A Short Discussion about Shade for Your Forest Medicinal Herb Garden

Many gardeners are interested in planting shade gardens, especially to grow native forest botanicals such as ginseng, goldenseal, and black cohosh. Many questions arise about how to provide that shade, how much there should be, and what to do if there is no natural shade on the property. That topic is covered in detail in the new home gardener section of my book, Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals. Here is a small excerpt: "Do you have a naturally shaded area to plant your garden in? The ideal site has a hardwood canopy with trees such as poplar, sugar maple, white ash, oak, beech, maple, and birch, and an understory of trees and shrubs such as dogwoods, elderberry, and witch hazel. Is it all deep shade? Are there open areas? Are there different degrees of shade, e.g., dense, light, or partial shade? Partial shade means the area has direct sunlight for three to six hours each day. Pay attention to when the area gets that sun. Three hours of direct late afternoon sun can be hot and damaging to shade plants. Light shade or dappled light is filtered light that works it way through the canopy of deciduous trees. There are patches of direct sunlight that get through at different times of the day, but they are small. This is a preferred state for many of the plants covered in this book. Areas of dense or full shade get less than three hours of direct sunlight each day, with filtered light the rest of the day. Dense shade is not totally dark. Few plants grow on the forest floor under dense shade. If you have full shade, you will probably have to open up the tree canopy a bit through some judicious pruning or tree removal. If your canopy is very open and there is too much light, now is the time to think about planting some trees that will add more shade in the coming years.
     "If you don't have any shade right now, you can create some that is temporary until the trees you plant fill in, or it can be the permanent shade. Construct an arbor or pergola and let vines cover it to simulate the natural opening and closing of a tree canopy that occurs when leaves come out in the spring and fall off in autumn. Use lattice fencing to protect an area from late afternoon sun or put up a shade sail or canopy made of woven polypropylene shade cloth. If you can't afford to build shade right now, consider planting on the north or east side of your house."

Manure is Worth its Weight in Gold. Want Some?

Even with the best manure management plans, on a little farm like ours sometimes you just have to get out there with a fork and wheelbarrow and pick the stuff up. But that "stuff" is worth its weight in gold to farmers and gardeners in the know. It can turn poor soil into rich, fertile, friable, fragrant, good gardening soilwithin a year or two. You will see a noticeable difference the first year you use it. We incorporate manure into all of our vegetable, herb, and flower gardens and feel blessed to have an endless supply at our disposal.

In my opinion, manure has gotten a bad rap in recent years. All the concerns about food safety have driven many gardeners and some organic farmers away from using manures. Following some simple guidelines, manures can be used safely and can be most beneficial to your growing efforts. And think about it, if we don't return animal manure to the soil where it belongs, what the heck are we going to do with all that we generate?

At the present time, we are not composting our manure, so we follow the federal National Organic Program rules for using manure in growing our food and flowers: "The NOP regulations require that uncomposted animal manures be applied at least 90 days prior to harvest for crops whose edible portions do not come in contact with the soil and at least 120 days prior to harvest of crops whose edible portions do come in contact with the soil." We feel very comfortable following these rules because we generate all the manure here on our own farm and we know what our animals eat. Our animals live on grass pasture most of the year. Our one senior horse is fed some additional grain because he can no longer eat enough grass and hay to keep his weight up. But his grains contain no antibiotics or hormones. The hay we purchase for winter feed comes from local farms. We know the farmers and we always ask what herbicides they use so we can avoid persistent herbicides that could carry over into the manure.

Most of us who have been farming and gardening for a lot time know how to handle manure and composted manure products. If you are a new gardener, please remember you are handling 'poop'. So you should wear gloves, cover any wounds on your hands, wash your hands when you are done, and keep your dirty hands out of your mouth. Follow these simple rules and you should be able to safely use manures for growing your food as many, many generations of people have done before us.

So, do you want some? For the first time this year we have more manure than we can use. If you would like some, FOR FREE, and you are within an easy drive of Etowah, NC, just use the contact form on the right to let me know and we will make arrangements for you to get some. This is a good time of year to apply it.

Mills River Educational Farm-a local treasure

A view of the gardens from the porch of the educational building

Late yesterday afternoon, my husband and I partook in a delightful learning experience at the Mills River Educational Farm. This is a little known treasure right in our midst here in the southern mountains of western North Carolina. It is located in Mills River, just about a ten minute drive from the Asheville airport. What a gem! This is a very small farm dedicated to finding the most sustainable methods for growing food. Run by a non-profit, some of our local farming experts are part of the team.

Yesterday they offered a class called "Soil Fertility Part 2" and it was dedicated to compost, cover crops, and understanding soil and organic waste reports. I have known all the speakers for twenty plus years, Jon Nilsson, Mark Schonbeck, and Pat Battle, so it was fun reconnecting.  Jon Nilsson, our local compost expert, spoke first on understanding waste analysis reports. This is important information if you are making compost. That was followed by a presentation by Dr. Mark Schonbeck, Virginia based consultant on soil fertility, cover crops, and all things organic. Mark spent several hours talking about the pros and cons of a very long list of cover crops.

Rocco explaining the buckwheat cover crop in one of the greenhouses.  That's Lisa Soledad Almaraz filming.

Then we took a short tour of the greenhouses and the gardens. We munched on some 'Vortex' beans and 'Sungold' tomatoes while Rocco Sinicrope explained what they were trying to accomplish in the greenhouses, how they were using buckwheat as a cover crop in one greenhouse, and using organic mulches topped by landscape fabric to grow squash in the field.

Pat (in the hat) and Mark (scratching his head) in front of the pizza oven.

Then Pat Battle treated us to wood-fire oven baked pizza. No one makes a pizza like Pat's! All were topped with veggies from the gardens and some with sausage from pigs Rocco grew. Then we headed back inside for a discussion about soil test reports by Mark.  It was a good way to spend a warm Saturday evening, expanding our knowledge about growing our own food in a manner that is good for the land and for us. It was also a joy to spend five hours with a small group of like-minded people.

There will be more classes in the coming months. To learn about them and the Educational Farm, visit their website at Living Web Farms.  And this is all just ten minutes from our farm!  Now, to address the way we are making our compost!  I think hubby is out on the tractor doing something about it already.