There are two things I want to learn to do well in our garden - grow capsicums and make compost. As it's officially still winter, I can't do much about the capsicums just yet. However, I have been working on the compost ever since we moved in.
I began with a traditional compost "pile" in a slightly shaded area under a tree draped with mistletoe. After four weeks it was doing really well and I was quite proud of myself. Sadly, I then learned that my beautiful pile was built on our sewerage trench, which is apparently supposed to be kept clear of debris. Who knew?
Undaunted, I decided to move my pile directly onto the site where I hope to grow my capsicums eventually. As compost is supposed to thrive on being turned over now and then, I felt this was a positive move. Sadly, I did not take into account that my lovely pile was no longer as sheltered as it had been - and I soon discovered that it was under attack from various creatures. The local scrub turkey soon made a shambles of my neat dome, which had to be rebuilt every morning. Getting a bit sick of this, I tried covering my dome with fabric and cardboard, with little success.
Clearly a new approach was needed. I am now "sheet composting" and have completely given up on lovely neat piles and domes for the time being. All our collected scraps are dumped directly onto the future vegetable garden site, covered with damp cardboard, weighed down with bricks (to prevent our cat from eating the scraps), and eventually covered with mulch.
Time will tell whether this approach will work. The neatly mulched half of the veggie garden looks very nice, but whether the soil will be ready for planting by spring remains to be seen. No doubt you'll all be breathlessly awaiting an update on this topic, right?
I began with a traditional compost "pile" in a slightly shaded area under a tree draped with mistletoe. After four weeks it was doing really well and I was quite proud of myself. Sadly, I then learned that my beautiful pile was built on our sewerage trench, which is apparently supposed to be kept clear of debris. Who knew?
Undaunted, I decided to move my pile directly onto the site where I hope to grow my capsicums eventually. As compost is supposed to thrive on being turned over now and then, I felt this was a positive move. Sadly, I did not take into account that my lovely pile was no longer as sheltered as it had been - and I soon discovered that it was under attack from various creatures. The local scrub turkey soon made a shambles of my neat dome, which had to be rebuilt every morning. Getting a bit sick of this, I tried covering my dome with fabric and cardboard, with little success.
Clearly a new approach was needed. I am now "sheet composting" and have completely given up on lovely neat piles and domes for the time being. All our collected scraps are dumped directly onto the future vegetable garden site, covered with damp cardboard, weighed down with bricks (to prevent our cat from eating the scraps), and eventually covered with mulch.Time will tell whether this approach will work. The neatly mulched half of the veggie garden looks very nice, but whether the soil will be ready for planting by spring remains to be seen. No doubt you'll all be breathlessly awaiting an update on this topic, right?
2 comments:
Could you try the Helen Ruby method with the various graded boxed areas and cover them with wire netting.
Hi Valda - yes, I am starting to think this is the only long-term solution. Now I just need to add "building of compost bins" onto Garry's job list {grin}.
Post a Comment