I guess I could always build my own, but I thought I’d take a peek and see what’s available to me online. Look at this gorgeous decorative planter! It’s all plastic– I love using plastic (doesn’t rot, like wood does so quickly around here because it’s so wet).

Isn’t it pretty? It’s also got a pretty price tag, yow. But it will last a long, long time. I need something like that to grow strawberries. Maybe lettuce, too. I like the “cottage garden” look to it. Another nice thing about them is that these kinds of garden planters are very portable– you can move them around anywhere in the yard. I like that option. I’m always changing my mind!

Well, winter will soon be here, and I’ll have allllll that time to plan the gardening. That’s the nice thing about winter, it’s a time of repose and planning.

This post was brought to you by your friends at ePlanters.com.

Nice Planters!

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

What to Do When Your Compost is Ready:
• Your compost should be ready in 12-14 months. This can really vary a lot, depending on what you put in there, how often you turned it, how wet the weather has been, etc. But 1 year is a general estimate.
• I always start a new compost pile in the spring, so that when I am ready to start next year’s garden, the compost is ready. You can add the compost to your garden beds either at spring tilling time, or fall tilling time. (I don’t do fall tilling, by the way).
• Prepare your garden beds: pull out the weeds, the rocks, etc.
• Grab your shovel and wheelbarrow and shovel out the compost from the bin. The humus should be loamy and rich-looking.
• Dump the compost into the garden. Spread evenly. Roto-til or hand turn the garden soil. Water lightly.
• That’s it! Plant your garden when you’re ready.

The composted compost (called humus) is dark, rich, and loamy.

What to Add to a Compost Pile:
• Any household vegetable food waste, such as: carrot tops, discarded vegetable peels, wasted vegetables that the kids refused to eat, etc etc
• Eggshells
• Coffee grounds, leftover tea, or coffee
• Dryer lint
• Hair. Yes, hair! Spread it out well so it won’t clump in the pile. You can even add your fingernail clippings… if you want…
• Grass clippings. Make sure the grass is not loaded with pesticides or chemicals.
• Leaves, they are full of nitrogen.
• Earthworms. Have the kids dig them up and plop them in. Earthworms love coffee, by the way. They are wonderful critters!

What NOT to Add to a Compost Pile:
• Meat waste
• Newspapers (some ink has chemicals may disrupt the happy bacteria revelry)
• Dog and cat food (contains meat and preservatives)
• Corn cobs (they take FOREVER to compost!!)
• Peach pits (see corn cobs)
• Weeds! (They will germinate in the rich soil and you will wind up planting them in your garden next year)
• Milk products– no cheese, yogurt, milk, nothing.
• Oils (vegetable, grease, etc)
• Bones
• Silverware (can you believe that we actually find forks and spoons in the compost pile?! All the kids say they have NO IDEA how silverware gets in there! :S hmm)

So there you have it! Composting can be pretty fun. Sure, you’re getting your hands dirty, and it’s not like you’re digging for wholesale diamonds. But just think of how happy you are making the worms, the bacteria, the garden plants! And think of happy you will be when you sink your teeth into those luscious tomatoes that thrived in such rich soil.

Humus is tilled in to the bed, bed is weeded and raked, and ready for seeds.

Thanks for reading! Happy composting.

How to Start a Compost, Part 3

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

Compost is just a fancy word for decomposed waste. Or, as Wikipedia says, “a combination of decomposed plant and animal materials and other organic materials that are being decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition into a rich black soil.” Right. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

My garden at planting time, last year.

My garden thrives after amending with compost.

I have “maintained” a compost pile for a few years now. I say “maintained” in quotes because it’s been largely trial and error for me. Everybody makes it look SOOO easy– and indeed it is, kinda– but you have to do it right, or it won’t work. Me– I don’t like babysitting the compost pile; I have so much to do that turning the blasted 200-pound pile over every week never gets done. So I’ll tell you about my woes and wins, and throw a few tips in, as well. Here goes:

• You do not need to buy ANYTHING. Nothing. Don’t believe anyone who says otherwise! You do NOT need that fancy $500 hand-cranking bin, nor the $50 compost starter mix, nor the nice $100 pitchfork. You may buy things if you want. A compost can be a hole in the ground, if you want. Most people like things a little neater (including me) but don’t think that you need to spend a fortune even for that. Keep reading…
• The compost will not smell bad if you are doing it right. Compost is decaying organic matter, and it needs a few things to decay properly. I call it the Big Three: oxygen, moisture, and friendly compost-making bacteria similar to those septic tank cleaner bacteria critters. If you have too much moisture, or not enough oxygen, it will smell. Believe me, it will smell.
• The compost bin should be in a sunny area of the yard, in a convenient area near the garden.
• You can keep your compost going all year ’round, or only in the warm months. I do it only in the warm months, because my son dislikes hauling the compost bucket from the kitchen to the backyard in 3 feet of snow every night. Sheesh. lol.
• You need a healthy assortment of waste: “green” waste like grass clippings; “brown” waste like leaves and topsoil; “food” waste from the house.
• Compost ONLY vegetable matter. Do not compost bones, meat, fat, grease, etc. These will disrupt that friendly bacteria that you will soon covet– they are vegetarians, ok?
• You will learn to love earthworms, and get to know their favorite foods.

OK! Let’s get started! First, you need a compost bin, or a place to dump your loot. I have used the “dump” method as well as a variety of bins. In the next post, I’ll show you how to build a quick and easy bin. Here’s a rundown of the various compost bin styles:

• The Hole:
  Very ugly. Tends to get quite soggy. Not recommended, but in a compost emergency, it’ll do.
• The Pile:
  Like The Hole, it’s ugly and messy. But effective. I have The Pile in the back– it’s full of weeds, discarded garden waste, small twigs, etc. It takes a long, long time to decompose. I’m still waiting, actually. The bigger the waste, the longer the wait. There’s a family of rabbits living in there right now. You can create a Pile if you don’t want to use a bin. The Pile works well if you include the Big Three. The main problem (besides ugliness) with The Pile is that the food waste may attract unfriendlys, like rats, raccoons, and other unsavory critters. I only throw large garden waste in The Pile, no food waste.
• The Wooden Bin:
  I have a wooden bin. I threw it together. It once had a lid, but that decayed after a few winters, and I never replaced it. The bin can be constructed of pallets or plain old 2 x 4s. The Wooden Bin is nice because it keeps critters away (if the slats are narrow enough) and allows for enough oxygen to pass through the mix. It’s very tough to turn over, though. Ugh. Note: do not use pressure-treated lumber for your compost bin. More on that later.
• The Plastic Bin:
  I use this mostly, right now. It’s not the greatest. I have one large plastic garbage can and two 35-gallon Rubbermaid totes. I drilled holes in the sides and top, but even then, there really isn’t enough oxygen. I sprayed water in them, and the water wouldn’t seep out, so they got waterlogged. The bins are very convenient– compost is easy to turn, and the bins have lids, but the lack of oxygen and the water retention problem makes it a bummer. You can buy one of those expensive plastic bins designed specifically for composts, if you want. I have not tried them. I assume, like Little Tykes toys, that they would fade over time and look awful. But they may work.
• The Wire Bin:
  In my opinion, this is THE BEST choice. All I did was plug a few metal garden posts into the ground and wrap chicken wire around them. There’s plenty of oxygen, and there’s as much moisture as the surrounding area– and when there’s too much, the extra seeps out through the wire– and it’s relatively easy to turn over.

The Wire Bin works best for me.

I have heard lots of opinions on when your compost should be garden-ready. There’s some “instant compost” flukes out there that I have heard about. I don’t know about them. It generally takes a year for me. I start this year’s compost for use next year. I always spread the compost before spring tilling time. I have a huge yard, with loads of leaves, grass clippings, and kids who eat a lot of veggies. So your mileage may vary. All I know is that a compost is usually ready in 12-14 months. So you’d better get going!

Compost soil, also known as humus, is rich, black, and loamy. It should smell earthy, not like sewage or mildew.

The rich humus of compost contrasting with the brown topsoil.

So this ends the Part 1 of How to Start a Compost. In the next articles, I’ll show you how to construct a Wire Bin, give some tips, and show you what to do with your composted humus when you have it.

How to Start a Compost, Part 1

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

There’s a small asphalt walkway in the front of the house. It led to the neighbor’s parking lot (the two properties were once one large lot). We put up a nice fence between the two properties, mostly to keep out the scads of snowmobilers that roared across our yard in the winter. But the asphalt walkway remained, it just led to nowhere! Today, I had one of the kids bust it up and cart the pieces away. Hurray!

Then, we removed the tangled mass of weeds and groundcover. I’m planning on extending my Secret Garden area to this area around the tree.

Before and after:

The pipes are from our sump pumps. We have two pumps running day and night– there’s a LOT of water underground here. If we do not keep pumps going, our basement floods badly. The town has balked at helping us build a basin at the street side, so all we can do is pipe the water up from the basement sump well and into the nearest discharge basin (in the neighbor’s yard). Part of building a massive garden bed is to conceal the pipes under plants. I also want to make it so that we do not have to mow and weed-whap around the pipes all the time, an onerous job. I have plans on plunking down some choice monster-sized hostas here, because it’s so wet and shady. I’ll plant taller, water-loving shrubs in this area, too.

One such plant I have found PERFECT is Purple Loosestrife. It’s hated by many, because it is so invasive. But this plant and I are going to get along very, very well. It SLURPS up water like there’s no end. The plant is hated because it roots otself in waterways, like creeks and streams, and clogs them. For my water-weary yard, this plant is a God-send. I have two plants thriving right now. It’s taken them two years to really get established. I’m looking forward to placing it in my watery areas.

And it looks gorgeous next to my purple Butterfly Bush, doesn’t it?

So the saga continues…. next time we have another sunny day, we’ll develop this area more. I cant wait to get plants into this area!

Weed Hacking and Building Gardens

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This is definitely North Face weather! The able-bodied members of the family are out shoveling. The snow is very fine, like ice crystals. The wind is blowing and therefore the ice crystals jab into the skin with its tiny frigid razors. Not very pleasant. So, wow. I have chili con carne simmering in the crockpot. We’ll make a day of it, shoveling and sipping hot coffee and cocoa, and shoveling and sipping, and probably more shoveling and sipping. lol

Forecast for today, 6-10 inches, coming within 6-8 hours’ time. There are whiteout conditions in several counties (ours included). We’re used to this kind of weather, so most people either drive very slowly and carefully, or avoid driving altogether. I think back to my younger years, when not even a storm like this could have kept me off the roads. Now, I look back and wonder how I could have been so crazy!

Another storm is expected to strike Sunday, too, but that (according to the weathermen) will be a quick-moving storm. Local businesses and all the school have closed. (the Post Office is still delivering mail, though!) So I guess we will definintely have a white Christmas. I like the snow, I like the coziness. I don’t mind being out in it, either, although I can’t shovel anymore. It’s a nice feeling to be out in the elements, and then come in to a warm, cozy home with the smell of coffee and pumpkin-spice candles. Eat your heart out, you in Bermuda!

We Are Getting Slammed

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