I am making mulch from the plantains.
The truth is that I cannot put soft stems or leaves into the chipper/shredder, and no sticks wider than 1 1/2 inches. Today I chopped up soft stems, pealed the tattered leaf sides off, and placed both of these kinds of materials into the compost. I am finding that I have more green compost than I thought I would have.
I chipped the dry stems, and will use this as mulch, along with some of the hand chopped wet stems.
This is what plantains look like one month after they have experienced about twelve hours at 29 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is where they are going to go, as soon as possible, into our old plastic compost bin, which evaluation showed will be serviceable enough. They will be chipped and shredded with our new chipper-shredder, which I assembled today. Plantain plants are full of good soil nutrients, which should also make a good mulch, as well as compost. I gather this is brown compost, which I need to balance out with green compost.
More about this tomorrow, weather permitting. Because of the California drought, our garden may be even more useful than before.
This was a really good lunch, light, healthy, and tasty. Joe put cubed potatoes into the steamer, and got them started, while he prepared asparagus, green onions, tomatoes, which he placed on top. Last of all he put on thawed flounder. He steamed everything until the fish was done, and the vegetables were crisp-tender.
He opened a gift of New York State white wine, saved from the holidays, which was very delicious, and complimented the whole meal.