Saturday, April 11, 2020

great compost ideas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V39Pkw2vJA

if you follow the link, its ideas for extending what compost you have... during 'lockdown' , the garden centers are closed and nobody can find any compost. I've got less than a bucket full..... my garden compost is nowhere near ready and my garden soil is very depleted. I do have access to tons of horse poop but transportation is slow.. a couple of bucket-fulls at a time in the car and I've been under the weather and tired out from work to even start....

8 comments:

WILDSIDE said...

My no so secret secret? As I'm sure you already know this one. You put your not complete compost, whatever it might be, however imperfect it be, in the bottom of a pot you are growing in. Mixed in between layers of dirt. That way, over the summer, the plant roots, if so adventurous, can rob what nutrients they want from the compost as it is breaking down to help them grow and worms will help with the rest. Later, when the plant is dead and when you go to empty the pot, then you will have even more broken down compost which you can add to something else to break down further... It never is perfect enough for me, so perfect enough?! Or may be not?! But compost is the gift that keeps on going, especially if you can figure out how to do it all in house... Er, um, meaning more -- within the circle? So you don't have rely on outside?

clairesgarden said...

great idea to use it like that in pots, have often dug it into the garden in the past.. but not used like that for pots.
I like to think, when you compost , that you are keeping 'in the circle', and not wasting, also having taken the effort to grow vegetables, or flowers, then that effort and goodness is kept in the garden.
hedge clippings and grass cuttings are usually the only things that end up going to disposal, though last year , with empty bins to start filling.. I did keep the softer parts of hedge and all the grass clippings to start compost off.

WILDSIDE said...

Claire! So fast your comment back this time -- this be fun, tho' I know it can't be the norm... Grass clippings are a miracle mulch. Good on you for keeping them for your own use! That is What I used to start this garden off -- quite literally. I raked the cut grass and put it about the plants in the garden to smother the weeds. No longer cut the grass here, so losing out on that... Right now, having terrible amounts of "hedge clippings", think in terms of woody debris, think hugelkultur? Takes a long time to see anything, but worth considering for long-term benefit... Especially when not having other options. Or big fines applied. More to that, but that be it... for now...

clairesgarden said...

I don't quite see any place in the garden for hugelkultur... I used to throw bigger branches behind the shed... to make a wild insect heaven... but they have been cleared away.. I think the renters used them for barbeques....
at the moment, i need access to get round the shed to apply another protective paint coating... after thats done I'll start throwing some stuff in there again.

WILDSIDE said...

Ahem, Claire... You can laugh at me right here. My piles of branches from downed trees are everywhere and really a mess. I'm ridiculously trying to make myself feel better by saying the word hugelkultur here as we're discouraged from having outdoor burns right now due to the virus and July - October is an annual burn ban. That leaves the rainy season & then everything is just far too wet... and it's pretty impossible to get a commercial chipper in... Just got to deal with them somehow.

I have about 10 garbage can composters full of compost now -- so next step is to begin filling pots and planting on top so it can break down some more and eventually turn into good dirt... (wildlife digs it up if I put it in the ground unbroken down -- and that's another mess!)

Really, I have other matters that need doing right now rather than garden at the moment... and I'm not very motivated for it. But? Everything's a mess. Can't give up!

Anyway, I'd better go. Take good care there and I wish you luck. Thanks for the chat.

WILDSIDE said...

Claire, I've gotten another email from you in my spam folder. Did you send one?

clairesgarden said...

no I haven't . gosh that's annoying !!

WILDSIDE said...

Well... at least bothersome, none-the-less! Made me look into how my earlier blog (from just before I lost the internet) was stolen... But still can't figure it out.

Go figure. But what, we can't?!?