Black thumb looking for rehab!

[omeletta]

I finally got around to coming over from BYC. Looking forward to you all transforming me from my current black thumb to a lovely cinderella like green thumb!

Tanya :rose

 

[friendly_gardener]

yeaaaaaaaa

Wellllllllllllcommeeeeeeeeee to garden family... even i am new here

:dance

 

[Buff Shallots]

Ironically enough, the dreaded Black Thumb Syndrome is cured by repeated exposure to black soil!

The first thing to concentrate on, come early spring, is working compost into your soil. If you haven't started a compost bin yet, now's the time. It doesn't have to be big, just a place or bin where you throw your vegetable kitchen scraps. Stir it with a pitchfork several times over the next many months, and come spring, it should be spreadable into your garden soil.

Good soil is 75% of curing the Black Thumb!! But don't worry, you'll enjoy it.

 

[MarkR]

Just remember, a little composted chicken poo never hurts anyone.

 

[omeletta]

Thanks buff shallots! My first composting try was a complete fiasco, think I had too much of something and not enough of something else...er, so I was composting my little heart out when one day I checked it, and green things were growing! I was so disheartened that I put the lid back on and didn't come back...'tl a month later when I decided the heap had to go to the dump...I looked and I had juicy tomato plants growing, in October! So I took one and planted it and put it in a south facing window in my livingroom. Christmas came, and we had 5 juicy red tomatoes! It had also grown to be 11 feet tall (must have been indeterminate ) I was very pleased...although they weren't very tastey, oh well, I was proud anyway.

For chicken and rabbit poo, don't you have to compost it awhile, because it might burn your plants?

Tanya

 

[Wildsky]

Omletta - Hi there!!!


Question on chicken Poo - Cause I have aLOT of it...

How long does it need to compost till it can be used?

I don't have any lying around, but i am using the deep litter method in my coop - come spring it all gets tossed out. Do I need to let it stew before putting it in the ground for my plants?

 

[patandchickens]

My first composting try was a complete fiasco, think I had too much of something and not enough of something else...er, so I was composting my little heart out when one day I checked it, and green things were growing! I was so disheartened that I put the lid back on and didn't come back...'tl a month later when I decided the heap had to go to the dump...I looked and I had juicy tomato plants growing, in October! So I took one and planted it and put it in a south facing window in my livingroom. Christmas came, and we had 5 juicy red tomatoes! It had also grown to be 11 feet tall (must have been indeterminate ) I was very pleased...although they weren't very tastey, oh well, I was proud anyway.

Fiasco?? You got free tomatoes for Christmastime and you're calling it a fiasco??

No, seriously, it's pretty common for 'things' to spring up from your compost pile, especially if you're one of us who use the 'pile it in a big amorphous heap and forget about it for a long time' technique. And that's perfectly okay... in fact, think of it as an endorsement of the good quality of your compost!

Just pull the plants out (roots and all will come out easily) and use the compost however you were planning. Even if your pile gets infested with quack grass (twitch grass, whatever you want to call it, eviller than silkies but without the cute factor) it is remarkably easy to pull out by the roots since compost is so nice and light and fluffy.

Take it to the dump? Heavens no. At the very worst, 'failed' compost can be used for starting a new compost pile

Pat

 

[omeletta]

Thanks, pat! Gardening is one of those lovely things that would be far nicer passed down from generation to generation...my mom was a great gardener and canner, but I wasn't allowed in the garden or in the kitchen! I have 4 daughters, and it has dawned on me in the last 2 years or so that I want those things for them, so I seek to learn and strive to teach!

Thanks for your Encouragement!

Tanya :weight

 

[sebrightlover]

Hello fellow black-thumber!!!

Re:composting chook poo .... if mixed with pine shavings and or straw - how does that affect the rate of breakdown?

 

[omeletta]

HI, Wildsky! Good to see so many familliar faces, err...avatars!

I want to know about composting the poo, as well. I have gobs of rabbit poo, too. I deep layer with pine shavings, in the coop, run and rabbit barn. I had heard 2 years before it was usable, because of burning!

Does anyone know for sure?

Tanya