composting
Our house is flooded with water. Not literally, but the grounds outside of our home have become a small lake. Our landlords are draining off the water with a hose. I am sure that there must be a better way to do the thing and save the water. We had a house meeting a week ago, and my housemates told me what plants they want. If I can get done my paper, I might walk over to the Garden store and buy some seeds and start them indoors. If we can create a protective perennial barrier, one that could act as a water sink, and if we could do a bit of terracing of the garden, then perhaps we could manage our runoff and erosion issues better. And that way, we could use the garden more effectively.
We have a large area in which to garden. One of my housemates told me that some areas are frequently ravaged by gophers. One area in the garden seems to do very well for growing vegetables - I shall assume that he means annuals - while another one does not produce hardly anything at all. We also have a couple rows of fruit trees, though I have not yet examined them to learn what types they are. So here's my thinking...
Our house produces a lot of compostable matters. My friend, who formerly roomed here in my exact room, tried to begin a compost in a trashcan, only to have it turn anaerobic over the holidays. I have relayered it with sufficient shredded newspaper and garden greens, and the foodscraps from our house is enough that I have already begun and filled another compost container (we do not have any more giant trashcans of which to speak, so I used a large pot that once belonged to a fruit tree). I have heard of an interesting method of creating compost piles, using old shipping pallets. I know that PICA has several that it is not using and wants to destroy - I wonder if there is a way to take some of them? The difficulty would be in bringing them down here; I would need a pickup truck and a driver. Perhaps my landlords would help me? I would need to schedule it carefully with them.
Aside from that, I was thinking: it is possible, though not always advisable, to build in-ground compost piles. As for the areas that are either gopher-prone or usually unfertile, why not make ground compost piles in those areas? Meanwhile, the compost that comes from our bin systems (it will hopefully be ready in 1-3 months, just in time for the soil to dry and the warm season to begin), we could use that to fluff up the areas that are known to do well, as well as fertilize the fruit trees (though I have heard that making in-ground piles near to the trees lets them access the nutrients, too). Meanwhile, I could grow the seeds indoors for some of the perennials (especially the Lamiaceae), and when it's time we could plant them out. The adorable six-year-old girl Megan, who lives here on weekends, would love doing that! :-) The others (carrots, salad greens, chard, etc) we could broadcast-sow when it's time. And this would give me time to plant and map out a biodynamic herb garden. What fun! So much exploring to do...
Maybe I should inventory what seeds or plants the nurseries have available, or rather call them, so that we could do some advanced planning or ordering if need be. I would very much like to plant medicinals that are well worth the family's use. I think that lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme might be good guesses - the lavender to pick, the rosemary with which to cook, the sage to attract hummingbirds, and the thyme for teas and soil retention. There are so many other plants we could grow! We should brainstorm even more - nasturtium! foxglove! lemon verbena! - perennials or recurring plants for borders.
I live here with nine people, six of whom are a family. The other three of us housemates are just random folks, but it feels very nice to be living with a family again, especially after coming back from Costa Rica. It feels nice to be part of that warmth and love. And I am keeping in touch with my own parents quite well, also, which makes me very happy. Mom and I had a chat last night - she still wants to shoot boys - and I called Dad up afterwards and talked to him while he was making a pizza! My relatives from Mississippi called a week ago to tell me that my brother's wife, Shauna, is pregnant: I am about to become an aunt! I couldn't be happier. :-) I called up the Mendez-Rojas family on Danna's birthday, which happened a few days before mine, and had a crackly conversation with Flor and Julieta - horrible phones - and so am planning to write them a letter. Now I have three families at very least. Who could be happier? :-D.
Oh, and Note to Self: I ought to clean out the fireplace soon and add the ashes to the compost pile. They're known to be nutritious! (Marley told me so, and now I notice that most everything I read raves about it). I'd also heard that carefully composting eucalyptus leaves creates good amendments for growing strawberries, and now I am very interested to try it out... Perhaps I could create a separate pile, in another large pot, just for those.
We have a large area in which to garden. One of my housemates told me that some areas are frequently ravaged by gophers. One area in the garden seems to do very well for growing vegetables - I shall assume that he means annuals - while another one does not produce hardly anything at all. We also have a couple rows of fruit trees, though I have not yet examined them to learn what types they are. So here's my thinking...
Our house produces a lot of compostable matters. My friend, who formerly roomed here in my exact room, tried to begin a compost in a trashcan, only to have it turn anaerobic over the holidays. I have relayered it with sufficient shredded newspaper and garden greens, and the foodscraps from our house is enough that I have already begun and filled another compost container (we do not have any more giant trashcans of which to speak, so I used a large pot that once belonged to a fruit tree). I have heard of an interesting method of creating compost piles, using old shipping pallets. I know that PICA has several that it is not using and wants to destroy - I wonder if there is a way to take some of them? The difficulty would be in bringing them down here; I would need a pickup truck and a driver. Perhaps my landlords would help me? I would need to schedule it carefully with them.
Aside from that, I was thinking: it is possible, though not always advisable, to build in-ground compost piles. As for the areas that are either gopher-prone or usually unfertile, why not make ground compost piles in those areas? Meanwhile, the compost that comes from our bin systems (it will hopefully be ready in 1-3 months, just in time for the soil to dry and the warm season to begin), we could use that to fluff up the areas that are known to do well, as well as fertilize the fruit trees (though I have heard that making in-ground piles near to the trees lets them access the nutrients, too). Meanwhile, I could grow the seeds indoors for some of the perennials (especially the Lamiaceae), and when it's time we could plant them out. The adorable six-year-old girl Megan, who lives here on weekends, would love doing that! :-) The others (carrots, salad greens, chard, etc) we could broadcast-sow when it's time. And this would give me time to plant and map out a biodynamic herb garden. What fun! So much exploring to do...
Maybe I should inventory what seeds or plants the nurseries have available, or rather call them, so that we could do some advanced planning or ordering if need be. I would very much like to plant medicinals that are well worth the family's use. I think that lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme might be good guesses - the lavender to pick, the rosemary with which to cook, the sage to attract hummingbirds, and the thyme for teas and soil retention. There are so many other plants we could grow! We should brainstorm even more - nasturtium! foxglove! lemon verbena! - perennials or recurring plants for borders.
I live here with nine people, six of whom are a family. The other three of us housemates are just random folks, but it feels very nice to be living with a family again, especially after coming back from Costa Rica. It feels nice to be part of that warmth and love. And I am keeping in touch with my own parents quite well, also, which makes me very happy. Mom and I had a chat last night - she still wants to shoot boys - and I called Dad up afterwards and talked to him while he was making a pizza! My relatives from Mississippi called a week ago to tell me that my brother's wife, Shauna, is pregnant: I am about to become an aunt! I couldn't be happier. :-) I called up the Mendez-Rojas family on Danna's birthday, which happened a few days before mine, and had a crackly conversation with Flor and Julieta - horrible phones - and so am planning to write them a letter. Now I have three families at very least. Who could be happier? :-D.
Oh, and Note to Self: I ought to clean out the fireplace soon and add the ashes to the compost pile. They're known to be nutritious! (Marley told me so, and now I notice that most everything I read raves about it). I'd also heard that carefully composting eucalyptus leaves creates good amendments for growing strawberries, and now I am very interested to try it out... Perhaps I could create a separate pile, in another large pot, just for those.
posted by Yvea at 8:45 AM
1 Comments:
compost- i wonder how quickly decomposition will happen when i'm in the tropics!?
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