Wednesday, April 21, 2010

compost day

today was almost entirely dedicated to compost. the nine foot space between these two pallet bins was two thirds full of compost. that large bin was starting to fall apart. so i decided to empty and demolish it. it held about six yards of compost when full. it was full before planting started this spring.

i put about half of it in the new bin on the right. the other half is this huge pile in the garden waiting to nourish our little seedlings.

over a dozen full wheel barrow loads.

then i decided that we needed a couple more bins to take the daily manure removal from the stable. i wanted them next to the stable door for easy access.


here are the new compost bins.

the one on the right was filled from turning another demolished bin. that compost will be ready for our fall garden. the pink door is because i opened an old can of paint that couldn't be resealed. i painted a few other things around the farm. i hate to waste paint.

ianto and jack have settled in nicely.


this morning we planted red raspberries.


yesterday we planted tomatillos. they are a little more hardy toward cooler temps than tomatoes.

they are just to the left of the bean arch in this photo. here they are from the other angle.

i also hooked up one of the manifolds to the soaker hoses.

i put the hoses and manifold (four way splitter) on tarp to suppress weeds and expose any leaks that always appear throughout the summer.

our giant bamboo has just started to show. it comes a little later than the smaller local bamboo.


our ginko tree is looking healthy.

in the background is a cover crop of winter wheat and my huge pile of compost.

tabitha made a bamboo gate.

cute..

our beets are up and doing nicely.

beets = good

our wisteria likes the new bamboo trellis.

8 comments:

Captain's Wife - Jennifer said...

Very impressive! :) So, have your potatoes decided to make an appearance yet? I've been wondering about them.

Woody said...

Just curious Karl..how far apart do you have your cattle panels stacked for your arch? Ours are at 6'. It barely gives me clearance but my primary bean pickers are much shorter than me.

Peace

Danielle said...

Everything looks so wonderful! The garden is impressive!

Jessika said...

Lovely, Karl! I need a better setup for saving all the manure from my milk cows when they are in the barn for the winter. 7 cows and their calves makes a much bigger pile of manure, that needs moving by tractor but I'm losing a lot of it. I can't believe how far ahead your growing season is!

Ecocheapo said...

How wonderful! You accomplish so much! There never seems to be enough hours in the day for all we would like to do.

Omelay said...

jennifer, just barely

woody, four feet apart. it gives a little more height. tabitha, my primary picker, is almost as tall as me;)

danielle, thanks our garden is still filled with hope. bugs, weather and weeds still have time to crush our hopes.

jessica, yes my setup was in shambles after the years of abuse. compost is hard on pallets. eventually i'd like to construct something that will last many years.

ecocheapo, boy i'm sore today though.

Ron said...

I'm glad to see so many pallets. :)

Compost is hard on them though. If I was smart, I'd line them with scraps of plastic before filling. Maybe next year I'll remember.

Ron

katrien said...

I love compost: DH and I just made our first compost bin (3 bin system). Out of pine, though, because beggars can't be choosers. We'll see how long it lasts.

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