Progress begins

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

Progress is slow so far, but we have accomplished a few things. Since they happened before we started the blog, let me catch you up. :)

We have put in a compost pile. When I say "we" in this instance, what I mean is that I helped weed to provide things for the compost pile and gryphynshadow  did all the rest of the work. There was some confusion for a while as to why it wasn't heating up (the germinating pumpkin seeds in the middle were sort of a clue we were doing something wrong). But G got on the internet and discovered that one of our problems is that (duh!) bone dry stuff does not rot. She has begun watering it, and we are getting some heat in one, though nothing in the other. Still not sure what the problem is there.



We also (and again, I mostly mean her, I bought the plants though! lol) planted three strawberry plants,  a row of broccoli, and a row of brussels sprouts on the south side of the house. Then, with some help from the visiting errantember , we (and I actually do mean "we" this time) put in three Earth Boxes worth of onions. The Earth boxes are left over from my container gardening era before I had a capable human to live with and could contemplate other methods of growing food. I've had good luck with them in the past, but this will be the first time I've tried them without their plastic cover (which I don't have any more of now) so I'm curious to see if they perform as well as they did with all their intended pieces.




Oh, the red thing in the photo? That's the painted stump from one of the four trees we had removed before we installed the privacy fence.

So that's where we stand right now; couple of rows of plants put in at the tail end of the recommended planting season, a stubbornly cool compost pile, and big ideas!

The next step will be putting in the chicken pen.....

Comments

[dirtwitch.livejournal.com]

One thing about compost piles is that simply put, you need brown and green stuff.
(Brown is carbon; dry weeds, leaves etc, green is fresh weeds, kitchen stuff.)
Layer them, if you have to save one or the other to do that. you want at least a 3 by 3 foot pile, bigger is better, and do it roughly square, and actually, flattish, kind of like you were making a pile of books, a brown book, a green book, a brown book, a green book.. and, water it! that is what the flat top helps you do.. keep it watered. If you are unable to get enough of green or brown at any one time, you can still build a pile, it will jsut be cooler, and take longer, no biggie.. I have built piles for folks that way.

also, if you have room, raise some Girls.. Worm girls.. dig a hole, at least a foot or so deep. couple three feet long, no more than a couple feet wide. The size of this hole may depend on what boards you have or can find or trade or buy. Because you want to line the hole with the boards. Cedar is good; you can paint the boards with as many coats of RAW!!!! linseed oil as you have time to do, as it takes often a day in between coats to dry, the more the better.
If the boards are 6, 8, 10 inches above the soil line, great! if just a bit, fine too... you may need a couple of boards that you nail together with cleats.. it is good if at least a couple inches are above the soil line.
What you want is a closed in 'bed' for your Girls, they like to be in the top foot, 6 inches of soil.
The boards keep them from running away.
Put a couple inches of shredded paper, or coconuts husks, or dry leave. Not dirt, but something for them to have a bed...
Now release your Girls! They MUST be Red Wigglers. YOu can buy them at nurseries, or order online.
And when you have kitchen waste, you chop it smallish, then, starting at one side, make a trench the width of the 'box', put your veggie bits in there, cover it up. it is ok if that trench is 'mounded', won't be for long... then, next time, make another trench beside that one, and so on till you have put kitchen bits the whole length of the box. you can then start at the other end again, or, go across ways.. just remember where the last bits went!

You'll be able to tell if it is too wet or too dry, and if so, correct, less wet kitchen waste, or water it, and you'll see when your Girls make enough poop that you can start taking some out.. use it like sourdough starter. Put a shovelful in clumps in a bed, "seeding" it with fertilizer and baby Girls...

that is what I have for now, bye!

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

We were pleasantly surprised to find many healthy happy worms as we were digging out the compost pile (it started as more of a compost/dirt pile from where my parents helped me remove the garden boxes that were *against* the house--ack!) G spent multiple days digging through it, sorting out compost from bricks etc and "building" two piles, one new one, one started already. I love the idea of purposefully breeding the Girls however, so as to be able to seed new garden beds with them, thank you for the info! :D

[gryphynshadow.livejournal.com]

I figure there's just not enough green in the newer one to get it going good. I'm planning (as soon as my mom hands over my Christmas present) to go get a manure fork. Both piles need to be turned, and hopefully I can get my hands on more green stuff to layer into the newer pile.

When I poked into the partially rotted pile, I was seeing much improvement from just last week, so I'm hopeful it'll make good compost soon! I'm planning to take a couple bucketfuls of it and mulching the brussels sprouts and broccoli with it, even if it is still only partially done.

And, yeah... I want to raise worms. They're so cute, and squirmy, and awesome! When I was digging out the mess that was the dirt pile of doom, I found tons of happy little worms! From two to five inches in length, nice happy energetic fellas. :)

We'd need to find a good location for the worm farm, away from the chickens. This will require some thought.

mmm, worms.