CompostaBlog

Okay, so last year I was begging for rain. They said Oklahoma was the driest it had been since the dust bowl. But THIS year, oh my… like they say, be careful what you wish for…

The two raised beds are entirely tooo small to grow all this ‘big stuff’ zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, all my favorite summertime munchables. I need to make some new beds for next year… (note to self)

As you know from reading about the creation of my garden the raised beds were filled completely with compost, grass clippings, shredded leaves, and a bit of horse manure from the local race track thrown in.

Well, have I learned a lesson about compost ingredients this year. Last year most everything just couldn’t take the dry summer heat, no matter how much water I lavished on it. THIS year I found what that new ’soil’ was really made of! Entirely too much nitrogen. I have leaves on the zucchini the size of antediluvian fossil records. I’ve got zucchini the size of my coffee table and I’m NOT kidding.

If anyone doubts what good compost can do, come see my garden.

Well, the tomatoes are getting ready to be RED! Eugen has pulled it off again this year and has supplied the compost pile with over forty five bags of grass clippings. It is making a fine mulch as well!
I came by an old chipper/shredder just collecting dust in someone’s barn. What a BOON! for only $125!!! Getting it running will consist of some carburetor work… and I can chip and shred to my little hearts desire. That will aide in adding some ‘brown’ to the mix. My neighbors already think I’m a little kooky, always asking them…

“What are you going to do with that?”

They proceed to look at me like I have three eyes and I say,

“Then can I have it?”

Hey, one man’s refuse is another man’s compost… right?   Soooo, I collect all the fallen branches, etc from the yards around where I live. Go ahead, say it… when she gets old, she’s going to be the old lady on the corner that feeds all the cats… But I WILL have the best garden.

Aaaaaa hahaha.. honest to God, that’s the first thing that went through my mind when I first saw the word. I’m SO not kidding. But it’s meaning is this…

the use of specially bred earthworms, esp. to aerate soil and convert organic matter into compost; also called vermicuture

vermi = worm

culture.

Sound sort of icky, but have you EVER smelled BAD compost? Ewwwwww. Now, have you ever smelled the forest floor? Good clean soil? Actually the soil is down below. In a good forest, the first four inches or so is humous (A brown or black organic substance consisting of partially or wholly decayed vegetable or animal matter that provides nutrients for plants and increases the ability of soil to retain water.)
I was going somewhere with this… Remember back in the end of the summer when I told you about Eugene bringing me ALL those bags of cut grass? Well, they’re not quite ready yet. But I ordered fifty pounds of earthworms to finish the job. They’ll dig right in and have a feast and I’ll continue to feed them all summer with a new top dressing of green grass… some of their favorite food. Best way to compost I know.

And sustainable!

I just knew that somewhere inside, I was A gardener. I’ve planted things no matter where I’ve been. I’ve watched the way people do things; asked a LOT of questions. Everyone has a little gardener in them. My main site, Garden Simply was created for those of you who know that without a garden we are just somehow, more vulnerable.

I feel stronger when I garden. I feel more accomplished when I garden. I feel
more peaceful when I garden. I feel more comfortable in my own skin in the garden.
Does something always nag at you, urge you? …to go out there and DO something
but you’re just not sure where to begin? There is a reason you feel that way…
it’s up to you to decipher exactly what it is that compels YOU, but there IS a reason;
some of it is very tangible. Our food supply is in peril. Pesticides are damaging
us in ways we are only beginning to understand. People die every single day
by the thousands of diet induced disease. This begs the question, “Is it our food
supply?” or “Is it the irresponsible way we put anything down our throat without
fear of consequence?”

Well, Eugene came thru with delivery BIG TIME!

We now have at least fifty bags of green grass clippings on the side of the garage just waiting to compost. YEAH! Can anyone say hoorah!! ?