The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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Vegetable Garden Location

There are a few basic requirements for creating a productive and enjoyable vegetable garden: convenience, sunlight, good and well-drained soil, and easy access to water are foremost. Here is a run down of these basic requirements and a couple of additional considerations for making a vegetable garden.

Convenience. Select a spot near at hand, easy and quick to get to. Choose, as you can a spot, close to the kitchen. A garden close by will capture your spare moments for tending and for watching the garden. And a garden close by will be greatly appreciated once you have made a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass.

Exposure. A yield of delicious vegetables is greatly beholden to exposure. Site your garden in an "early" spot--a plot facing or sloping a little to the south or east that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late--eight hours of sunlight each day is optimal. Make a "sun map" of your yard tracking the sun across the property in the course of a day. Avoid situating your vegetable garden in the shadows of buildings, trees, and fences. Choose a spot that is out of the direct path of chilling north and northeast winds. A building, a fence, or a hedge to the north of your plot can protect your garden from chilling winds. Even low-growing shrubs or young evergreens can protect vulnerable tender vegetables.

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How to Make Comfrey Manure Tea

Comfrey manure-tea time arrives with the first flowering of tomatoes and peppers. Comfrey tea is made simply by soaking the leaves of the herb comfrey in water for about 20 days.

Comfrey tea is rich in nitrogen and potassium; it is a nutritious side-dressing for fruiting vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and berries use nitrogen to support leaf growth and potassium to promote flowers and fruit. The nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) ratio of dried comfrey leaves is 1.8-0.5-5.3; comfrey also contains calcium.

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Comfrey is a perennial herb that is easily grown in average soil; it will thrive in sun or partial shade. Russian comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum) is the best choice but there are other comfrey varieties that will work. Plant comfrey in spring or autumn and let the plant become established before harvesting leaves for tea making the following year. Space comfrey plants at least 30 inches apart; mature plants will grow to about 2 feet tall from a basal leaf cluster. Leaves are best harvested just as flower stalks rise. Comfrey can be invasive; it is best to grow comfrey where it can remain undisturbed for as long as 20 years (a comfrey corner of the garden).

Comfrey Tea Recipe

• Harvest comfrey leaves from established plants; wear gloves, long sleeves, long pants and shoes: comfrey leaves can irritate the skin. From an established plant you can get 3 or 4 cut-and-come-again harvests each year.

• Use a bucket or other container to make comfrey tea. Fill the container about half to three-quarters full of comfrey leaves. Place a wooden block or brick on top of the leaves to press them down. Fill the container with water and place a lid on top.

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How to Make Compost Tea

Compost tea is an excellent all-purpose fertilizer. Made from aged compost--organic materials that have finished decomposing, compost tea contains all of the major and minor nutrients plants require. It gives young plants a starter boost and older plants a pick-me-up. Not only that, but compost tea will ward off many common garden diseases and even help cure a few.

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You may see different recipes for compost tea, but do not fret it is easy work. The gist of making compost tea is simple: place compost in water and let it sit for seven to ten days--depending upon the amount of compost and water--until the water turns the color of tea. That's it; your compost tea is ready. Pour a cup of compost tea around the base of plants every two weeks or spray it on the leaves of plants as a foliar spray. (More detailed recipes for compost tea are below.)

Compost tea, like compost, contains all of the major and lesser nutrients that plants require. It is a balanced fertilizer, meaning it contains nearly equal parts of the major nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK), and nearly all of the lesser nutrients. Depending upon the strength of the solution it will likely measure somewhere between 0.5-0.5-0.5 and 4-4-4.

Because compost tea is delivered to plants as a solution, it is available to plant roots for uptake and use immediately. Dry fertilizers must mix with soil water to begin work. Compost tea is fast acting.

In addition, to feeding plants, compost tea also feeds soil microorganisms which work in the soil to break down organic materials into plant foods. These same soil microorganism feed on harmful fungi that attack plants.

Spray compost tea directly on plant leaves and stems and the beneficial microorganisms will feed on fungi already on plant leaves--fungi that cause powdery mildew, downy mildew or botrytis, and the like--or pounce on fungi spores that land on plants. (Use compost tea as a foliar spray from early spring to midsummer--allowing 4 weeks of no spray before eating fruiting crops. Don't use compost tea as a foliar spray on leafy crops.)

Go to the next page for Compost Tea Recipes.

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How to Compost Faster

Composting turns garden and kitchen waste into humus. Humus is Nature's best fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of decomposition that we call composting happens in nature as billions of microorganisms feed, grow, reproduce, and die as they recycle kitchen and garden waste.

Compost will happen gradually over time. Set a pile of leaves or grass clippings in the corner of the yard and come back in a year: compost, perhaps humus. When you build a compost pile or use a commercial bin, you can speed things up. What Mother Nature will do on her own in a year's time you can help her do more quickly.

Compost is partially decomposed organic matter. Humus is fully decomposed compost. Humus is the composter's objective.

There are three types of composting: cold, slow, or passive composting; hot, fast, or active composting; and sheet compositing.

Sheet composting simply involves spreading undecomposed organic materials over the soil's surface, then working them into the soil to decompose.

Cold, slow, or passive composting involves piling organic matter into a heap and letting Nature takes its course. Little or no turning is involved and composting will occur in time. In cool temperatures, passive composting can take more than a year.

Hot, fast, or active composting requires that the compost pile be turned or aerated and that some attention be paid to the ratio of high-carbon materials--such as dry leaves, straw or steer manure--and high-nitrogen materials--such as fresh grass clippings, green prunings, and kitchen peelings. (An ideal ratio of carbon to nitrogen for hot composting is about 25:1.)

To speed along the work of your compost pile follow these suggestions:

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Making Compost

Here are the basics you'll need to know to start composting at home:

• Site the compost bin or pile near the vegetable garden and kitchen close to where the finished compost will be used or locate the pile in an area of garden where you will plant next year

• Choose a site in full sun or light shade sheltered from the wind.

• Place the compost bin or pile on bare soil so that excess water can drain away. Till or dig the soil underneath before you begin to fill the area. This will assist drainage and allow macroorganisms such as worms to enter the pile.

• Place the bin or pile with ample air circulation on all sides.

• A compost bin can be square or round. It can be made out of lumber, chicken wire, hardware cloth, concrete blocks, or bales of hay. You can use a wooden box leaving space between the side boards. (Do not use pressure-treated wood or wood treated with toxic preservatives.) You can use four wood frames covered with chicken wire and latched together to form a cube. You can use galvanized metal mesh or welded wire shaped as a cylinder and staked in place. You can use bricks omitting a few bricks on each side for aeration. You can use a steel drum with hundreds of large holes punched in the side so that the external surface is about half and half holes to solid matter.

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