Composting

My homemade compost bin

 There are many benefits to composting. We have been doing it for several years now, basically since we moved into this house. My facility for doing so has changed a couple of times, but it works just the same, but maybe better as I have learned some things.

The first benefit is that our trash volume is very small. We produce one standard kitchen sized bag of garbage each week. We also recycle, so there is that. Nearly all food wastes go into the compost bin.

As you can see from the photo above, fresh garden foods, trimmings, egg shells, spent floral arrangements etc are added quite often. I add layers of dead leaves during this time of year, after they have been mulched, and green grass clippings a few times a year during the mowing season. Since I mulch all the grass clippings in the summer and leaves in the fall, I will attach my mower bag once in a while to catch these clippings to add to the pile. I them remove it so my yard has natural ingredients all year.

This latest bin I constructed out of leftover wood. The slats were attached so that air can get into the sides and the pitchfork stays close by so that I can turn it over every few weeks. The bottom of this pile is dark and rich and is very potent. It needs to be added to other soils and amendments and not used alone. Sometimes, I will take a scoop of the muck in the bottom and make a tea by putting the scoop into a bucket of water and letting it steep. Adding this to potted plants, and other plants around the yard is like adding a natural liquid feed.

While we don't add meat products, we will add mussel shells, shrimp shells and clam shells to the mix. They don't break down very easily, but the added calcium and other minerals to leech in. I have noticed too, that the squirrels will gnaw on the clam shells from time to time.

In the spring, I will take off the top half, and take out the bottom half and put it into another pile, ready to be used. I will then put back the top half so that it will be ready for the next round of decomposition.

Cold icy rain spares us from the first brutal hit of winter

the final layer of leaves await mulching

Well, we dodged a bullet this week. While the rest of the country was wrapping up from brutal winter weather, with temperatures below zero, massive ice storms or snow, we got just a taste. Mornings were in the teens to low 20s and the storm only produced a bit of ice on the trees equaling to about an eighth of an inch or about a half a centimeter.

I wasn't able to finish cleaning the back yard due to the incessant rainfall we encountered from Sunday to Tuesday. That clean up will just have to wait until next week. With short days and waning light, There is nothing I can do after getting home in the evening.

Enjoy some photos from around the yard during the cold snap.

slow. ice. drip.

interesting shapes along the branches

ice covered branches look ominous in the light of a streetlamp

Good weather for late fall chores in the yard

Dried toad lily blossoms

I was able to get some yard work done over the last few days. Some are not pleasant, but are needed. After all was done though, the yard was looking better and will mean less work for me in the spring to get the growing season started. The weather here has been off and on warmer than it should be, mixed with some pretty cold nights.

Ginger Lilies before cutting and bedding

The Ginger Lilies finally succumbed to the freezes and dropped and turned to much. While I try to mulch as much as I can back into the ground, these stalks are no match for the mower. They are extremely fibrous and will clog even the best mower. That said, I cut each one and hauled the remains to the back for further decomposition. I then spread copious amounts of hardwood mulch over the rhizomes to protect against total mushiness this winter when the colder than normal temps start after the new year.

Thick mulch will help protect the rhizomes from the worst of the freeze

I also took advantage of the weather to clean out the raised beds of all the spent veggies and herbs from this year. The soil is looking good and I will add some new ingredients in the spring prior to planting. The Thyme took a hit during the summer, resulting in a half death, but the other half should make it through the winter just fine. My Fennel, which was this year about 5 or so years old, finally died. I'll plant some more in the spring, to help entice the Swallowtails to lay their eggs once more.

While doing the cleanup, I noticed that one of the boards of the raised beds was split. I will have to replace that board in the spring, to get it ready for next years crop.

Raised vegetable bed before cleanup.

Sorry looking herb bed before cleanup. Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano and Chives are all still doing well.

After cleanup of one bed. This Bonsai will winter here with mulch around the pot.

Split boards will be replaced in the spring

The soil in these beds is extremely rich and you can sink your hands in at any time without using a tool. It is a mixture of screened topsoil, manure, peat moss, and our own compost mix from the back. I don't really ever use fertilizer, other than compost tea.

Signs that this is going to be a hard winter

I heard a report a few weeks ago stating that the Farmers Almanac claims that this is going to be harsh winter in our area. I'm not one for superstitions nor do believe in fairy tales, so I have never given the FA much validity. Quite frankly, every time I've picked one up in my local Home Depot, I could not make heads or tails of it while sifting through page after page of advertisements.

Those who can decipher the news between the ads say that the east coast, midway and up will have frigid temps along with with lots of that white fluffy stuff. Our area usually sees its "winter" as mid January to late February. Most of our snow happens during mid February to early March. Last year we had an unusual number of snowfalls, all within a short time span.

What this brings me to is that I have witnessed some things in nature over the last few weeks that have me wondering if those prognosticators over at the Farmers Almanac might have a winner on their hands. You see, while they have a good record, according to records, they have been accurate about 80% of the time, there's that other 20% staring you in the face. Last year they predicted we would have the colder than normal weather with a mixed bag of precipitation. Actually, we had quite a mild winter, with only a handful of days below freezing.

We have a few Sweetgum trees on our property. If it wasn't for their incredible fall foliage color, I would have every one of them cut down and replaced with something more tolerable. These trees produce their fruit for seed distribution, in the form of a hard spiky ball. I'm sure you've all seen one. For those who haven't, imagine a ping pong ball, painted brown and spikes protruding from the entire surface. They don't break down easily, and the trees produce these in copious amounts. So much so, that late in the winter season, I have to rake the entire back yard, starting at the house and continuing to the back of my lot. This takes close to an entire day, as these fruit can not be picked up with much success with a mulching mower, nor can they be mulched very well at all. They shoot out from the mower with deadly speed, bouncing off of the house and tree trunks, and I find myself ducking here and there while mulching the leaves.

Sweetgum leaves and fruit

closeup of spiky fruit

The squirrels have been eating these like they were some sort of delicacy. Most years, they eat a few, no big deal. But this year I have noticed huge piles of discards under the trees. Good for me! Maybe I won't have to rake this year! But wait! What else can this mean?  So, without any scientific data or advanced degree in animal behavior, I have concluded the following; It's gonna be frickin' cold this winter! Why else would they be eating something they normally only nibble here and there? They are putting on as many "ounces" as possible because they know. They know that it will be a long, hard, cold winter. Uh...I've got to go to the store.

March 24, 2013... a late snow for us

The other occurrence that made me think that this was gonna be a doozie, was that one of my Witch Hazels, which normally blooms in late February, bloomed in Early November (see November 12 post). I really have no other explanation.

Sweetgum leaf

Great color from the Sweetgum

Fall color at its best

I just wanted to share some photos I've taken of fall colors. Some of you live in places where there is no change of season, or you just might want to look at the colors. Virginia has some of the best color change during this season, depending on the amount of rainfall we get prior.

Please enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy the season.

Crepe Myrtle seed pods

scene from the back yard

mums

mums

mums

mums

Japanese maple

Japanese maple

Japanese maple

Sugar Maple

what a nice mix

Strange happenings in the garden

Early blooms

One of the guys on one of the gardening communities on g+ popped up a pic and stated how he loves this time of year because his Witch Hazel blooms. This statement made me stop and wonder what was going on here. All of my witch hazel has always bloomed late in winter, usually late February to early March. He is in Georgia, I'm in Virginia. We're not that far from each other. So what gives?

Then, late yesterday I was walking around my gardens and I see this! (see image above) What is going on here? they have never bloomed like this before. Then I started thinking... and we all know what that means. Well, my wife always says, "uh oh". Maybe this is the harbinger of things to come. They have already said we are in for a bad winter. Who "they" are is anyone's guess, but I'm thinking it's those prognosticators over at the Farmers Almanac.

Are the plants trying to get everything in before "the end". Do they know something we don't know? So I dig a little deeper. While we have three different varieties of witch hazel, there are tens of dozens of varieties though. After some research, there are a few varieties that actually bloom twice in a year, fall and very early spring.

Hamamelis 'Diane', with dark orange blossoms

Hamamelis 'Jelena', with orange blossoms

Sometimes bloom time depends on the age of a plant, as does growth rate. Our Ginkgo seems like it is taking for ever to get big enough for shade, but all of the ratings I've read say it is fast to moderate. So we'll wait and see on that one. So maybe the double bloom-ability on this Hamamelis just needed a few years to get there.

I also found out why they are so expensive when you do wish to purchase a new variety. They are all from grafted plants. Plants from seeds or cuttings tend to be less expensive, due to less work involved.

The large specimens in Washington DC all seem to bloom in February also, last time we were up there, and they all seemed to yellow. If you are into plants, Washington DC will keep you on your toes. Many were planted decades ago and will be very large.

In other news from our habitat, we had our first snow of the season, which is very early for us. Okay, okay, it was only flurries, but it sure did come down for a bit. The bird feeder was a very busy area of the yard as I added a suet cage with suet/nuts onto the side of it. It seems to be quite popular. We have quite a few woodpeckers/sapsuckers around here, including Pileated, Red-Bellied, Red Headed, Hairy, Downy, and the Common Flicker. I noticed that the Titmouse and Blue Jay also fed from it.

Rerun post. To mulch, or not to mulch, that is the question.

 

This is a rerun of a post I did last November 22nd. Since I have many new readers, I wanted to share my thoughts on this topic, again, and with my new friends on Google+. I was outside today, mulching and cutting and the smells of autumn clicked and brought me back. I laid down in the yard after finishing and watched over 30 birds descend on the bird feeder. I'm not the only one getting ready for winter.

November, 22, 2012.
Every year I see hundreds, no thousands of people raking, bagging, blowing huge piles of leaves frustratingly with a small electric blower, filling huge tarps with leaves, only to put them in bags, ready to go to the landfill. Really?

The plastic bags alone will not decompose for 1000 years. You use paper bags? Really? I'm not going down that path. There are a few ways you can save the planet and still have a nice yard, in fact a better yard, and I will try to share my thoughts on the matter.

First, you don't have to have that yard that looks like you have a full time staff of groundskeepers. I tried that a few years ago. I would get angry when leaves fell on my newly raked yard, curse when the neighbors (who never seems to clean his yard) leaves would blow into my nice clean yard. Clean? Yes. Spotless? No. Ain't gonna happen Mr. Gates.

What are leaves anyway? I see free fertilizer! So I compost just about all of my leaves. In the first part of the season as the leaves are falling as they are now(see pic above), I lower my mower deck, and mulch the hell out of them. Most of the time you can't even tell there were leaves on the lawn. The only thing that throws the mulching mower for a loop are pine needles, but it still cuts them up and eventually they will break down faster this way.

Why not leave them there and do nothing? Well, for one thing it looks like no one lives there. If you leave the leaves and debris on the ground, they get wet, mat up and cut off water, air and sunlight to the ground. They will eventually break down, sure, but it will take a long time, and everything under them will die. When you mulch, you are increasing the surface area of the leaf exponentially therefore giving more area for air and water and bugs and whatnot to break it down. It also reduces the "pile" by 2/3's. See pic below.

After most of the leaves have fallen, and most of my neighbors have joined my collection, I will start to clean out the beds. I do blow these out, into the yard, where I mulch them there. Some are blown down to the back of the yard where they will join the compost pile. The yard loves it and I save on chemicals, time, energy etc.

First frost. Better late than never.

Better late than never. We had our first frost of the season on Thursday morning, then another on Friday morning. This cold snap will really kick into overdrive, the changing of the seasonal colors. It seems like overnight, my commute got a little bit more colorful. The leaves are coming down in the yard more rapidly and the flannel sheets feel a bit more inviting.

Then, it warmed up. Yesterday and today have been in the mid sixties. More of the same for this week, even peeking possibly into the 70s once again. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining or anything. You see, I'm not much of a cold weather person. I don't mind chilly days every once in awhile, but I really do dislike cold. I would rather be hot and try to cool off rather than finding a way to stay warm. I have an aversion to frostbite. Gloves make everything harder to do. Glasses fogging over are a pain. Scraping the windshield in the morning sucks. Shoveling snow? Forget about it.

My wife is just the opposite though. She would love to live up north. She loves the cold, dislikes the heat. But living up north would shorten my growing season. It's already too short as it is. The time it takes to get everything to blooming stage takes too much time. Then at the end of the season, we have our plants winding down. I would love to live in a tropical setting, where there are no seasons. Where my orchids could live out doors all year long, all over the trees, blooming profusely all the time.

I like some things about seasonal change. I love the way nature uses this time to rest. I love to see the physical changes to some of the plants, like my juniper bonsai. Some of them change from a deep green to ambers and purples. The spruces and pines see this as their salvation season, and will reward us with new growth candles in the early spring. Look at the leaves on your deciduous plants in the late summer. They are full of holes and other defects from a season and a half of hard knocks. Bugs eating into them, hail stones and sticks poking holes in them. Burnt edges on some of the maples. It's been a hard life. Time to get rid of the damage, rest up, store some energy and start in the spring all over again. It is quite fascinating.

I think Virginia is a compromise for us though. We have definite seasonal changes, each about the same length. Our "real winter" starts here mid January to early March. February is our hardest month. We have the coldest temperatures and most snowfall during this time. Lately we have had more snow in early March, though. Is it due to global warming? I'm not sure. We should ask Al Gore.

Gardening limbo

I seem to be in garden limbo. Nothing is growing right now. Nothing really needs to be done. Autumn, true autumn has yet to visit me. What do I do?

The River Birch is still green

I just had 5 days off and it rained for 4.5 of it. The fifth day brought a brief respite from the soggy conditions. I awoke to beautiful clear bright blue skies and temps in the low 70s. I thought, Yes! I can get out there and cut the grass I was all ready to do that but my wife reminded me that the yard was still waterlogged and she was right, of course. The grass never really dried out so I was left to do some weeding. And then the clouds rolled in again and it even sprinkled in the evening. Sigh. What to do.

So I took off some wire from my bonsai, only to find that I had waited too long and it cut into the bark. This will heal, in time, but the scars might never fully grow out. The warmer, sunny weather brought out, to my dismay, the dreaded European Hornets again, seeing them in the top of one of my birch trees, I set out to set them straight. Their last ditch effort to get supplies for their nest is now their last. Until next summer, of course.

The crabapple is loaded this year

We have had a very dry September here. September rains are what usually determine how colorful a fall we will have. Here it is, the middle of October and the colors are muted and very few trees are showing signs that it even autumn. Those that are just showing some brown leaves, and not the color as I have seen in the last couple of years. We have not had a frost yet, and that might have something to do with it. The coolest it has been is the mid 40s for a couple of mornings, but that is about it.

Next on the list will be lowering the mower deck, mulching some leaves, cutting spent flower stalks and mulching the bulb beds extra thick this year. It is supposed to be a cold one.

The days are getting shorter and the shadows longer

Fall chores starting early

The days are getting shorter, the shadows longer and the nights a bit cooler. I chose today to bring in all the orchids and bonsai Ficus. This year I did something a bit different and I'm glad I did.

Last year I just brought them in and put them in their wintering spots around the house. Unfortunately I also brought in some hitchhikers. There were ants, slugs and spiders taking leave of their summer homes and wandering all over the house. We woke up one morning to silvery trails all over the living room, over the floor, the couch and the pillows!

cleaned and ready for the inside

This morning I brought out my screen I made for screening dirt, and emptied each orchid pot, sifting, making sure there weren't any hangers on. I did find a spider or two in the leaves and one of the pots had 3 slugs living in the bottom under the roots. I washed them all and re-potted them with cleaned orchid bark and I added some sphagnum moss to a couple of them.

Oncidium orchidaceae

I also noticed some good signs. My Oncidium orchidaceae (dancing ladies) has 3-4 new stalks and will be honoring us with beautiful flowers soon. Plus, one of the others has a lot of new leaves after having a hard year. So things are looking up.

new leaves are a good sign