Tag: compost

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Preparing for pigs and lettuce

I plan to put the pigs in a scrubby former pasture that we cleared during the process of building the house.  It adjoins the woods, and so I plan for the pigs to live in the pasture and destroy the sweet-gum sprouts in the spring when it is cool, and to move to the woods during the summer.  The pasture is about 400 feet from the house, and so I draped hoses through the woods this morning to see if we had enough water pressure to get water up to the pasture.  I am now feeling the fall I took when I tripped over a muscadine vine and landed flat on the ground.  The pigs will help get rid of all the viney trip hazards.  We do, thank God, and so that is one problem solved!

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Water for the pigs!

I haven’t made a proper compost pile in a long time.  Instead I have just piled kitchen debris at the edge of the garden and let nature take its course.  My soil at the new home needs all the help I can give it, and so I made a compost pile out of chicken manure and litter and fall leaves.  I was thrilled this morning when I visited it and found that it was warm inside, a sign of rapid decomposition!  I’ll add more manure and turn it, and get the contents ready to go onto my caterpillar tunnel bed this spring.  img_3448

We do plan to close on the selling of the other home this week, I pray, and when I went to the house to get out the final items, I also cleaned out the compost pile.  I got a couple of wheelbarrows full of the beautiful finished compost.  It is full of weed seeds, but I have put it in a nursery area where I can let the seeds germinate and kill them before I apply it to the garden.  For more of my thoughts on weeds, get my ebook, How to have a Weed Free Garden.

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Site of the caterpillar tunnel

Here’s where the caterpillar tunnel will go.  Caterpillar tunnels are inexpensive hoop houses that protect plants from the weather and allow an early harvest.  In the summer, shade cloth protects plants from the sun.  I expect to have a harvest of lettuce, kale, spinach, and other greens ready for sale this spring.

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Don’t be scared of compost

 

Having a compost pile has become a popular trend among
urbanites as well as rural folks.  Even non-gardeners who want to do something with their kitchen scraps besides put them in the garbage have begun composting.  Visit local home stores, and you’ll find containers to hold the scraps inside the house, and numerous containers to help with the outdoor composting process. 
 

Why make compost?

Compost is a wonderful addition to the garden, and it’s certainly better to add plant material back to the soil instead of throwing it in the landfill.  Making compost is not something that has to be expensive, or even cost any money at all, although gardening catalogs would have you believe you must purchase all the correct products to begin. 
 
My parents have collected their compost ingredients in an aluminum pie pan for as long as I remember, and they’ve thrown the scraps at the edge of the garden in a pile where they eventually turn into compost.  When I was a child, they told me, I am sure in response to my questions, that they were taking it to feed the garden creatures, and so we called it “the bug and worm pile.”  I don’t remember hearing the word “compost” until I was an adult. 
 
My parents lack either a garbage disposal or a big roll away cart for their trash, because they have  no county trash pickup, so they make sure not to put anything that might smell bad in the trash before my father takes the trash to the dump.  My parents compost out of necessity and for the health of their garden, and they feed the wildlife with scraps they can’t
compost.  They have not spent any money on their compost pile.
 
I do have county trash pickup and a garbage disposal, and it
would certainly be easier to throw everything in the garbage than to separate the items.  I feed my chickens non-poultry food scraps sometimes, and sometimes I send refuse down the garbage disposal.  I save all vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee and tea grounds, and other food scraps that do not contain fat, dairy, or meat for my compost pile.  I have spent money on my compost pile and compost collection containers, but it’s
not necessary. 
 
My stainless steel compost container has a tight fitting lid and two filters, keeping the stench of the smelliest onion inside. Initially, I had a metal one, but because compost scraps are moist, holes rusted in it quickly.   I enjoy using it because it stores the scraps neatly away until I’m ready to take them outside, but frequent trips to the compost bin give me exercise. Here is one similar to mine.

My Compost Piles

My husband built me an elaborate three bin compost container, based on my plan, and for several years I put the fresh compost scraps in one bin, the intermediate-level compost in another bin, and the finished compost in the third bin, and I tossed the compost ingredients among the bins to make sure they were properly aerated and layered. 

 
I have neither the time nor the energy for this now, and so I have one main pile of compost ingredients against the garden fence.  When I obtain kitchen scraps that are neither dairy, meat, nor fat, I put them in the pile. 
I put annual weeds that have not gone to seed on the pile, leaves, grass
clippings, non-diseased dead plants, and any other plant trimmings.  Eventually, it all rots and turns into compost, just like the leaves on the forest floor.  
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Start a garden this spring

Several methods exist for starting a flower or vegetable garden depending on the time, money, and energy you have available. A few pots are plenty for the beginning gardener; it’s easy to overestimate your abilities and desires when the weather is lovely and cool in April and end up with scorched plants in July. Space probably exists among the shrubs around your home’s foundation for a few plants if you do not want to use pots; potted plants require more attention than those planted in the ground. Make sure your vegetable garden receives six to eight hours of direct sun daily.

For my first garden, I tilled a place in the backyard, added all the compost I could to the already rich, black, sandy loam of the yard, and harvested many vegetables. I have red clay and woods at my current home; my family and I cut trees and purchased soil to fill the raised bed we made out of the felled trees. Add as much compost as you can afford to the soil in your garden site.

Call your local county extension service for soil testing information. Soil test results tell you the specific nutrients, including lime, your soil needs; adding the amendments indicated by the results will help you have a successful garden.
I prefer to use the no-till method I borrowed from Ruth Stout who wrote the book “How to have a Green Thumb without an Aching Back.” Lay 6-8 sheets of newspaper or cardboard directly over the grass and overlap the edges. On top of the paper, place 3-4 inches (or more) of compost or manure; then add 4-6 inches of mulch.

Mulch can be any substance that biodegrades easily; don’t use synthetic mulch or wood chips. I try to obtain free mulch so I can use it lavishly; I prefer old hay and bags of leaves from the side of the road. You can immediately dig planting holes in the compost or you can leave the “pie” alone for three to six months and the earthworms will till the soil for you. Mulch your garden lavishly regardless of the method you use to begin it; I pull a few weeds here and there but do not have to devote much time to the task because of the mulch.

When you begin planting, meet the plants’ needs for sun, shade, and moisture. The Southern Living Garden Book is a good resource for plant information. Make sure what you are reading is specific to the South since a plant’s ability to tolerate heat is as important as its ability to tolerate cold. Folks who move here from up North kill lilacs and lettuce in July on a regular basis.