Monthly Archives: August 2014

From Seeds

Garden,

Growing from seeds is trickier than planting already growing plants.DSC04001 This Vinca is the only plant I got after planting about 160 seeds.  However, since it is perennial, it will last a long time and just get bigger.

DSC03998  This is some extra oregano which I planted from seed nearly a year ago.  It has thrived recently, spreading and growing relatively better than the marjoram next to it.  So I took out the excess that was nearly invading the space of the marjoram.    After washing and removing the stems, we got five loosely packed sandwich bags each containing  about half a cup of oregano leaves.  We put these into the freezer to use for cooking.  Some of the leaves did have holes in them, so I do not dare eat them fresh, for fear of catching a liver fluke.

DSC04000 After it gets growing, the stems lie on the ground, and put out roots, then bush out above this.  It looks like this  plant can keep going by vegetative reproduction. I transplanted a stem like this into the garden in front of the fence.

Garden, August 21, 2014

Garden

Here is the garden today, which we started a little less than a year ago.  DSC03994 Here is the garden, photographed in my camera’s Paint mode. which accounts for its exaggerated green.

Soon we will be planting some new plants and perhaps some seeds.  We will amend the soil some more, and fertilize.  Herbs have grown well.  Other plants were spotty.

 

New Compost Tumbler

Garden, , ,

In with the new compost tumbler and out with the old!  (Note:  pictures are done in my camera’s Paint format, which is why the colors are exaggerated, and the detail is less.)

DSC03993 Here is my new compost tumbler, which has several advantages over my old box.

DSC03991 The is the old compost bin.  It lost its lid during Hurricane Ike.

DSC03992 This is the compost which I had gotten in about five months.  There is compost in there, but it worked very slowly.  It has undigested eggshells in it.

I can re-compost some of the stems if I chip them up.

Advantages of my compost tumbler over my old compost bin.  The new one:

  1. Has a lid, and will keep out scavengers
  2. Tumbles the contents to mix thoroughly to oxygenate the working compost
  3. Is easily movable
  4. Can hold the heat for proper decomposition of the materials
  5. Empties easily
  6. Should be much faster;  three months at the most for a batch of compost to be made.
  7. Will compost heavier duty materials, such as branch chips.