May 21, Monday — Victoria Day (Canada). American Red Cross founded, 1881. Good day to end old projects.
May 22, Tuesday — New Moon. Associated Press founded, 1900. Good fishing days (moon between new and full) from now to June 5.
May 23, Wednesday — There is no better surgeon than one with many scars. South Carolina became eighth state, 1788.
May 24, Thursday — Ascension, Orthodox Ascension. Anti-Saloon league founded, Oberlin, Ohio, 1893.
May 25, Friday — St. Bede. Ralph Waldo Emerson born, 1803. Plant above-ground crops today and tomorrow.
May 26, Saturday — St. Augustine of Canterbury Moon runs high. Moon at ascending node.
May 27, Sunday — Moon at Perigee. Great St. Louis Tornado, 1896. Cast not a clout till May be out.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Why would someone buy worms for composting when anyone can dig them up outside? — G.A., Dove Creek, Colo.
Answer: For outdoor composting, your local garden-variety earthworms probably do just fine, but for indoor, bin-confined "vermicomposting," as it's called, you want Eisenia foetida, better known as redworms. There are various types of redworms, most 3 to 4 inches long at maturity. These include brandling worms, manure worms, tiger worms, red wigglers, yellow tails, Georgia reds, Michigan reds and Ozark reds.
Redworms commonly live at the bottom of the forest floor, so they're light-sensitive, but evidently they're better adapted to the confined spaces of an indoor garbage composter than other worm varieties.
When you want to "harvest" the compost, you simply expose the bin to bright light, let the worms crawl to the bottom where it's dark, and then remove the top layer of compost for garden use. Worm farming probably started as a way to make money by supplying fishermen with bait, but quickly its usefulness as a form of recycling became apparent. Josh Nelson, a Rhode Island vermicompost proponent, estimates that "if everyone in New York City alone kept just two pounds of worms in their home, we could reduce the trash problem in this country by 100 landfills."
Various companies sell redworms, along with the plastic or wooden bins (complete with airholes on the sides and top) that house them. You can probably buy worms from your local bait shop as well, but be sure you ask for redworms. You can make the bin yourself from any low, wide plastic or wooden container. Then you simply provide the garbage to feed them.
It has been estimated that worms can eat from one third to one half their weight in garbage, so, if you regularly produce a pound of garbage a day, you might want to purchase two or three pounds of worms. You can house them in your basement or root cellar, or anywhere else that stays between 59 and 77 degrees F.
Despite the garbage, the bins give off no unpleasant odors, we're told (unless you overfeed the little critters and they can't keep up!). Some people recommend burying the garbage within the compost material to avoid fruit fly infestations.
There are a surprising number of books on the technique, including Mary Appelhof's "Worms Eat Our Garbage: Classroom Activities for a Better Environment" (Flowerfield Press, 1993), which is geared toward classroom use, with experiments, lesson plans and activities for kids.
Some schools have even initiated composting systems to take care of school lunchroom wastes, evidently saving their schools thousands of dollars in rubbish removal costs. Mary Appelhof, a biologist, calls herself the "wormwoman" and can be found on the Web at www.wormwoman.com. There's also the Happy D Ranch www.happydranch.com P.O. Box 3001, Visalia, CA 93278) with their "General Store" of vermicomposting supplies and handy answers to frequently asked questions. Or visit your local bookstore, find a bait shop, build yourself a bin, and you're in the worm business!
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: How do you know which seeds to start indoors and which can go directly into the ground? — H.K., Newport, R.I.
Answer: Well, trial and error, really, but other gardeners in your area can give you good advice. In general, any root crop, such as carrots, potatoes and beets, should go directly into the garden; root crops don't like being transplanted. And any of the vegetables generally regarded as early or cold-hardy — spinach, kale, chard, radishes, beans, peas, etc. — should also go directly outside.
Others, like squashes and pumpkins, need to wait for warmer soils but also start outdoors. Beyond that, read the seed packets or the garden catalogues and follow the planting advice there. Some common ones to start indoors include basil, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: My nephew says his school is keeping phenology charts. Are we really back to "reading" bumps on the head? — J.P., Sanford, Fla.
Answer: I suspect that you are confusing phenology (the study of the cyclic nature of life and the seasons) with phrenology (the study of the conformation of the skull). Phrenology is pretty outdated, and I'd be surprised if your nephew's school is "reading bumps," as you say.
In 1796, Dr. Franz Gall, a physician from Vienna, began lecturing on his idea that the conformation of the skull was indicative of mental faculties and character. He believed there were three main temperaments of the brain, which he labeled vital, motive and mental; each had its good and bad characteristics. The motive temperament tended toward dignity, sternness and will. The vital temperament was sanguine and tended to be passionate, while the mental temperament was more nervous, sensitive and aesthetic.
Fortunate people, Gall theorized, had a balance of the three, but a singular or unbalanced temperament could result in a genius or a criminal, due to some faculties being present in excess. But, as you rightly surmised, all this has been labeled hogwash by more modern science.
Phenology, on the other hand, an even older science whereby the cycles of the seasons, astronomical and meteorological data, etc., are compiled and studied, is still very much in vogue. Probably dating back to our earliest forms of record-keeping, phenology includes the notation (whether on cave walls or in our Almanac) of first ice-outs on the lakes, earliest robin sightings in the spring, when the earthworm casts first appear on the thawing soil, when the whales migrate, when the spring peepers are first heard, earliest and latest frosts, dates of hibernation, and all sorts of other gardening, fishing and wildlife facts that offer comparative information.
Perhaps you've heard weather lore along the lines of "Bearded frost is a forerunner of snow," or "Past the Easter frost and the crop is safe." Others include "When the butterfly comes, comes also the summer" and "A bee was never caught in a shower." All of these suggest observations we can make that help us to predict weather or gardening events.
There are many plant-related proverbs as well that use the development of one plant to suggest the proper planting, harvesting or natural emergence of another. Oak leaves, forsythia, pussy willows and lilacs, for example, are all considered harbingers of spring. "Plant corn when oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ears" is an example of phenological advice. Sow peas when daffodils bloom.
And, as Gertrude Jekyll wrote in one of her famed gardening essays, "The blooming of the cowslip is the signal for a search for the morel."
Farmers, beekeepers, weather forecasters and other scientists all keep careful records to help them make good decisions about the timing of their work. In schools, classrooms may link, over the Internet, with other classrooms nationwide to add to data on the coming of spring, the early flowerings, ground or water temperatures, breeding or nesting times, foliage peaks, berry times, bird and mammal migrations or other data. No doubt this is what your nephew meant.
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444