All posts by Sylvia Szucs

About Sylvia Szucs

Victorian Eclectic blogs on our changing lives, toward a useful mindset for those who would like to conserve, use less, save. It is a given that we will keep technology. We need to have fun along the way.

Plantains Disassembled For Compost and Mulch

Garden, ,

DSC01779 I am making mulch from the plantains.

The truth is that I cannot put soft stems or leaves into the chipper/shredder,  and no sticks wider than 1 1/2 inches.  Today I chopped up soft stems, pealed the tattered leaf sides off, and placed both of these kinds of materials into the compost.  I am finding that I have more green compost than I thought I would have.

I chipped the dry stems, and will use this as mulch, along with some of the hand chopped wet stems.

My Renewed Compost Effort

Garden, Plantains,

DSC01654 This is what plantains look like one month after they have experienced about twelve hours at 29 degrees Fahrenheit.

DSC01736 This is where they are going to go, as soon as possible, into our old plastic compost bin, which evaluation showed will be serviceable enough.  They will be chipped and shredded with our new chipper-shredder, which I assembled today.  Plantain plants are full of good soil nutrients, which should also make a good mulch, as well as compost.  I gather this is brown compost, which I need to balance out with green compost.

DSC01774 More about this tomorrow, weather permitting.  Because of the California drought, our garden may be even more useful than before.