This weekend has proven to be the one that will KILL ME!!! Matt took off on Friday to help me get stuff done before my big Back Yard Tea Party next week.... (I am hoping in the next few years to call it a Garden Tea Party!). Thursday the FedEx man showed up with a package and it happened to be a three bin composter. Matt bought it for me for Mother's Day and I wasn't supposed to know about it, but the box read in big letters "COMPOST BIN" so no surprise for me...... So Friday morning Matt put the sucker together and we've started collecting kitchen scraps. It is so EXCITING to think that garbage can actually turn into dirt!!! OH WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!!! I am wondering, Den, if I need to leave the green in the garden or should I add it to my composter???
Friday morning I also got my feet wet using a drill..... I know this may not seem like a big accomplishment, but learning power tools give me a "woman power" that, as Oliver says, "I CAN DO IT!" I drilled holes into pots that I found at the local Thrift Stores..... reuse, recycle at it's best!!! I plan to use them in my garden as accent pieces. I also started to dig out the two rododendrons in front of my sun room. They are relatively small and I am transplanting them to the edge of my drive way. (Currently on the right side of the driveway is a mish mosh of small trees, bushes, weeds and tons of old leaves mixed with the HUGE trees that have been there for 90+ years. ) Well to get to the Rododendrons, I needed to rip out some troublesome ivy. Matt loves the stuff, I don't care for it. It doesn't say, "country cottage" like our house does..... He was pretty mad that I pulled out a "live, viable plant". I left half of the area with the ivy for now but have visions of a beautiful cutting garden there with two chairs, a table and lots of butterflies, humming birds and flowers!!!! He just can't see my vision...... and truly I am hoping I can provide that vision!!!
Friday, we also had a few ton of rocks delivered to add to our driveway. Matt would LOVE to pave it, but the cost is prohibitive and I am glad it is. Using the rock allows for drainage rather than runoff which is contributing to pollution in our water systems. I am also considering a water garden and a rain barrel (but we'll chat about these later)! Our original estimate was not correct and so we needed to add a few more ton...... This order came yesterday. Our driveway looks much better!!!
The rest of this weekend was rainy and crappy which was good for us as we painted our living room, sun room and the wall up the steps. We used SO MUCH paint that we didn't expect, AND we haven't even started on the trim!!! YIKES! That will have to transpire later in the season when I am kidless as Oliver stands over me and says, "mommy..... I help...... paintant" and Gaby just takes toy buckets and runs them over freshly painted walls or puts her hand on the wet paint and leans like she is James Dean. OY VEY!!
Matt and I awoke today to find holes in our paint...... so we need to add another f-ing coat. We literally painted until I fell face first into the paint tray last night...... and here we go again. I have a baby shower today so we gotta get it done before I need to leave...... Remind me NEVER to take on this task again!!!!
1 comment:
Ladies,
First of all, I would suggest starting your compost efforts with at least 25% of your completed yield. This will allow enough nutritional value within the compost to ultimately promote bacterial and fungal growth of mycorrhizae (a nitrogen producing fungus known for it's symbiotic relationship with most plants).
Secondly, you want to use dirt or topsoil that has NOT been sterilized! That will enable any normal bacterial growth to be promoted by your habitual addition of organic nutrients to the compost.
Thirdly, if you really want the compost to contain a high volume of macro and micro nutrients, pick some wild fruit and add it to the compost. On the skins of almost all wild fruit, saccharomyces cervisae (yeast) grows naturally. Yeast has the ability to break down significant compounds into necessary nutrients you both desire. Such as, horse manure must first be broken down into molecular elements before it's utilized by the plant. The inoculation of yeast will facilitate this process for every piece of organic material you add because the material needs to be broken down first.
Nelle, I personally would leave the greens in your garden. Allow me to explain.
In natural environments, all of the nutrients contained in the soil are established by organisms dying and returning the nutrients back to the soil. In most commercial settings (and personal) the nutrients enter the plant and are never returned because of harvesting, thus reducing the fertility of the soil over time. If you leave some of your plant yield in the garden, it will already be in the process of breaking down the material and won't fluctuate the pH. In your compost, especially if you add a lot of acidic items (citrus fruit, etc.) or items that have the potential to become acidic, then you slow the process down. If you don’t want to do this, than I highly suggest you have a polyculture garden. An example of this is a process called Chinampas cultivation. If you’re interested let me know.
I hope I have been helpful, if not…I’m sorry to pry into your green thumb expeditions!
Rock on,
wang
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