Today, instead of cleaning the fridge or picking up the dining room I dug and moved 2 truckloads of city compost to our yard. Royal Oak drops its compost and mulch a few miles from our house and it is free to residents. I have been waiting in the shadows for a drop since I finished the beds and today was the day! It happened to be raining but that hasn't ever really stopped me. Each bed is about a truckload of compost so I'm half-way done.
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| March 2012 |
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| April 2012 |
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| June 2012 with a rose photobomb |
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| May 2012 |
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| June 2012 |
Because we're hoping to move by the end of the summer I'm trying to avoid getting too attached to this garden. We might be giving most of it away to the new neighbors (hi neighbors!). I've decided to use this season to experiment and put my years of research experience into agricultural play. Each bed will have the same plants (tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, peppers, etc.) but different conditions. Beds 1 & 2 have a cardboard weedblocker and city compost. Bed 3 will have a cardboard weedblocker and composted manure. Bed 4 will have composted manure and no week blocker. This is a last minute experiment so there will be some flaws (Bed 2 should have city compost but no weedblocker). I'm going to play around with nutrients and watering schedules. I did not sift the compost (lazy) but I'm curious to see if that makes a big difference. I'm going to look into cheap sifting set-ups, maybe Bed 2 will be sifted.
My favorite things about today:
- The compost was warm. It felt good on my hands. The steam rolled up from the pile when I lifted my shovel.
- Even though I kicked my shoes off outside I still left muddy footprints through the foyer and kitchen.
- After pouring the last bucket of compost I took a short, dirty nap on the couch with a very snuggly cat.
- My shower was a-maize-ing.
- Scratch bison stew for dinner with grain-free peanut butter cookies for dessert.
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