Chronic Fever... for Spring!

     What's up with the past two nights of chilliness?? I want Spring weatherrrrr!!!! Especially now that we have a sneak peak of the blooms popping up everywhere.  Then, my sweet husband comes through for me on a "honey-do" project!  This past weekend, he recruited my daughter's (also sweet) boyfriend.  They dove in and whipped up my new raised garden bed in no time!
   

     Needless to say, I have decided on my veggie choices for early spring and late spring:  tomatoes, cucumbers, maybe red bell peppers, and I hope some lettuce. Then my herbs:  parsley, sage, dill, chives, definitely some basil, and maybe  a new choice of some sort. 

     But for right now, I'm doing some extra reading about the soil for my beds. I've had a compost pile and so the guys used the extra timber and put walls up... now it is officially a compost bin!

     Composting is easy and fun.  Basically you find a fairly shady spot in your yard, rake the ground clear, throw down some dirt and add kitchen waste such as vegetables, egg shells, and coffee and tea grounds (no meats and oils), as well as fall leaves and summer grass clippings.  These items provide nutrients to your soil.  Really the ingredients give carbon and nitrogen to the soil, but the proper mix is the key. I don't have it to a science, I just toss my waste and mix it with my pitch fork and that's it. If it's hot and dry out, I give it a misting of water.  I just make sure I don't overdo it on the coffee grounds. The best sign of good compost is if you have lots of earthworms in your soil because the break down of all the mix creates a necessary fungus and you'll have worms, which is all beneficial to the process.


A quick start compost would look like this - and between each layer that you create here, just water it lightly:

1. make the ground layer of twigs and/or leaves to allow air (no pin oaks as they do not decompose)
2. next add about a 3-4 inch layer of mixed brown matter such as newspapers or straw
3. next add a layer of good compost; a bag of organic dirt or topsoil from your gardener supply store is fine to add (if you do not add this layer of soil, it will just take the compost a bit slower)
4. next add your green stuff like veggies and grass clippings
5. now top it off with a layer of manure (find a neighbor with horses, cows, or chickens and you guessed it, start shoveling)
6. now repeat 1-5 until you have your bin fairly full
7. allow it to sit and break down for about 10 days and then toss it around with a pitch fork and give it a little spraying of water if the weather has been dry

It's not as hard as it all seems when you look at it written out.  Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it!  Of course you have to be outdoors on the weekends to accomplish this, so get off your butt, get on your feet, out of the shade, and into the heat!!!