciate the shade during the summer months. It will be crucial to build up the area because the soil is full of sand, concrete and white, slick clay. Malabar spinach likes organic matter so I added chicken compost and grass clippings this week to kick things off. Definitely more work to be done though.

The worm populations in our three bins have at least doubled since we started them last fall. Each bin consumes a couple pounds of kitchen leftovers each week and we have three to four inches of worm castings to prove it. I pulled back a corner in each bin and pulled out a handful of healthy worms and worm castings. I can’t wait until April when we separate them and add the castings to the beds. Black gold, as I say. See the video!

Finally, I am spending my weekend counting seeds! Doesn’t sound fun? Oh, but it is! Charlie Welch and I went seed shopping last week, so I need to know how many seeds I have so I can plan the garden layout. All I can say is we’ll have enough cucumbers, squash and peppers to feed an army of lemurs. Thanks to the N.C. State greenhouse managers we have space to start all of our seeds.

Remember, keep checking out the photo album on the right for updated photos of the garden and feel free to email me (amwilkin@ncsu.edu) anytime
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Duke Garden January Update

I just got done visiting the vegetable garden and I was thinking about how much things have changed. We’ve doubled the size of the garden and the number of compost bins. We’ve been building the soil up with organic materials and amendments, including compost from the kitchen leftovers and cover crops. We have beds of lettuce and carrots growing, despite our odd weather this year. Our season is looking hopeful.

Our main project right now is getting the beds in the new area built up with kitchen compost and chicken compost. We’re trying a new layering strategy to get the mucky clay into a working medium for the plants.

Speaking of which, we are bringing in a host of plants this year to fill the garden. See the list below for the specific plants. Like last year, we are using a companion planting strategy to reduce predation, increase pollination and improve plant growth.

This year we are lucky to have access to greenhouse space at N.C. State University to start our seed so we will have strong, healthy plants to put in the ground mid-April.

We’ve also been lucky with our worm bins this year. It was a bumpy start, but we have three thriving worm bins and their churning through a few pounds of lemur fruit and vegetable leftovers every week. We’ll separate the compost from worms in the beginning of April so we can add it to the soil before we plant. Look for the photos of how to do that soon.

Also, take a look at our photos (click the box of vegetables on the right)!

Click here for a review of the Summer 2011 Season!

Tentative Summer Plant Lists

Vegetables/Fruits: Carrots, Cucumbers, Cowpeas, Lettuce, Malibar Spinach, Sweet Peppers, Squash, Zucchini, Green beans (Spring), Turnip, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Daikon Radish

Herbs: Basil, Parsley, Marigolds, Borage, Mint, Sage, Nasturtium (Spring)

Other: Yarrow, Rue, Thyme, Artemisia, Tansy, Fennel, Chamomile