Sunday, January 22, 2012

Did I leave something out??

You may be thinking to yourself - she didn't include the main things others put in their recycle bins!!

No, I didn't forget the paper bags, newspapers and cardboard.  As I expand my raised bed gardens each year I utilize them quite effectively.  I save them up all year and then when I am ready to construct the new beds, these materials go down a couple of inches thick on the bottom.  They decompose and stop the weeds and our famous valley rocks from coming up.  My existing beds I am going on my third year of use - the only weeds I have had to deal with are a few around the edges and the blasted little trees that pop up due to the neighbors tree that hangs over the fence.  I make my beds no more than four feet across so I don't have to reach any further than 2 feet to reach my goodies.

I also add my own, home made compost.  I use the three bin system and have produced some great compost for my beds.  I refuse to apply chemicals of any kind to any of my gardens.

 If you would like to see how aggressive composting is done you click the link below to see a pile I did last year from start to finish - - including photos, tips and even how to set up a worm bed so the little red wigglers can eat your garbage!!  Of course, composting will happen on it's own over time - compost happens!  If your aggressive you can have compost (black gold) in as little as 6 weeks!

 http://protheropile.blogspot.com/

The project was named for my brother-in-law Mr. Prothero who donated the fine ingredients.

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