Black Gold

Once again, I’ve struck gold: rich, organic matter that I call Black Gold.

Every year, my town makes available composted leaves to its residents. All you have to do is pick it up at the Department of Public Works. I wait for it all winter, and once it’s in come Spring, I hit the road to pick-up a trunk load or two of it. But this year, I’m shoveling humus into bags and bins like there’s no tomorrow. And it never ceases to disappoint.

No, that’s not a fingerprint haze on the camera lens. The humus was actually steaming. It was very warm to the touch, alive in fact. The smell is earthy and hot, sweet yet somewhat less than pungent, like sugary hot cocoa, coffee, a tiny spritz of vinegar and the deep forest. I love this stuff! So do the plants.

And it’s not just the crops. For example, you can top dress around the trunks or bases of your evergreens, in a circle at least the width of the plant in spring and fall. It’s free, natural and healthy “food” mulch for them.

Some of the humus I’ve collected so far has been well blended and integrated into the two designated cool-weather crop beds. After turning them over a second time, my daughter and I put in sugar snap peas this past weekend. The chard varieties will fill out the remaining space come Saturday. The second bed awaits, from front to back, carrots, radicchio, cauliflower and kale.

The overhead shot of the long, oval beds shows two of the three for summer production. They are, for now, just top dressed with about eight inches of the composted leaves. With my work schedule and the DPW yard’s limited hours, my main goal over the past two weeks was simply to back into the dirt bay, fill the bins and bags in the trunk of my car, unload, spread, and head back for more before the yard closes at 3:00 p.m., all weather-permitting. My window of opportunity is basically one day per week. The yard doesn’t have weekend hours until mid-May, and that’s just too late in the season for me. And anyway, after a long and largely indoor winter, it feels great to get down and dirty again.

Once I apply a layer of dehydrated, composted manure, wielding a pitchfork, I’ll turn all of the soil over and integrate the amendments thoroughly into those summer beds. It’s an old-fashioned but tried and true way of doing things. With brand new beds that aren’t as deeply cultivated as my others, it will be somewhat backbreaking this year. But the aches and pains are well worth it: the soil will be aerated, crumbly, well amended and ready to accommodate and nourish tender seedling roots.

Eco-nomics Running Tally:

Seeds, Peat Pellets, other: $36.96
Humus: $ 0.00
Total: $39.96