42Colors

So, we have some new and unusual "pets" in the house -- Red Wigglers (that's one up there in his habitat). For our wedding anniversary, I received (at my request) a worm composting bin. To inhabit the bin, 2000 Red Wigglers traveled by U.S. mail from the Northeast. This particular batch arrived in two bags of dry peat from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm in Pennsylvania. Unbelievably, dry peat keeps them cool when its hot and warm when its cold.

Since we were in Fredericksburg on the day they arrived, Nikki got to put them in their previously prepared home. (I promise, I asked her if she'd be OK with doing that before we left town!) We found the bin on sale at Target. I followed the directions from the Vancouver BC brochure and the 1-page of instructi0ns included in the bin to get it ready. I spent some time shredding some old bills and cereal boxes, collected about a pint of soil from the yard, crunched up about a shopping bag-full of dried leaves, shredded some corn husks into long strips, and got a handful of sand from Scooby's favorite roll-around area. I mixed it and fluffed it in the bin while moistening it all down -- the preferred consistency is "wrung-out sponge." So, when the worms arrived, Nikki popped them into their condo and added the required 1/2 cup of water.

The bright green condo has two levels for worm living, a bottom catch basin for the worm tea, and a lid with four holes in the top. So, even though my staff is worried that I have worms in my house, they are safely contained and happy. They're living on a table in my sewing room where their environment stays between the 40 and 80 degrees that they like. We decided the garage was too hot and the kitchen too crowded, although most people keep them in the kitchen for ease of feeding. In this location they are near the shredder, so there is a bucket of shreds ready to go at all times, and the room stays quiet and dark most hours of the day, plus they are not a temptation for the kitties. I bet cats can hear them moving around and would get curious if given a chance.

Any way, they've been here about two weeks now. I had a few casualties from the horrors of traveling, but the majority are doing well. So far, they've had a meal of beyond-their-time strawberries, another of cleaned crushed egg-shells and carrot shreds, and a third of green bean ends and stems. I have been misting their bedding every so often to keep it sponge-like.

I am really enjoying the worms. I probably bother them more than I should by opening up their condo, but they are quite benign and it's cool to see what they are doing. They don't smell at all -- they're just making dirt, and it smells like the kind of rich soil every gardener wants. They should finish their first round of compost-making in another six weeks. What better protection of our identities could there be? I don't think any identity thief has the ability to reconstruct these bills!

For some reason, I am really stuck on raising vegetables this year. I think it is Shelley's fault -- her apartment in California has a community garden and last year she attempted to grow salsa ingredients there.

My flowers are doing well, I've already got hummingbirds and bees and butterflies using the yard. The herbs are doing well, too, but they're mostly for the butterflies: parsley varieties, fennel, dill, rosemary, cilantro, and thyme varieties. But, I want to have some veggies, too! Even though, I may have grown my forest too well to allow enough sun for veggies.

This spring I decided to try both tomatoes and bell peppers in our yard. You may remember that last year's upside-down tomato planters yielded one lonely tomato; my hypothesis is that they were too wet last summer. So, this time, the tomatoes are in regular big pots, and the upside-down plants are bell peppers -- Huey (red) and Dewey (green). We have three, so one of the pepper plants, Louie (yellow) is in a pot. It should be a good comparison of methods. There are two tomato plants, Bert and Ernie -- they are different varieties. I stacked the deck a little by buying one transplant that had some blossoms already.

So far, Dewey is growing a bell pepper. It was barbie-size for a week or so, but has now progressed to the size of a ping-pong ball. Dewey had two other barbie-sized ones before, but dropped them on the ground, unless a critter helped him by dropping them. So, I'm thrilled that the third one has progressed to a larger size!

And, Ernie has the first tomato. It is a big heavy one and is finally starting to turn yellowish (soon to be red, I hope!) from green.

I have a new tool to help -- Roy found a moisture meter so I can test the pots to make sure they aren't too wet! That's a moot point this week with all the rain, but at least I won't be adding too much water and drowning them.