A couple days ago I put some leaves in my bins, crushed up as small as I could get them manually. I gathered them from around the building.
Then building maintenance trimmed the hedges in front of my apartment, so I collected some of the clippings, cut off all of the needles, and cut the limbs into small pieces. Most of the limbs were quite small.
Today I added some coffee grounds that I collected from the coffee station here in the building. When I worked the leaves and hedge material into the soil before adding the coffee grounds, in the largest bin I saw a very big worm. I was going to snap a picture, but it kept getting away from me before I could get the camera. That really made me happy to know that I have at least one worm thriving - not just surviving - in my compost bins.
My bins are pretty full, so I don't anticipate adding much more to them except green materials to feed the worms. I want to buy a 4-prong spade fork in November to better mix up the bin contents. It's difficult to get to the very bottom with my little garden trowel. And I will buy another container of 30 worms to divide among the bins to increase the worm population in each.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019
My Patio Garden - 2019
A couple of years ago I lived on the northside of Hillside Terrace, on the 3rd floor. I attempted a balcony garden in containers for 2 years, but the resulting produce wasn't sufficient to make the effort and cost worthwhile. The problem was lack of sunlight. I could get 4-5 hours of sunlight if I moved the plants throughout the day. 4-5 hours itself is not as much as tomato plants like, and constantly having to move the plants around created a lot of extra work.
This last winter I moved to an apartment on the eastside, with much more sunlight, although not as much as possible because of a very large tree providing shade in the precious morning hours. If I put the plants just in front of the patio, I could increase the hours of sunlight, but that created other problems -- the wind and the heavy rains. Our May and June were unusually wet, and my containers would be saturated. Of course I put drainage holes, but it rained too frequently. I needed to control the amount of rain they got, so moving the containers back alongside the building limited the damage from both the wind and the excessive rain.
I watered the containers until the excess drained out. Of course that drains out a lot of the fertilizer that I was putting in the soil. I experimented with a couple of drip systems. I tried to set it up so that I would use one large reservoir of water to irrigate several plants. I used wicks to draw the water out of the reservoir and then drip it in the containers. That did not work well. I used several wick systems -- gallon jugs and/or 2-liter soda bottles in each container. Finally, I settled on using 2-liter bottles with pin holes in the bottom which let the water gradually soak into the soil. I covered the soil with paper towels, which helped keep the top soil moist between waterings. This required much less water and I had much less drainage out the bottom. So this is the watering system that I will use next year.
I didn't start the plants in my patio garden -- the Manager and another resident did. I just took over several of their containers so they didn't have so much work. They gave me a couple cucumber plants, a couple cantaloupe plants, a cherry tomato plant, and a couple basil plants. I purchased an early girl tomato plant to add to my garden. The cucumbers and cantaloupe were a total failure - we didn't have bees to pollinate. Next year I will plant flowers to attract the bees. The basil plants did fantastic, and I shared basil with the Phipps in our Branch throughout the summer and finally put the plants in their custody so Sis Phipps could harvest when she wanted to.
The cherry tomato plant went wild with plant growth, far exceeding the fruit production. The tomatoes were not as flavorful as my Easy Girl. I topped the plant a couple of times to control the upward growth. I will select a different plant for next year. I've been watching some CalKim29 youtubes on her container garden, and she suggests some cherry tomato plants to use.
The Early Girl plant did quite well - the tomatoes were so good. I had blossom end rot on the first batch, which cost me 8-10 tomatoes. And the weather turned cold when I still have about 10 tomatoes still on the plant. They were too green to ripen indoors, so I have been putting them in the compost bins.
I'll post a page of pictures of the garden throughout the summer.
And that is what I am doing now -- composting in my containers. I started out just wanting to save the soil to reuse next year, and not have that expense again. As I removed plants from the patio garden, I chopped them up and mixed them in with the soil. The I decided to try composting to increase the fertility of the soil. I started shredding paper and cardboard to add as browns, and then started buying bananas again to use the peels as greens. I collect coffee grounds by recovering the Keurig cups from the trash can near the Keurig coffee maker. And I started using eggs again to have egg shells as browns. Another resident also saves her coffee grounds for me, and Vicky and Betty give me their refuse, like egg shells and bananas.
I started out with a 26 1/2 gallon clear plastic tote, with lid (I put "air" holes in the lid), to collect the soil and chopped up plants as I retired plants from the garden. I then added 1 - 18 gallon grey tote, also with lid. I put drainage holes in the bottom of the tote and air holes in the lid. I added another 18 gallon tote, and also purchased worms to put to work in the compost bins. I added another 18 gallon tote, and then when I retired my two tomato plants, I converted their 5-gallon containers into compost bins, and took a couple worms from the other bins to put into them.
I watched a number of youtubes on container composting, and learned that there is no one single way to compost in containers -- the 2 main principles agreed on by all are: 1) decompose browns and greens to increase the nutrient value of the soil, and 2) keep the contents of bin the wetness of a wrung-out sponge. The other principle I picked up is to add worms so they do some of the composting work for you. And of course, I had to learn what browns and greens are.
If my soil is wet enough or too wet, I add the browns dry. If the soil isn't wet enough, I soak the browns in water and squeeze them out to the wetness of a wrung-out sponge and then add them to the bin.
Sometimes I work the greens into the soil in the bin, to encourage the worms to move around the bin looking for food. Sometimes I bury the greens as a whole, so I can see if it's been eaten so I know the worms are alive and working. Theoretically, as the worms digest the browns and greens, they will leave their castings in the soil, making it a rich soil for my plants next summer. Some of the browns and greens will just decompose, also adding valuable nutrients to the soil. I have another 18-gallon tote that I store my browns in so that I can add these materials to the compost bins throughout the winter.
My plans for next year's garden are:
On the south side of my patio door
1. Use the 26 1/2 gallon tub against the south wall for cantaloupe plants.
2. Get another 26 1/2 gallon tub to put in the south corner along the wall for watermelons.
3. Use an 18 gallon tote against the wall for some peas and green beans
On the north side of my patio door
4. Use an 18 gallon tote or a second early girl tomato plant
5. Use a 5-gallon pail for a cherry tomato
6. Use a second 5-gallon pail for a cherry tomato
7. Use an 18-gallon tote for another early girl tomato plant
Plant flowers and basil and other herbs as companions in the totes.
This last winter I moved to an apartment on the eastside, with much more sunlight, although not as much as possible because of a very large tree providing shade in the precious morning hours. If I put the plants just in front of the patio, I could increase the hours of sunlight, but that created other problems -- the wind and the heavy rains. Our May and June were unusually wet, and my containers would be saturated. Of course I put drainage holes, but it rained too frequently. I needed to control the amount of rain they got, so moving the containers back alongside the building limited the damage from both the wind and the excessive rain.
I watered the containers until the excess drained out. Of course that drains out a lot of the fertilizer that I was putting in the soil. I experimented with a couple of drip systems. I tried to set it up so that I would use one large reservoir of water to irrigate several plants. I used wicks to draw the water out of the reservoir and then drip it in the containers. That did not work well. I used several wick systems -- gallon jugs and/or 2-liter soda bottles in each container. Finally, I settled on using 2-liter bottles with pin holes in the bottom which let the water gradually soak into the soil. I covered the soil with paper towels, which helped keep the top soil moist between waterings. This required much less water and I had much less drainage out the bottom. So this is the watering system that I will use next year.
I didn't start the plants in my patio garden -- the Manager and another resident did. I just took over several of their containers so they didn't have so much work. They gave me a couple cucumber plants, a couple cantaloupe plants, a cherry tomato plant, and a couple basil plants. I purchased an early girl tomato plant to add to my garden. The cucumbers and cantaloupe were a total failure - we didn't have bees to pollinate. Next year I will plant flowers to attract the bees. The basil plants did fantastic, and I shared basil with the Phipps in our Branch throughout the summer and finally put the plants in their custody so Sis Phipps could harvest when she wanted to.
The cherry tomato plant went wild with plant growth, far exceeding the fruit production. The tomatoes were not as flavorful as my Easy Girl. I topped the plant a couple of times to control the upward growth. I will select a different plant for next year. I've been watching some CalKim29 youtubes on her container garden, and she suggests some cherry tomato plants to use.
The Early Girl plant did quite well - the tomatoes were so good. I had blossom end rot on the first batch, which cost me 8-10 tomatoes. And the weather turned cold when I still have about 10 tomatoes still on the plant. They were too green to ripen indoors, so I have been putting them in the compost bins.
I'll post a page of pictures of the garden throughout the summer.
And that is what I am doing now -- composting in my containers. I started out just wanting to save the soil to reuse next year, and not have that expense again. As I removed plants from the patio garden, I chopped them up and mixed them in with the soil. The I decided to try composting to increase the fertility of the soil. I started shredding paper and cardboard to add as browns, and then started buying bananas again to use the peels as greens. I collect coffee grounds by recovering the Keurig cups from the trash can near the Keurig coffee maker. And I started using eggs again to have egg shells as browns. Another resident also saves her coffee grounds for me, and Vicky and Betty give me their refuse, like egg shells and bananas.
I started out with a 26 1/2 gallon clear plastic tote, with lid (I put "air" holes in the lid), to collect the soil and chopped up plants as I retired plants from the garden. I then added 1 - 18 gallon grey tote, also with lid. I put drainage holes in the bottom of the tote and air holes in the lid. I added another 18 gallon tote, and also purchased worms to put to work in the compost bins. I added another 18 gallon tote, and then when I retired my two tomato plants, I converted their 5-gallon containers into compost bins, and took a couple worms from the other bins to put into them.
I watched a number of youtubes on container composting, and learned that there is no one single way to compost in containers -- the 2 main principles agreed on by all are: 1) decompose browns and greens to increase the nutrient value of the soil, and 2) keep the contents of bin the wetness of a wrung-out sponge. The other principle I picked up is to add worms so they do some of the composting work for you. And of course, I had to learn what browns and greens are.
If my soil is wet enough or too wet, I add the browns dry. If the soil isn't wet enough, I soak the browns in water and squeeze them out to the wetness of a wrung-out sponge and then add them to the bin.
Sometimes I work the greens into the soil in the bin, to encourage the worms to move around the bin looking for food. Sometimes I bury the greens as a whole, so I can see if it's been eaten so I know the worms are alive and working. Theoretically, as the worms digest the browns and greens, they will leave their castings in the soil, making it a rich soil for my plants next summer. Some of the browns and greens will just decompose, also adding valuable nutrients to the soil. I have another 18-gallon tote that I store my browns in so that I can add these materials to the compost bins throughout the winter.
My plans for next year's garden are:
On the south side of my patio door
1. Use the 26 1/2 gallon tub against the south wall for cantaloupe plants.
2. Get another 26 1/2 gallon tub to put in the south corner along the wall for watermelons.
3. Use an 18 gallon tote against the wall for some peas and green beans
4. Use an 18 gallon tote or a second early girl tomato plant
5. Use a 5-gallon pail for a cherry tomato
6. Use a second 5-gallon pail for a cherry tomato
7. Use an 18-gallon tote for another early girl tomato plant
Plant flowers and basil and other herbs as companions in the totes.
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