So, do we get the salsa recipe?

I'm growing Star Gazers for the first time this year. They are so beautiful and so fragrant. I put them in a pot as I'm not sure where there permanent home will be. I moved the pot and pollen got all over my shirt. Doesn't wash out either. Not an issue but lots of pollen.

I think claw is the tool you use to scrape back top layer of compost?

I want to grow grow Winter Luxury

Really enjoyed all the info on vermicomposting and I looked at your photo's as you talked about it.

Thank you Dave and Trish -

Just finished listening to the podcast. It was like a nice visit with Dave and Trish! Thanks!

Great info on worm bins. I highly recommend them, even though at the present time I'm " wormbin-less", but no worries I'll make another soon. My best worm bin was made from an old chest freezer. It worked perfectly and I feel the insulation in the walls of the freezer helped to also insulate the worms/activity inside both winter and summer.

Your discussion on squashes will no doubt encourage folks to grow more, especially the storage squash (winter squash).

Thanks, ya'll! Ya done good!

Shoe (with antenna out now more than ever looking for an old chest freezer AND no doubt will dream of squash, squash casserole, squash pie, squash this, squash that....)

vic said:So, do we get the salsa recipe?

It's not really so much a recipe as it is a technique. It's something we've enjoyed doing for a decade now and it works great. I'm working on Trish to get agreement to let me share it.

Shoe, that chest freezer worm bin sure does sound great. It wasn't too deep, though? I have found with the deeper containers, that the weight of the worm castings get so heavy that it literally crushes the castings in the bottom of the container and creates an unhealthy anaerobic condition. I have a chest freezer that was dumped on my property a long time ago; I might just have a new use for it!

Thank you Dave, maybe you could get her to agree if you picked her a beautiful bouquet of flowers We LOVE salsa

Howdy, All...

Dave, you're correct, the freezer would definitely be too deep but I never filled it to the brim. And your description of the height of the bins compacting the lower levels is on the mark. When I first used the chest freezer that's exactly what it did and the bottom several inches was very fine "mush"...much wetter than the upper regions and also of a very fine (miniscule particulates) texture. I quit trying to fill it up so high. And I also had divided it into two sides, with a screen of hardware cloth as a divider. One side was the working side and when it was time to begin emptying it out I'd start filling up the other side. By not feeding the older side the worms would move through the hardware cloth to the new goodies on the new side.

But when I grow up I wanna be like ya'll and one day have a water trough worm bin, too! Those sound perfect. I assume you put a cover over the top to keep out excess rains and maybe to also keep it a bit warmer during the cold months...?

These look like photos taken when I first set it up. In the pics I see there is a light in there so it must've been taken during the winter when I was trying to add heat so the worm activity would not slow down. The shoplight had a small wattage bulb in it BUT be careful 'cause I also remember using a higher wattage bulb at some point and nearly burnt the worms up. At some point I came to the realization "benign neglect" was the better way to go and did w/out a winter heat source altogether. :>)

Shoe.