Composting and more

*Rain Alert*
We just had a good steady rain overnight!

One of my priorities this year is to work on adding organic material to the vegetable garden.
I was able to obtain a load of horse manure but it isn't yet composted, so I need to compost it within the next two months or so(planting time is around May 31st).
I started by digging a hole about 4'x4' and 18" deep. I used this dirt to create a berm along with the stone that was already there. Then I began layering the manure with straw(roughly 25 percent straw).

After reaching a height of 2.5'(close to 4' from the bottom of the hole) I watered it heavily.
Finally I capped it off with some of my shade cloth. This stuff reflects radiant heat so I thought it would be good both for heat retention and reducing water loss.

Now two days later after a night of rain I decided to run my hand into it and see if it was heating up already. Boy is it ever! Only a few inches into the pile and there is quite a bit of heat.
I don't have a compost thermometer but I think it's doing its' job.

And here are some updates with seedlings.
Here we have some comfrey seeds emerging:

Comfrey is considered a "dynamic accumulator" in that it sends its' taproot deep and brings up minerals that would otherwise be unavailable. These minerals are stored in the body of the plant and can be composted or used as mulch.
Another dynamic accumulator is Yarrow, which we see here:

And here is an update on Flat I(of which the seeding video was made)*click for larger view*:

We can see(in order from bottom) cilantro, holy basil, spilanthus, 1x lemon grass(bad seed?), maybe 1x lemon basil, cumin(grass-like), sweet basil(winner of gold medal for 1st place emergence), Sage and Indian grass for several rows(sporadic germination).

The asparagus failed to germinate, probably because I didn't give a cold stratification period to them. I am going to scoop them up with the soil and put them in the fridge for a month and try again.
But I have recently acquired something much better, asparagus crowns!
I have both Jersey(all males) and Mary Washington(males and females).
The females are smaller in diameter so a bit less yield then Jersey, but they will make seeds and allow for extending the asparagus bed(and sharing).
However I recently found out you can propagate the males by splitting them so perhaps they will prove better in the long run.
I would also like to get the purple passion variety, which is supposed to be sweeter then most.

Another cold hardy plant I'm excited to start is the Alpine strawberry! These little guys are tough and make delicious yet small strawberries.
They can be difficult to start from seed because the seeds need to remain moist yet be sown very shallow. Just the lightest dusting of seedling mix should be sprinkled over the tiny seeds, then covered and misted regularly.
After 8 days of waiting I finally saw this!

And there are at least 10 more right behind her.

Here are a number of seedlings a little further along, including apple tree(top),  Service berry(middle) and comfrey(bottom):

And here is a horseradish root I bought at the grocery store:

Stay tuned to watch this ugly thing turn into a very tough plant with many uses!