Composting is dirt simple!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
About a year ago Chris & I decided to start composting. We had just bought the house & NOW we could plant a small garden. You have to add soil to Central Florida's sand to have a fighting chance of a harvest. Compost was the way to go. He brought home chicken wire. We shaped it into a 3 foot tall rectangle, bending the edges of a separate piece to become the top. It's located in the far corner of the back yard, Then began adding any veggie matter, cooked or uncooked from our meals. Also all coffee grounds, tea bags, paper towels or napkins, eggshells. We enjoy three large live oaks so have lots of leafy matter to alternate with layers of fruit rinds & corn husks. At first, I regularly stripped newsprint into the mix, also. No bones or meat/fish, though. A small hoe & trowel hang on the hook to make raking over the bin easy.
A year later, we have a colony of earthworms & grubs happily eating. Our frogs, geckos & anoles keep any fly or other insects under control. We've composted two garden beds & added soil around tree bases. The soil is rich & dark. No smell other than healthy earth. Oddly, no matter how much we add to the heap, it rarely gains in height. Seems to have reached a happy two-thirds equilibrium.
We recycle our newspapers, magazines, cans, bottles, boxes, etc. But we were surprised to notice that the amount of trash going to the curb reduced by at least a third after we began composting. Most of the fodder for our compost went in the disposal before this. Maybe the process has just made us more aware of waste & excessive buying habits. Have you had this or a similar experience?
Bye for now,
Betsy
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tomatoes & peppers
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Our 2 tomatoes grew rapidly in early summer but gave small Romas. Bursting with flavor. Squirrel stole a few, too. Suddenly all the leaves were missing! None on the ground, just GONE. Overnight, it seemed. Would a squirrel do that? The yard & the plants are fenced. Set new plants & the storms blew off the blossoms. It's Central FLorida - we might get a few for fall. The peppers were less prolific but something is trying to eat the leaves. Have washed with soapy water, set out coffee grounds & eggshells. No reversal yet. Great peppers but no seeds. DRAT - should have read the labelling more closely...
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