« And after an exhausting night.... | Main | Square Foot Gardening »
May 10, 2006
Composting
How can coffee grounds, banana peels, and grass cutting turn into fertile dirt? I knew it to be true, but still, couldn't quite comprehend the process.
Well, it does. Sue has morphed into the Queen of Compost, and the compost piles are turning out a steady amount of dirt that the plants and seedlings thrive in.
We have a couple of spinning composters, however Sue has found that creating a circular wire mesh container, then turning it every couple of weeks works best. In fact, most anything kind of debris like that if left in a pile for six months will turn into dirt. Same with horse poo, and we've found a source for that here in L.A just 20 minutes away. The bottom of their five foot high pile of poo is, in fact, dirt. Amazingly nutritious dirt. Tomatoes love it.
All manner of little bugs live in the compost piles, eating it, breaking it down. The soil in our garden area is filled with earthworms, a sure sign that the soil is quality.
After the sunflowers bloom, then die, we will have large amounts of new compost material, and the process continues.
Posted by Bob at May 10, 2006 12:17 AM