Garlic scapes, broccoli and homemade compost. Week 11 in the vegetable garden

A bucket of finished compost that has been sifted through the screen. It's now ready to use.

I jump on the scapes train and build a compost sifter from scrap lumber.

I had never heard of garlic scapes, but this summer I seem to be reading about them in all the food magazines. The scape is a long stalk with a bulb near the end. When it's cut, the plant directs all its energy to bulb formation. Left alone, it flowers.

I've sauteed chive flowers and used them in salads and with fried potatoes. But I've never cooked with a scape until now. So I cut one and dug up some garlic cloves in another part of the garden. The broccoli had a pretty good head on itself so I cut that off, leaving the little side shoots to develop further.

Recipe for broccoli and scapes in olive oil and lemon

I cooked the scapes and garlic cloves in olive oil, then added a broccoli head. These cooked until softened. Then I squeezed half a lemon over the vegetables. The resulting dish was tasty and more than a little satisfying because the ingredients came from my raised-bed, square-foot garden.

Yesterday I planted a six-foot row of pole beans at the foot of the trellis. These went into the same squares where I had planted the pea pods earlier this summer. It was a little difficult to get to the row because I had to maneuver through the tomatoes, which are now sprawling all over creation. 

When I design next year's garden, I'll move the tomatoes to the interior of the bed. I read that rotating the location is the thing to do anyhow in order to avoid soil-borne diseases.

Building a sifter for cleaner garden compost

I had been rolling this idea around in my head for a month or so. Last week I finally made it a reality. With scrap lumber and old wire fencing, I built a screening table for the compost. (See below.) I put a shovelful of compost on top of the screen and roll a stick (or use my hands) to push the compost through the screen. The compost, which I have dug up from the bottom of the pile is warm to the touch and has a beautiful earthy aroma.

The sticks, corn cobs, stones, bark, avocado pits and other large items stay on the top side of the screen, while the soil falls to the bottom. I'm surprised at how light and fluffy this finished compost is. 

In the past, I just shoveled compost from the pile into the wheelbarrow and then dumped it (sticks and all) where I needed it. This sifter gives me a cleaner finished product. I wished that my lumber scraps were large enough to fit over the wheelbarrow so that I could sifter directly into it. But alas, I catch some in a bucket and shovel up the rest.

My homemade sifter, built of scrap lumber and fencing, screens out sticks, avocado pits, corn cobs and other large pieces.