Compost Monday

Having a small yard limits me to a small area for composting. When turning the compost I have to move it from one side to the other. Since I have let this pile sit for most of the summer not adding much to it I wanted to sift out the finished compost. I have three ten gallon continers I use to store the compost until needed.

Photos below are of my turning and sifting process and as always click on the photos for a larger view.



From the looks of these healthy seedlings poking out of the bin I would have to say the compost is fertile.



Photo below: All this uncomposted (is that even a word?) material will go to the bottom...



I remove the first layer of the bin and place it next to the composter...



Once I started digging I found lots and lots of worms...

I placed one of my 10 gallon containers into the compost bin and covered it with a piece of wire fencing to use as a screen.



Photo Below: I place small amounts of compost onto the screen and run my hand over it to allow the finished compost and some worms to fall into the container leaving the larger pieces to be placed back into the composter to continue to break down.







Photo Below: Black Gold... if you look closely you will see some worms.



Photo Below: All done...

Photo Below: 30 gallons of compost ready for the garden. The worms in the containers will continue to work the soil.



In another two weeks I will repeat this process... by then I will have used up at least one of my 10 gallon containers. I also want to try starting seeds in my home made compost in February for my 2010 garden.



Happy Composting...

Sept 28th Harvest

Today I picked...

6 Cucumber weighing in at 2 pounds
Cherry Tomatoes 2.8 oz
Raspberries 1.8



Tomorrows post will be an update on my composting efforts.

The Fall Garden

Sorry I have been away for so long. Life just gets in the way of blogging :-)

So here we are in September. I can't believe how fast this year is going. I wasn't sure if I was going to do a Fall garden but then I came to my senses. Of course I'm doing a Fall garden!

I don't get much sun in my yard this time of year. The sun hits the front half of the beds about 11:30 and will then hide behind a tree around 2:00 until 2:45. Then sun the rest of the day. So what does one grow with so little sun? You'll see....



Photos below: Garden View





Photos Below: Bed 1 the tomatoes are just about ready to come out. The cherry tomatoes did much better than I thought they would. I'll try this method again next year...





...though I will need to pull out the snail vine that is growing on the fence. It is trying to take over the space.



Photos Below: Bed 2



The English cucumbers were slow to get started. I only picked three before these.



The baby cucumber on ther other hand grew like crazy. I will definitely grow these again. These two grew toghether.



Photos below: Bed 3



I planted 6 broccoli in the front of the bed where they will get the most sun for now.
I still have some basil growing in rows 2 and 3.



I also planted carrots and red and gold chard.



Snap peas in the back two rows and scallions in front of the peas in the same row.



Photos below: Bed 4



Bed 4 is full of lettuce and spinach.





With some volunteer garlic... I think... could be an onion in there too.



Photo below: Spinach



The only pest problem I'm having right now is squirrels and moles. The mole(s) have found their way into the bed 3 and 4 even though we lined them with chicken wire. The squirrels are planting peanuts for me.



Photo Below: The spaghetti squash is ready for picking. They should bring me up and over the 100 pound mark for this years harvet. Not bad for my first year.



Photo Below: Fall raspberries. They are so much sweeter than the spring raspberries.



Photo Below: Pumpkin on a stick is ready to pick. I will cut the stems at ground level and pull all the leaves off and place them in a vase. They will look nice on the fireplace.

Photo Below: Still getting some strawberries.



Photo Below: The strawberry bed is doing well. I placed some of the runners in small containers to root.



Photo Below: I planted some more pole beans in this little area late in the summer. I'll get a handful of beans before it starts geting too cold.



Photo Below: I have lots of spiders decorating my backyard for Halloween. This guy being the biggest one we have seen so far.

Photos Below: Random photos...














I will try not to stay away so long this time.

Happy Fall Gardening!

Happy First Day of Fall

Yes I'm still here. I promise to post soon.