Spring Work Out

It feels so good to be outside in the sunshine and I'm already feeling my muscles growing too!

My easiest compost ever bin last summer

Remember my post about the easiest compost ever?  I swear by this method!  Everything from fern fronds & grass clippings to egg shells & cilantro stems make it into my compost bin and magically with no mixing or moving, I get a tube full of black gold each spring! 

Now that my tube of compost is ready for use, I just pulled off the wire frame to harvest my black gold. Theres always a layer at the top that is only partially decomposed, but that's ok.  This layer along with all the worms inside of it is removed and placed in the bottom of the empty wire bin where it will jumpstart this years compost.  All the enzymes and microbes that aide in decomposition are already in that partially done layer.

I'm thrilled that I wound up with a lot of ready to use compost!  It was about 8 wheel barrows full of 100% free organic soil amendment! And with no backbreaking work or constant turning.  I just stack it in, water it when it's dry and let mother nature do her thing.  You just can't beat that! Composting is the epitome of the old saying "waste not, want not".

Beautiful black and rich.  Last years waste will

feed the plants that will feed us this year!

If you've been following my spring garden frenzy, then you know that I've run out of room in my garden beds for planting anything else.  Soon Ben will be building me some more recycled beds and bringing home a few yards of 4 way organic soil to fill them, but the sun is shining and I just can't wait.  So I took a look around the yard to see what I might repurpose for planting in some odd shaped areas of my garden where buiding beds would be difficult.

First I found the top half of an old plastic compost bin.  The bottom section had split open and was not really good for anything (that's why I'm not using plastic for my bins).  It seemed like a great candidate for a garden container.  I drug it down to the garden and found a spot for it, next to my ugly but useful recycled laundry bin planter.  I filled it with compost, leveled it out and planted another type of carrots inside.  It might not be pretty now, but it will be gorgeous when those carrots come up!

 

You never know what might make a good garden bed. 
This container lived it's first life as a compost bin,
now it will get a second life as a carrot planter!

I still had loads of compost, so I took the wire mesh tubes from last years failed potato tower experiment and carefully cut them in 1/2 to form 6 good sized containers.  These would fit perfect in the sloped corner of my garden.

 

This wire tube tower for potatoes was too tall last year.

 

That's more like it!  Now these shorter tubes I can work with. 

Each tube became 2 - 18" tall planters.  These are perfect for this spot because I can mold the shape a little bit before filling them.  Then I found some old plastic woven bird seed bags I've been saving for a project and cut those down to line the bottom of each of these new planters.  I cut drainage slashes in the lining and got to work filling each plant tube with compost.

8  loads full!  I highly recommend a 2

wheeled barrow like mine for ease of use.

Eight trips to the back yard with my wheelbarrow and I had created a whole new planting area from recycled and repurposed items I already had!  I love recycling in the garden!  

The mesh planters are full and ready
for seeding.  And now a wasted space in my
garden is going to be a productive.  Yay! 

I decided to go ahead and try potatoes in these again now that they are a bit smaller.  I have several different types of spuds that have sprouted in my cupboards that should work. I placed 3 little papita starts in each tube.  I don't know if they'll all grow, but at least some of them should.  I know potatoes grow in compost bins all the time.

Red, white & russet potatoes from the kitchen get

replanted here  along with an onion and some garlic

centers that need planting.

Oh I almost forgot, each day when the sun is out I'm opening up my boat/greenhouse to get some direct sun on the soil and the plants.  I've also placed my jugs of water strategically throughout to absorb the heat of the sun durring the day.  In the evening I'll recover the boat and those recycled containers of water will radiate the warmth back into the greenhouse. 

Those empty jugs from our ceasars and screwdrivers

become passive heaters in the greenhouse

I bumped into my neighbor Leslie as I was out enjoying the sun. She's also been hard at work cutting back her fern fronds and generously offered them to me for my garden mulch. Thank you Leslie! I think I may have enough fronds to fully line the non-growing areas of the garden now! It sure makes the garden area look nice too. A few hours of work in the sunshine and what a payoff!  I love it! 

Welcome 2010 an Earth odyssey

Here we are starting a new year and a new decade, and there's no better time to go green.  Here's a 7 simple steps you can take to make the coming 10 years and beyond better

1.  Change from high energy incandesent bulbs to compact florescent lighting.  An ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb.  It's estimated by the EPA that each CFL bulb can keep 400 Lbs of greenhouse gasses from being released.  Just be sure you know how to dispose of them properly!  Here's what to do if you break a CFL

2.  Turn down your thermostat just a couple of degrees can save a significant amount of power.  Earth911.com estimates a 5% savings on your power bill for each degree you turn down the thermostat. 

3.  Be aware of packaging when making purchases.  So your standing in the grocery store trying to decide between 1 brand and another, do you consider packaging in your decision? Will you choose glass or aluminum over plastic?  Will you choose a refill?  Will you purchase in bulk to save on packaging?  It's a small thing that can make a big difference.  Here's an inovative and very friendly solution by the creative folks at  Ecovative Design

4.  Start a compost bin!  Your garden will grow greener and healthier and you'll save a lot of waste from hitting the landfills.  There are many designs for composters, here's how I made my "Easiest Compost Ever"

5.  Buy local and organic foods whenever possible.  You'll save jobs, help your local community, get fresher and healthier food and help to reduce the emissions that come from shipping over long distances.  Have you heard of the 100 mile diet?  They have a great getting started guide for eating local

6.  Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!  Simple yes, and makes a big impact.

7.  Plant a tree or have them planted by Arbor Day Foundation Just 6 pine trees at Twenty-Five year old absorb up to 1 ton of CO2.

Compost Happens - Easiest Compost Ever

Original Posting:
June 2009
Going organic in the garden is vital to creating a healthy and thriving backyard ecosystem and the most important thing for an eco friendly organic garden is compost!

Compost happens. There is a lot of discussion in the garden community about the "right" way to make your own compost. Some say layer your green and brown material. Others say you must use specialized composting machines and expensive plastic composters. Still others talk about a constant mixing of ingredients and lots of back breaking work.

I disagree. Compost happens. Mother nature has been composting organic materials since the beginning of time. So here are my ideas for creating lush, loamy, organic FANTASTIC compost in your backyard without breaking the bank or breaking your back!

This photo on the left is my recycled composter. Very simple and very effective. I actually used a peice of wire fencing that used to be part of an old deck. So this baby is 100% recycled and may have gone to a landfill had I not asked for it at a jobsite. Not only eco friendly, but it cost me $0, so it was pocket book friendly too!

You may have this or some hardware cloth in your garden shed already. Just form the fencing into a tube by attaching one end to the other. This one was made with about 6 or 7 feet of reclaimed wire fencing. The tube, when formed is about 3 feet in diameter.

I whipped this one up in about 30 minutes and have been using it continuously for 3 years and have created quite a bit of "black gold" from my kitchen waste and yard trimmings. I imagine it will last for at least another 3 years too!

Now if you've been researching composting, you've probably heard that you must layer evenly brown and green materials to create compost. How inconvenient, since your greens (grass clippings, kitchen scraps, garden trimmings) are all readily available in the warm spring and summer months and brown (fallen leaves, fir needles etc) are only available from your yard in the fall. But I've learned through my experience that it's not true at all. Like I mentioned, Mother nature has been doing this for all time!

I layer in my compostables in no particular order, it's just what I have available at the given moment. So in the summer when I have a lot of green materials, I toss those in. In the fall when I have a lot of brown ingredients I toss those in then. Without fail every spring I have lucious black compost to add to my garden beds.

In the summertime I water my compost about once per week, and I periodically poke at it with a stick to create airflow in the center of the pile. The great thing about my fencing style composter is that it gets air and water through the holes in the fencing, but the plant matter is easily held inside the fencing.

I leave my composting material in the tube from fall through spring. When it's ready I simply pull the tube off the pile and move it over a foot or so in the same area of my yard. Then if there is a layer on top that hasn't fully decomposed, I transfer it to the moved compost bin and harvest what is ready. I shovel the finished compost into my wheelbarrow and distribute it throughout the garden.

Organic compost improves your soil quality by introducing worms and other good bugs into your garden. It feeds your plants naturally, eliminating the need for any chemical fertilizers. It improves the planet because you keep this useful waste out of the landfills.

Yes! It really is that easy!