This composting thing has me fascinated. I bought a worm farm in July last year. Besides recycling absolutely everything, this was the first 'go green' step that I took, and the first serious commitment to a better garden. It was also the first thing that taught me that Mother Nature does things in her own sweet time, but as she does them, she does them properly.
In terms of the worm farm, the worms are slowly but surely working their way up to the second working tray. I am hoping to be in a position to release the full working tray within the next month. On the whole, they are fit, fat and happy. I find that as long as I do what is good for them, they are effortless, bug free and odour free.
With the increased focus on a productive veggie patch, the need for compost has grown somewhat. So these are the steps that I have taken:
As part of clearing space, I have had to take a very serious look at a resident in my garden called Commelina Cyanea, or scurvy weed. Left to its own devices and with a little bit of water, this plant takes over one's garden. If one has no interest in one's garden, then it is a nice plant to have, as it covers ground quickly, looks very green and has small, attractive blue flowers with prominent yellow stamens. As named, it grows like a weed. The problem with it is trying to get rid of it. It is not recommended to put this in one's compost heap, as it will simply take up residence there and continue to spread. It is also not recommended to send this off to the local dump, as this makes it someone else's problem. What I have done is put it in a bucket in the garage. Over time [a year, I understand - Mother Nature doing her thing again], it will die off never to emerge again. What is left over can then be used as compost. Fortunately, over time, it compacts, so one can keep adding more as it pops up in the garden.
Then there is plectranthus; a similar issue to Commelina, but less of a weed. My plectranthus grows quite prolifically indoors, having become a ground cover to my indoor plants. Two weeks ago I gave it a haircut wherever it happened to be, and started another bucket with the same purpose as for Commelina.
The next step is to build a frame into which to put garden and kitchen waste which is too much, or wrong, for the worm farm. There is a process to this. First one starts to collect that which is needed for the compost - larger items of kitchen waste, and acid kitchen waste like citrus and allium skins and greens - newspaper - grass cuttings - leaves - branches cut into smaller pieces. As I do not generate that much waste, I acquired for myself a bag of hay which is waiting in the garage to be composted. The idea is to put all the waste down in layers in order to speed the composting process.
This too, had it's moment of mirth. For the first time in seventeen years, as a consequence of the hay, I acquired a rat. At first it was quite scary. The rat took up residence in the garage along with the bag of hay. The garage is quite a busy place in my home. It provides shelter for my dog when I am not at home and provides storage for what would normally go into a garden shed. The only thing it does not do is house the car.
After some research on the web, it became apparent that rats to not like cat pee. So I decanted some of the damp granules from my cat sandboxes into a used plastic veggie tray and put it behind the bag of hay. The rat has left. I don't use poisons in my garden as I have a dog and cats. I am very aware of the birds and the myriads of beneficial insects which would be negatively impacted by the use of poison. I am even more aware of it now that I am growing food in the soil.
Once I have cleared a section at the side of my house, I am going to plant broad beans to grow through the winter. The purpose of the beans is less to do with harvesting the beans, than plowing back the foliage for use as green manure. Broad beans will grow in winter. The ground will then become useful next summer, and can be incorporated into an expanded veggie garden.
Composting is a broad and interesting subject, with many different ways of approaching the improvement of one's soil. This is the most important step in veggie gardening, as any gardener will know.
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