Learn about Composting from IWFM Sponsor Spotts Garden Service

In addition to a full line up of vendors, Indy Winter Farmers Market sponsor Spotts Garden Service will be in attendance at market on Saturday 3/7. The Spotts crew will be educating guests on how to compost and get your garden ready for spring. They will also have seeds for sale! Here is some beneficial information from Spotts Gardens on composting:

Ready, Set, Compost! As we get ready for spring in the garden, organic gardeners everywhere turn to compost!

Why compost?
Compost feeds the soil that feeds your plants. It's full of slow-release nutrients and billions of microorganisms that stimulate plant growth and help plants resist disease. Compost also improves soil texture, allowing it to hold more water.

How do I use it?
In spring, our top three ways to use compost are:

1. Spread it in kitchen garden beds before planting.
2. Side-dress your plants. As shrubs and trees start budding (in April), put a ring of compost around the stem of the plant and gently scratch it into the soil. Don't put it up against the stems, though.
3. Add compost to the bottom of planting holes when you divide perennials or when you plant annuals. Add some to your container gardens too.

How do I get compost?
Make your own! All you need is approximately equal volumes of brown materials (high-carbon stuff like dried leaves, shredded newspaper, and straw) and green (high-nitrogen materials like grass clippings, weeds, and kitchen waste). Learn how to build your own compost pile with this article from Spotts Garden Service.

Alternatively, you can buy compost. Choose compost that looks dark brown and crumbly, like really good garden soil. If you need a lot, buy it in bulk rather than in bags.

Stop by the Spotts Garden Service table at this week's market to ask your garden questions and talk compost. They will also have seeds for sale!

A Word from IWFM Sponsor Spotts Garden Service

Square Foot Gardening: Maximum Food in Minimum Space!

Developed by Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening maximizes food yields in small gardens by using successive planting techniques and intensive spacing. It’s perfect for raised beds, but it works well in the ground too.

The garden is divided into one-foot square blocks, and each square is planted with a different crop. Instead of planting thickly and later thinning the seedlings, gardeners plant based on the “mature” or “thinned” spacing recommended on the seed packet. For example:

·      The seed packet says to sow lettuce 1" apart, then thin to 6" apart.

·      Instead, plant the lettuce seeds 6” apart.

·      In a 1' x 1' square, you plant 4 lettuce seeds 6” apart.

Plants that should be spaced 3” apart can be planted 16 to a square, while 1’ plants are planted 1 per square. Bigger plants are either trained up trellises or planted in an 18" x 18" square.

As soon as plants are harvested from a square, more compost is added, then the square planted with a different crop. A 4’ x 4’ square foot garden can provide enough salad crops for two adults for the whole growing season.

Check in with IWFM sponsor Spotts Garden Service at the Market this Saturday for a demonstration of planting a raised bed, square-foot-gardening style. For more detailed information, visit their latest blog post here.