We used six bales of straw to form a three sided box shape. Next we put in layers of shredded leaves, yard debris and soil. We set a sprinkler on it several times as we added the various layers to be sure the pile was well soaked. We will cover it all with a tarp that is held in place with some large rocks. Between now and spring, I will slip a hose under the tarp and add more water as needed. Hopefully by May, we will have some nice loamy compost to use to ammend our planting areas. We will also be making another identical composting area down by the spot where we are locating a new gardening space. We plan to pick up a couple of loads of well seasoned horse manure to mix in. And we also added a special cold climate organic fertilizer to help get the composting going well.
Having been reading various blogs where folks have ordered seeds and some have even started seedlings indoors, I am really feeling the tug of garden fever. Thank goodness colder weather is on the way here soon so I can get back to sitting by the fire making plans for spring.
4 comments:
oops.. sorry didn't mean to get your garden bug going too early. ;)
It is nice to live in an area with such a short winter, but somehow you still find yourself longing for spring just as much as in cooler places. I'm looking for signs even though we won't really have it for a while yet. We will be able to start putting some cool weather crops out in a month or so though--so that's nice. :)
Hi Vicky...we've had a warm-up too, though we havent seen "ground". Love the compost heap-I've done it with straw bales before, it works GREAT. And eventually the bales themselves collapse in and compost into wonderful stuff. A word of warning though.....eventually you'll be up to THREE+ piles going! You'll be stealing EVERYONES kitchen waste!
:D
Guess I had better get ready to start the garden for Mom...I usually plant in February...or at least start!
Only advantage to living so far south, I guess!
In the 70's here for the rest of the week, so I guess that a fire is out of the question!
I'm getting caught up on some reading. We've been up at the cabin quite a bit this month and I'm way behind. I dumped my compost container last month and have mounded in a corner of the garden to finish breaking down. We've had so much rain I'm letting Mother Nature to keep things wet. Now all I need is a bit of warm sun to warm things up. I bought some plastic trays to use for starting seeds indoors this year. I've always just planted my seeds directly in the soil, but now that we are at the cabin more I think I can take care of seedlings and get an early start on some lettuce and fresh herbs. - Margy
Post a Comment