Its like I've turned into an adoring three year old.
Anyway, Mark says that your soil is your most important bit of your plot. More important than the veg even (!). Well we gave ours a bit of a manure last year, but haven't really done anything since. Makes sense tho, if you're taking things out of the soil, you'll need to keep the nutrients all topped up if you want to keep doing it every year.
One way of getting nutrients back into the soil is by composting. We've got a compost bin, so last weekend I had a look at how it was doing. Definably more like soil than the rotten cabbages and chard that it was made up of, but quite dry and not fully broken down. And not many worms. (Also think i saw a rat in there, but it could have been just been a potato.)
As we've not been visiting enough to make regular additions of food waste, it looks a bit undernourished. But what was there was promising, and I dont think it will take much to turn it into the powerhouse of free goodness for our plot.
So things to do this year:
Also saw that a lot of the perennial weeds (like dandilion) were actually doing just fine and starting to grow in there. Have put them in a plastic bag to decompose before for a few weeks to make sure theyre double dead before they go in with the rest of the stuff.
Anyway, the bin was emptied out, given a nice airing and a good 'watering'. Will have to see how it is in a few months time.
One way of getting nutrients back into the soil is by composting. We've got a compost bin, so last weekend I had a look at how it was doing. Definably more like soil than the rotten cabbages and chard that it was made up of, but quite dry and not fully broken down. And not many worms. (Also think i saw a rat in there, but it could have been just been a potato.)
As we've not been visiting enough to make regular additions of food waste, it looks a bit undernourished. But what was there was promising, and I dont think it will take much to turn it into the powerhouse of free goodness for our plot.
So things to do this year:
- Fill it up; make sure we use it. All kitchen waste, cardboard and paper, laddered tights, whatever will rot down is going to fill up the bin.
- Get a balance; Ensure that there is both 'Green' (fleshy stuff, clippings & peelings) and 'brown' (twigy things, cardboard, straw) - think this might have been a problem last year - it was mostly just grass and weeds
- Get a balance; Ensure that there is both 'Green' (fleshy stuff, clippings & peelings) and 'brown' (twigy things, cardboard, straw) - think this might have been a problem last year - it was mostly just grass and weeds
- Water it; Our bin is plastic so it isn't going to get any moisture from the rain, which apparently slows down composting.
Also saw that a lot of the perennial weeds (like dandilion) were actually doing just fine and starting to grow in there. Have put them in a plastic bag to decompose before for a few weeks to make sure theyre double dead before they go in with the rest of the stuff.
Anyway, the bin was emptied out, given a nice airing and a good 'watering'. Will have to see how it is in a few months time.
laddered tights? Really?
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