Composting deluxe

Before I begin writing about my continuing composting activities, I must relate that today and tomorrow are very sad days for my wife's family.  We begin the funeral process of saying goodbye to her beloved grandmother who passed away on Saturday after living for 90 wonderful years.  I have known this fine lady for almost 20 years now and I can honestly say - I have never met a sweeter, kinder, more loving and accepting person in my life.  She truly epitomize the very essence of being a lady living under grace.  I will deeply miss having her in my life.

I decided to look into the progress of my composters as I had some kitchen scraps to add to my current working pile.  I have three units which I have lined up behind my garage as seen here.

 I have one composter with finished product which I will add to my beds once I finish the reconfiguration of my beds which I an currently working on.  It's the furthest composter in the above picture.  Here is a picture of how much is available.

 












Additionally, I have one pile that is probably 80% through the process as seen below. It's the nearest composter in the first picture.

And, I have one that I just recently have been adding product to so I can get the last possible compost for the year as seen by these two pictures.  It is in the middle as I am going to take steps to attempt winter composting and I figured it may insulate it from the winds.  

 

As can be seen, the decomposition process is underway already as attested to by the gray pores developing on the compost.  They showed up at about day 4.  Those are fungi and actinomycetes which are generally prevalent at the beginning the breakdown process.  They prepare the waste for further breakdown by other actors in the pile.  I wanted to show you how it looks when the fungi appear.  So after I took these pictures, I added leaves, watered it down a little and turned the product in order to get the proper breakdown process underway.  

I will continue to add product and water to the middle pile through the winter - snow permitting.  I will also continue to add moisture to the other pile to assist with the ongoing breakdown of that pile. By the beginning of next Spring, I should have two composters filled with ready to use product.  

Composting is an ongoing year long process.  It pays dividends to do this if you want to control what your produce is taking up.  

One misconception is that compost is only for vegetable gardens.  It is actually a great amendment to a variety of items.  I use it as a planting medium for flowers and grass seed.  You can use it as a foliar spray on any plant by making compost tea.  It can also be used as a fertilizer for your lawn by spreading the compost over the lawn.  Additionally, it can also be used as a side dressing for any plant.  And on an environmental note, if you compost, the waste you recycle through composting is kept out of the landfills.

Composting saves you money.  It has been a long time since I bought commercially produced compost or fertilizer for any part of my landscape.  And, I know that the compost I produce is as fresh as it can be.
You may be thinking that you don't have the space to compost in your yard.  While I have 3 what I consider larger composters, there are alternatives for small space composting.  There are numerous small composters offered online that fit into every urban landscape quite well.  And, you have to keep in mind, that with a small landscape/garden, you have less demand for compost.      

So, there you have it.  If you have any questions regarding composting or any other gardening subject, you can add a comment or you can email me through this site.  Happy Gardening everyone!  

Garden growth

So far, I am pretty pleased the state of my gardens' progress.  The tomatoes are coming along fine even though they were delayed in being transplanted due to our wet Spring weather.  Here is a picture of them at this time.                                                                                                                        

   

               
They are full of little tomatoes so at this time, I have to be sure to continue to supply them with periodic nutrients and water.  I plan on giving the garden a dose of compost tea this weekend to start them on their way to maturity.
Here is my first watermelon of the year on the left and a volunteer tomato that decided behind my garage was a great place to reside on the right.  I just put a pole by it to see what I am getting.  I love surprises!

And finally, my cascading crop of cucumbers after a month.  They have taken over the trellis!

 

                                                                 

Like I said, all in all, not bad progress for this time of the year.  Well, I hope everyone is having a great year so far too!  Remember to be vigilant as there are a lot of distractions this time of the year.  Until next time, Happy gardening everyone. 

Progress in the garden

Lots has been happening in the garden since I last posted.  About two weeks ago, I fertilized the garden with an 8-8-8 balanced fertilizer called Purely Organic.  Catchy name eh?  I did research this and it came out looking pretty good.  Again, I prefer organic and will seek it out and yes, I will pay a little more for it versus the chemical fertilizers.  It is blended for both quick and time release of nutrients to the plants.
I must say, the plants did respond to the fertilizer and have shown some real significant progress. The tomatoes and peppers have shot up like rockets and most of the tomatoes have put on both healthy growth and fruit buds.  I saw my first pepper that is about the size of a dime today.  Very exciting indeed!
All the other plants have also shown significant increases in growth to a point I think they have overcome our earlier stunted period in late May.  Since I haven't changed anything and the weather has only recently heated up, I can attribute this growth to the fertilizer.  Will I use it again?  Yes indeed.
I also did on two waterings of compost tea in the last 3 weeks and I think this, combined with the fertilizer, may have done the trick.  I have to keep an eye on things but it is definitely promising at this point in the season.
One other thing that I have done is to use a cover crop in the fall of each of the last two years.  I covered that in an earlier post but it bears repeating.  When it is cut and left to rot and then lightly rototilled in the spring, it enhances the overall nutrient levels in the soil and it also helps with the tilth of the soil.  A organization called the Rodale Institute in Kutztown Pa. has pioneered these processes and done the hard research for well over 60 years.  If you're in the area, you should visit them.  I plan on doing that in the near future myself.  If not, look at their website - rodaleinstitute.org.
I think that my soil has taken some big leaps since I went all in on organic.  I will post about that when the time comes in the fall to begin the next round of soil improvement.
And, the big news is, I have mason bees in the hive I hung up this past Spring.  Establishing the hive is, from what I have read, the hardest part.  Putting it simply, the bees just have to find the hive and they will do all the rest.  I am hoping since they found it, they will stay put.  If you have no idea what mason bees are about, do a little research and you might too want to establish a hive.  In all honesty, it was my wife that spurred this on by buying me a hive for Christmas.  I had no idea until then.
Well, that's about it for now.  I hope everyone's gardens are going great guns now.  Until next time, happy gardening!