Cow manure is not a mulch, though it's a wonderful soil amendment. My dad grows in pure composted manure spread on top if his lawn. But if any weed seeds blow in they will love it as much as the veggies. Best cheap/free mulch I've found is newspaper weighed down with burlap. Last year I used hay on top of burlap, the hay tends to blow away and the burlap decomposes within a year, newspaper takes longer and will blow away. Ants tend to build nests under the burlap but the worms love it too, this year I pulled the decomposed burlap off and left the sides of the mounds exposed, put what little hay I had just around the plants (didn't want to hold a lot of moisture in, June was so wet), didn't replace the burlap and the weeds (crabgrass, ragweed, and bindweed) are terrible, I'm going to have a big cleanup job when harvest is done. But for strawberries the best mulch really is straw if you can find it (and I thought $7/bale was high!), in my zone I use leaves and pine boughs to cover for the winter. I got small bales of straw on sale last year after Halloween, also that's the time of year to ask on Freecycle and Craigslist too. Leaves just mold and cause mold/disease on the plants when used in strawberry bed. Pine needles might be good alternative to straw, I just don't have enough clean ones around here with the oaks and maples mixed in with white pine and hemlock.

I have loved Rhubarb since a young girl, when my grandmother used to make Rhubarb pies. Yummmmm. On the subject of Flea Beetles, I read somewhere the poke can attract them, too. It seems that there is a certain species that is attracted to plants in the Solonaceae family, including eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and ornamental Datura. I read also that you can add garlic to your pepper (capsaicin) spray and that can help. Soak stems and leaves with the spray. I would go for the organic methods first. As Dawn suggested, planting the eggplant later, and also planting "plants" rather than seeds, is helpful, putting you beyond the Flea Beetles normal season. They don't like heat, but they also do NOT like moisture. Coffee grounds sprinkled around the plants can be helpful. It is similar to use of DE IMHO. Cleaning up plant debris around your garden in the fall can help prevent overwintering Flea Beetles or larvae. Don't give the little suckers a place to hibernate! When I had an ornamental grapevine, they loved it! As to veggies raw, I love raw potatoes! I don't care for Brussel Sprouts raw, because they have a bitter taste when uncooked. In addition to the obvious raw veggies one eats, I love cabbage, summer squashes (in salads or just munching), turnips, onions (green, white, yellow, or red), artichokes (base of leaves, heart...yum!), corn, peas, okra. I am not a pepper fan, so don't like them raw or cooked. I've attached info on organic pest management. Scroll down to flea beetles. Bon Appetit! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Control of Pests

"I am starting a new veggie garden and have used a box scrape to clear the grass away. What is left is clay soil that has never had any amendments." There are varying degrees of "clay soil." Is the soil clay loam, sandy clay loam, or simply hardpan clay? What percentage of clay to sand and organic particles? Etc. If indeed it is a poor, hard clay soil, then it needs to be amended with organic material and the organic material needs to be thoroughly blended in with the top 12" of soil into which the garden crops will be planted. The organic material will glom with the clay particles and provide a texture that allows water to perk down through the soil without chronic saturation as would be a problem with hard clay only. "I wanted to increase the fertility before planting in the spring and I have access to cow manure." Cow manure is a great source of oganic material especially when it's mixed with bedding material and thoroughly composted before being blended with the clay soil. Still, the emphasis is on blending the organic material with the existing soil so that the organic material is well incorporated into the soil texture to a depth of at least the top 12 inches of garden soil. "My plan was to fence our 14 cows in the garden area for Dec. and Jan. and feed them hay so that they would concentrate their raw manure over the garden soil." First of all, I don't know what the area of the garden is. You don't say how many square feet of area un which you intend to keep the cattle enclosed. SOunds like a bad idea to me though simply because the cattle will further compact the soil by trampling it with their hooves and their heavy bodies. This will not accomplish the task of stirring up the soil, encorporating the organic material with the clay, and developing a good tilth needed for a garden plot. "I will layer wood chips, leaves, and mulch over the manure periodically during this time." If the wood chips, leaves and mulch aren't thoroughly composted before being blended with the raw manure, all you're doing is extending the time required to compost the materials properly. All the chips, mulch, leaves, manure, etc., should be contained in a compost heap to develop the proper heat and micro-organisms needed to break down the raw material into composted organic material ready for incorporation into the garden soil by means other than hoof trampling. "At the end of Jan. I plan on moving the cows out and moving the pigs in, who will root through the layers of manure and organic material to mix it up and aerate it." Who says that pigs rooting through the accumulated manure and spoiled feed with "aerate" it? Pigs not only root, they wallow, urinate, deficate, and add more compaction and raw material that requires proper blending and composting to process it into usable material. BTW, pig manure is more concentrated than cow manure in that it has less "roughage" from bedding and feed sources. Bad bad idea. "Then the soil will sit for 1 - 1 1/2 months before planting. I am now wondering if this is sufficient time for the raw manure to break down or if I will have to worry about E. Coli, Listeria, or Salmonella being passed to the future veggies." No. Maybe if the manure and other waste materials were heaped into a compost pile, and the interior temperature reached the required 130*F plus temperatures required to "pasturize" the material, and you stirred the compost occasionally to incorporate oxygen and to move un-composted material from the outside of the heap to the interior "working zone," THEN you might be able to get a finished organic material suitable for gardening in a couple of months maybe. Working compost at sub-85*F average daily temps by laying it flat on the ground even during warm weather, is a much slower process and usually leaves raw pathogens. And here you're talking about trying to accomplish grade-level composting in winter weather! Bad idea. Additionally, preparing a new garden bed from unworked soil, especially hardpan clay, requires working up the bed at least one season ahead of planting. You may still have time to work up the garden if you mix say 5% - 10% organic material with the top 12 inches of soil, thoroughly incorporating the organic material with the native clay soil NOW. To calculate how much FINISHED organic material to apply to the top 12 inches, measure the dimensions of your garden to get the square footage. In this case the square footage will equal the cubic feet because you are tilling one foot (12 inches) deep. So, when you have the square footage, you can either acquire 5 - 10% of that figure in composted organic material in cubic feet, or you can calculate it in cubic yards by dividing by 27 (cubic feet per yard). Or you can calculate it in pounds by estimating that one cubic yard of compost equals about 1000 - 1400 pounds depending on moisture content. Example: 100 feet x 100 feet garden area = 10,000 square feet. 10,000 square feet x 12 inches deep = 10,000 cubic feet. 10,000 cubic feet/27 = 370.37 cubic yards. 370.37 x 5% = 18.51 cubic yards. 18.5 cubic yards of composted organic material is going to be about 18,500 - 25,900 pounds or 9 - 13 tons of compost. You'll get by with less than 5% organic material if your soil is clay loam. You might even get by with less than 5% organic material if you soil is hardpan clay. But I would want more myself ... more than maybe 10% even. JMO.

Here are 2 we love--have no idea where I got the 1st one, probably the Kraft site. Diane's Home Cookin Chapter: Dips,savory Caramelized Onion And Apple Cream Cheese Spread =============================================== •3 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided •2 cups chopped, sweet onions (about 2 medium) •2 tablespoons brown sugar •2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar •2 medium cooking apples, cored, peeled and finely chopped (2 cups) •1 teaspoon of cinnamon •1 tub (12oz.) of whipped cream cheese . 1.In large nonstick skillet melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add onions. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 13 to 15 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Uncover. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for 3 to 5 minutes more or until onions turn light brown. Stir in brown sugar and vinegar. Cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 3 minutes more or until liquid evaporates. Remove from skillet. Set aside. 2.Meanwhile, wipe skillet out with paper towels. In same large skillet melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Stir in apples and cinnamon. Cook and stir over medium-low heat about 5 minutes or until slightly softened. Remove from heat. Cool at least 30 minutes. 3.In medium bowl stir together apple mixture and cream cheese. Stir in about 3/4 of the onion mixture. Spread on Keebler® Town House® Original Crackers. Top with the remaining onion mixture. Yield: 2 3/4 cups cream cheese mixture; 22 servings (1 serving = 4 crackers Barefoot Contessa Pan-Fried Onion/ Garlic Bacon Dip =================================================== Makes two cups 2 large yellow onions 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup good mayonnaise . Cut the onions in half, and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt and pepper and sauté for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool. Place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature. Optional: add mashed roasted garlic ( cut top of head--place in square alum foil-- drizzel with olive oil -gather foil into bundle roast 45 min @ 400--cool slightly--squeeze out cloves & mash ) and crisp bacon pieces Source: The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten Diane