PENINSULA MIX
One of the best investments you can make for a vegetable garden is . . .ASPARAGUS PLANTS. There are good sales this year in the garden supply catalogs. If the prices seem expensive, keep in mind that these plants can produce for 20 years. Planting asparagus may sound like a chore (the trenches need to be 10 inches deep), but once planted, they just keep on coming back, year after year. They freeze well, too. This year, the garden catalogs are showing some very attractive prices. The ones you don’t cut for the table will
leave a feathery, ferny green plant which is good in bouquets.
If your soil needs improving, stop sending your garbage into the trash pick-up, and let it start decomposing in a composter. All of that good garbage which goes into the disposal, can be building your garden soil into real food production. If you are in a hurry, get one that spins, because oxygen and moisture are two of the key ingredients for making compost. Lime is another ingredient, but these days we don’t have to deal with the fine powder that wafts up to your face. Loews has a granular form that lands low and stays there. The next ingredient, besides oxygen, is water or rain, which gets into the composter through the many air holes in a good composter.
Now, one more thing, when the Asplundh people come around to trim street trees, ask them for the grindings. All you do is give a good dose of powdered lime to the pile and then, let it season for about a year, and after that you have an excellent mulch for trees, shrubs, and vegetables. This kind of mulch will keep the weeds down. Let it season it for a year before you apply it.
| Lily Fleder |