Gardening
Composting Directly in the Garden
Trench composting, a centuries old technique, is low maintenance, effective, eliminates the need to turn piles of plant debris, requires minimal space, and doesn't smell.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
Don't toss those imperfect lettuce leaves, onion tops and strawberry tops into the trash. Instead, convert them into compost right in the garden.
Worm and pile composting are great ways to manage these scraps. But if these methods aren't for you, try trench composting. This centuries old technique is low effort and effective. The process is basically invisible, eliminates the need to turn a pile of plant debris, requires minimal space and doesn't smell.
Simply dig a 12-inch-deep trench between the rows of vegetables, in the pathway, or in any vacant spot in the garden. Be careful not to damage the plant roots. Add about four to six inches of kitchen scraps, mix with soil and cover with at least eight inches of soil that you removed from the hole. Covering with this much soil helps prevent animals from digging. Repeat until the trench is filled with plant debris and covered in soil.
Just like other composting methods, use plant-based materials only. Do not add meat, dairy and fat that can attract animals and rodents. And this is no place for perennial weeds like quackgrass, annual weeds gone to seed, or invasive plants that can survive the composting and take over the garden.
You can also trench compost one hole at a time. Just dig a hole in a vacant space in the garden, toss in the materials, mix, and cover with soil. I grew up with this method. After dinner or once we had a bowl full of kitchen scraps, we were sent to the garden to dig a hole, dump, and cover.
For those that want to rotate plantings as well as compost, you may want to try one of these two methods. Plant in wide rows and trench compost in the pathway. Next year, move the garden to the path location and make last year's garden the path. You will be rotating your plantings while improving the soil.
Or designate separate adjacent areas for planting, paths, and composting. Next year, rotate so last year's composting area becomes garden, the garden becomes the path, and the path is the new section for trench composting. In three years, you will have rotated crops and improved the soil in all three areas.
Start by contacting your local municipality to make sure there are no restrictions on any type of composting. Then get out the shovel and dig your way to healthier soil and a more productive garden.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Sampling Samplers
I often find samplers in old New England estates that we handle. You might better know them as needlepoints and, according to the Milwaukee Public Museum, they were typically made to develop "young girl's stitchery skills for both practical and ornamental purposes."
Samplers have a lengthy history. The collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London include samplers from Egyptian burial vaults dating back to the 14th or 15th century. The first book of sampler patterns dates to 1520s Germany. Samplers were also used as reference works in Tudor England. John Palsgrave's 1530 Anglo-French dictionary described them as an "exampler for a woman to work by."
The Smithsonian website reports that the first American example "was made by Loara Standish of the Plymouth Colony about 1645." They note that samplers with letters and numbers were created by young women to develop the skills needed to run the family household. Academies and schools arose in the late 1700s and early 1800s where young women learned to create "decorative motifs such as verses, flowers, houses, religious, pastoral, and/or mourning scenes."
Antique samplers typically feature the letter "I" instead of "J" and the letter "V" instead of "U" because "I" and "J" weren't part of the Latin alphabet. "S" was also often replaced with the printers' "S" which looks more like an "F."
While some embroiders still make samplers today, antique samplers are highly sought after by collectors. Recent auction results for 10 samplers showed prices ranging from $75 for a simple one from 1825 to $2,200 for an impressive 1837 sampler. The 1837 piece was crafted by a nine-year-old girl from Onondaga County, New York. The letters were block script and cursive and it also depicted a house and trees along with a memorial to her father. Rare, highly detailed pieces can bring substantial prices.
Betsy Wardwell's 1797 sampler featured the words "May spotles inocence [sic] & truth my every action guide and guard my unexperienced youth from arrogance & pride" written in needlepoint. She also created a house, birds on trees and two courting couples with a border of flowers and birds. Wardwell was a student at the Mary Balch School in Providence, Rhode Island. Samplers by students of the Mary Balch School are prized by collectors for their complex composition and intricate stitching. Wardwell's 1797 piece sold for $329,600 in 2007.
The Huffington Post reported that a New Jersey schoolgirl's sampler broke an auction record in 2012. The sampler displayed an intricate needlepoint home with trees along with a front yard with different bird species, a cow, and person on horseback. The top of the piece was arched with ornate scrollwork and the girl's name who made it, Mart Antrim, as well the date, 1807. The highest bidder sewed it up for $1,070,500.
Our major online auction this fall will include a collection of samplers. Our 6th session of model trains, die-cast cars, models and other toys from a West Boylston estate will end on July 13th. We will be running an estate sale in Walpole, MA on July 16th. I'll be appraising items at the Leicester Senior Center on November 5th and we are planning other events for the fall. Please visit our website www.centralmassauctions.com for links to upcoming events.
Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com