Preparing the Garden!

As fall draws to a close and the days get colder and colder the garden dies back. Slow at first then faster, till nothing is left. Where your tall green plants where but a short time before there is merely soil. Dirt. Nothing. But beneath the crust of the cold soil, it is not quite as dead as you think. Of course the plants are dead, but the earthworms, the bugs, and the bacteria are alive and happy. They need food and warmth. The are decomposing your dead tomato plants and any other substance they find. To work with them to enrich your garden before spring follow some basic steps...


One. When tilling your garden turn the dead plants into the soil.

Two. Do NOT over till. This is VERY important. Over tilling kills the bugs and worms you need!

Three. Collect Leaves!!! All over your town people are raking leaves. We hitch up our trailer to the 12 passenger and go leaf hunting. It really is thrilling!

Four. Compost through the winter.

More Later...


Jess

Compost Dinners!

This is our fertilizer. This is the nutrients for our garden.

This is also our key into if we had a healthy meal or not!

My Mom says that if you eat a meal where nothing went into the compost pile you shouldn't have eaten it. This is so true if you think about it. 

Even if your eating whole wheat bread if you didn't cut up fruit or veggies to go with it, it wasn't a full meal.

So next time you sit down to a meal think to yourself..." was that a 'compost dinner' "?

posted by Jessica

Compost - The Real Black Gold

I was looking thru my pictures on this blog, and saw the big composter behind my little girls sitting in red clover. Since that stuff behind them is not mine, I decided now was a good time to talk compost. Recently, my husband was asking a friend if they compost, and he said no there was too much involved in getting the right stuff to make it work.

This is a common misconception behind composting. There are numerous books out there which can tell you how to compost, so I won't go in to much detail. I am just here to tell you it can be as easy or complicated as you desire. The most important thing is to just do it.

We save all food that originally grew in a garden. Fruits, veggies, and all their peels. We add coffee grounds and some paper that is easy to break down. Do not add any animal parts - meat, milk or proteins. Egg shells are the exception.

One of the kids takes it out to the compost pile each day. We have two piles. One is cooking and the other is on going. The key to compost is heat. So we get one pile really high and let it bake. Then we start a new one.

There are many more things to add to the pile, and for all of those who have not given up on this topic, we will cover them tomorrow.

So put your compost bowl out and start adding to eat. You will be cutting down on your trash and adding something good to the garden.