This Girl’s House

My neighbor has a greenhouse that her husband bought for her on her birthday.  I’ve been jealous of that greenhouse from day 1, and have one day dreamed of me having a greenhouse of my own.  I’ve been putting some thought into where I would put the dreamhouse, and what type of dreamhouse I would buy.  Here is an excellent article about greenhouses, including the challenges of putting one together, from Alexandra Marks, Christian Science Monitor.  This website from the University of Georgia contains information about greenhouses including greenhouse detailed architecture plans for those who might want to build their own.  Here’s another great document about Greenhouse Vegetable Production.  While the greenhouse it’s referring to is on a large scale, most of the growing methods discussed can be assumed by an individual with a small greenhouse.  The University of West Virginia also has a great document on greenhouses.

Well I do.  I’ve been composting regularly for about a year now, and it’s gotten to be such a habbit that I cringe inside when something goes into the trash that should go into the compost pile.  Shoot, it’s such a regular habit that even Stevie is composting too.  It wasn’t always like this. 

I’ve been composting regularly now for almost a year, and my first efforts where pretty weird.  For one thing, I was just throwing the compost in a pile, and not doing really nothing with it.  I didn’t put the right articles in my compost.  I started composting in a shady area.  I wasn’t using the right mix, I mean brocolli stalks take a really long time to break down if you don’t chop them up and don’t mix them with the right ingredients. 

Then I started to compost in my raised beds, and the stars aligned themselves in the heavens.  For one thing, I begin to mix the compost with some soil and other types of brown material.  Second, my raised beds are in an area that gets regular sun and near enough to hose to keep it from drying out.  Finally, I mix my compose with a pitch fork.  No, I’m not lifting the stuff, but I am in there moving that pitchfork back and forth. 

OK, so I don’t really know what I’m doing.  But 2 months ago, my friend asked me if I had some worms in my compost and I said no.  So she brings over a jar of nice red worms and we go out there to put them in my compost pile, and don’t you know it, I lift my compost and there were hundreds of worms everywhere.  My compost was wiggling all over the place.  I added her worms into the pile, and now I rotate the compost into the beds, moving my worms around.  I’ve basically run out of space in my raised beds, and now I’m going to try a different approach. 

One day, we were driving down the road and I saw these 2 feet by 2 feet square structures, four green fence posts surrounded by wire about 3 to 4 feet tall just sticking out in the middle of someone’s lawn.  It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at.  Homemade compost bins.  Just think about it.  You compost in those bins and as you keep adding in stuff, it starts settling down.  When it’s full, you just start a new one.  When it’s done, you just unhook the wire fence and start shoveling out.

What’s going in my compost pile?  Egg shells, coffee grinds (although not so much anymore), tea bags, all sorts of green materials (we live so far away from the store that sometimes when tend to overbuy produce and let’s face it, most of that cauliflower is not something we would eat), stale bread, plant clippings, dog hair, dust bunnies.  I keep a 3 pound empty coffee can on the counter and dump my items to compost in there.  When that gets full, I move it out the door to the back porch where I put it in an empty 28 pound cat litter bucket.  When that gets full, I pour the contents into my latest compost pile and mix it up with some clay or old dirt that I usually have lying next to it.  We’re filling that cat litter bucket up about every 10 days or so, and to busy honest, there is a lot more room in the garbage can which just goes to show you how much compostable materials are ending up in landfills.  What a waste.

Good Links on Composting

• Compost Happens
• How Compost Happens
• How To Compost

I have to work this weekend, but I have managed to escape to the garden for a few hours. I love the garden.  I can get completely lost in time, working the soil, moving rocks, planting seeds and little budding vegetable plants.  I’m really not any good making starter plants in the house, although I might try to do this next year. 

I took a short break and ran down to the local garden center.  I bought Bumper fertilizer at 3 bags for $25, 3 bags of potato seeds, and a host of greens and 1 large bundle of strawberry plants. 

 

I also spent a couple of hours whacking at blackberry bushes.  I have a whole lot of blackberry bushes on the property and it’s hard to keep them back.  I could work all day, just doing that.

Stevie is the proud owner of lawn mower.  He bought it off Craig’s list for $150.   There was a problem with the ignition switch which was an easy fix for him.

Steve also spent some time digging the ditch for the electricity to the garage.  All 207 feet.  That man really knows how to dig a trench.  It was the straightest thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen and dug many trenches.  Steve has really gotten his money worth out of that excavator.  I think he’s spent about $3K on it.  I guess you can tell why I love a man with his own excavator. 

I have my wire fence up around my raised garden beds, and now I’m cultivating the soil.  I put a lot of compost, and other nutrients into the beds over the winter, but the constant rain has a tendency to compact the soil and leach out many nutrients.  So I decided to test the soil and I purchased a kit called Rapitest.  I read the reviews and was really careful and the test went well.  My soil is a little acidic, so I have some lyme that I’m using sparingly.  I have 6 beds total, but only 2 beds ready to go.  Since it snowed again this week, I’m in no real hurry.  Perhaps I can get some greens and lettuces going.