from 'comunity garden' - into 'first try at a garden'..

[897tgigvib]

Shucks, shazaam sarge.

 

[canesisters]

It's raining here .... again. (we need a smilie of a pouring thundercloud)

BUT - tomorrow it's going to be in the 50's. I can't wait till the weekend - when it's cold and wet again - to add more dirt and give Rotmore another stir.

Question... now that it's cookin, how do I know when it's done? Or when it's safe to plant? Don't want to cook my corn before it's time


edited to add:

I just looked back over the first few posts.
WHAT was I thinking!?!?!?! Sometimes I wish I could stop being a 'jump in with both feet' kind of person. LOL
Isn't it funny how our plans change once we actually start to firm up a dream? It was kinda funny to watch it dwindle down from 100'x100' to the little 15' circle that it is now. I'm still really excited to see how this one does - and looking forward to all that will be learned - and to expanding next year. (with a better/earlier start - LOL)

By the way - that 100' square garden is (in my head) becoming more like several small beds. All enclosed inside a HUGE chicken run. Maybe one bed just for 3 sisters... maybe one just for bush beans, peppers, etc.... maybe one just for salad greens.....
There I go again..... daydreaming out loud in front of the computer

 

[digitS']

My compost piles always tended to be on the cool side, 'Sister'. Covered with snow thru the winters . . . unturned . . . fairly well loaded with supplemented N . . . left for 18 months at a time. So, I never even approached my compost pile with a thermometer . You may want to track the temperature in there and let that be a guide.

What you may also want to do is what you are doing -- daydreaming out loud while putting words on a screen. BTW - don't lose your words, remember they are here on TEG but there wouldn't be anything wrong with printing them out in a garden journal . . . or, a letter to a 'sister' .

Nothing gets done for me unless I "turn it over" as an idea. "Cultivation," you know. Running over it a few times ~ and running it past other gardeners ~ makes a good deal of sense. See if it stands to reason . . . You've still got to put the shovel to the dirt but putting a pencil to paper is a very wise start to most everything.

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

Take out a shovel full and smell it. Does it smell good? I mean, a soft sweet fungusy smell...
Does it look like good spongy compost?

Ya still have awhile before garden, seed to soil time...Why don't ya take some, put it in some pots, and start some Tomato seeds in it. Do that while it's still growing...

If those tomato seeds sprout in it, grow good, don't look all yellow, SOUP'S ON!

 

[canesisters]

Welllllll....... I saw the weirdest thing this morning.

On the way to the truck there was 'something different' in the yard. I stopped and just stared for a moment before it hit me. Rotmore has suddenly (overnight) shrunk about 2 - 2.5 feet! Just yesterday the top of the tarp was just above the top of the fence. This morning it was WELL below.

I won't have very much time this afternoon to investigate but I'm hoping that maybe the big pile of fresh poo that the whole thing was piled on top of has collapsed.. ? Sort of like a pop-up timer in a turkey... pile 'pops' time to spread it and add more dirt ..... ????

But that can't be could it??? So soon?????

~ compost obsessed... pretty sure I need to find a support/recovery group......

 

[897tgigvib]

Oh Cane! I created a composters anonymous topic for you, a regular support group for those with that wondrous addiction, dreams so sweet of a pile that grows and shrinks, for those who would name their heap



Oh the sacred joys of it all!

 

[digitS']

I think that with folks with backyard chickens - the tendency is to build the compost pile with too much shavings.

It is okay. We shouldn't have to put up with vile conditions in the coop just so we have a little more "pure" manure to work with. Still, that wood just doesn't decompose quickly. There is essentially no nitrogen in it! And, we may over-estimate the amount of N in chicken manure.

Yes, chicken manure is a good natural source and uncomposted is a little too "hot" for plants but have you seen what the commercial outfits are pulling out of their "facilities" for composting? It is really, really pure manure - and feathers! After it has cooked down with several turnings, you may have a 3% N compost. . . . or, a 1% N compost. Good but if there was an equal amount of shavings in it - or 3 times as much savings - you see where I'm going.

One thing, there are good commercial sources of N you can add to the compost. I think of doing things like that as just an investment. Those plant nutrients aren't going anywhere except into the soil where plants benefit. Something like an 8% organic lawn food! Yeah, "poultry wastes" - they are using the whole chicken! Even the 3% N composted chicken manure. That's pretty good stuff to add to a compost of litter and dead garden plants.

Steve

 

[canesisters]

One thing, there are good commercial sources of N you can add to the compost. I think of doing things like that as just an investment. Those plant nutrients aren't going anywhere except into the soil where plants benefit. Something like an 8% organic lawn food! Yeah, "poultry wastes" - they are using the whole chicken! Even the 3% N composted chicken manure. That's pretty good stuff to add to a compost of litter and dead garden plants.

Steve

So I would toss some fertalizer in there? Like just the good old 10.10.10 stuff??? My chickens' poo/bedding ratio is WAY heavy in shavings. I think I'll address this issue with them at the next board meeting.
Actually, as soon as I manage to finish bulding the chicken tractor, I'm going back and setting up a perch/poo shelf in the coop so I can actually collect JUST the poo without all the shavings.

 

[897tgigvib]

I suggest bone meal.

Chemical fertilizers may upset the balance of the microbios in the compost. bone meal has around 5% Nitrogen in it, slow acting and good, and around 15% Phosphorus, slow and good, plus a good amount of Calcium and some micro nutrients. It sets well and also further decomposes.

 

[digitS']

About 20+ years years ago, I stopped using any commercial fertilizer in the vegetable garden. It was only in the sweet corn, as I recall. But anyway, I was still willing to put it in my compost.

That changed when I discovered high-N organic fertilizers. Probably should be "steamed bone meal" but I really don't know bone meal. Alaska liquid fish fertilizer in 5% and there is dry, which must be even higher.

Once, I got a load of horse manure. I can still remember the guy telling me how he guaranteed it would grow veggies. Used that voice like the guy on the Men's Warehouse commercial - "I guaraanteeee it!" Cripes! It must have been 2/3rds shavings. I used ammonium sulfate on it and everything was fine - sort of.

Here is what I've referenced around TEG before: http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0212.html

And, if you think that chicken litter might be a little lean on N: Try something from a horse stable .

Steve