Written by: adekun on 10 June, 2008 11:33 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »
It would be great to be self sufficient in compost. Keeping the supplements to a minimum as the plot expanded has been to the detrimental to the yield of some of the plants. Even so, an accumulation of bags has built up. The staples are composted gyufun (cow manure) and pelleted keifun (chicken manure). Powered egg shells for calcium.
Workmen used some of the rocks recovered from the garden to fill an old septic tank. They were around to dig up pipes and left a pile of surplus crushed limestone. It all seemed quite timely as the tile path became in more uneven as weeds pushed through the joints.
Despite plastic sheeting advocates in some permaculture circles, I’m not too keen on the idea, especially as the bags may degrade. On the other hand, it was good to reuse the bags, the only cost in relaying the path was the time.
Tags: compost, garden
Written by: adekun on 15 May, 2008 5:15 pm - Filed under: blog — 3 Comments »
With the warmer weather and turnings with the new fork, the compost’s stench of ammonia has given way to the scent of geranium. Quite a bit of the putrefying stuff got dug in prior to the potatoes, beans and peas. With the bulk of it gone, it was easier to arrange layers of green and brown. Perhaps more importantly, separate the slimy fibrous masses and get some air in. It’s cooler than it was a couple of weeks ago and there has been quite a bit of rain. On Tuesday there was a surprise thunderstorm bringing hyou (hail) as large as ice cubes. It really came down heavy and it’s looks like the summer veg has had too much water. I expect I’ll soon be moaning about the lack of it.
On the way back from our trip to Mitokusan Sanbutsuji we saw the rice paddies flooded up in the mountains. It started down here last week. The odd early bird farmer in-between spells planting out rice.
Tags: compost, garden, weather
Written by: adekun on 1 August, 2007 9:45 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »
Last year I cobbled together a reasonable sized compost bin out of old wood. The sides were made from some reed blinds destined for the city incinerator. Sadly over the past year my toil has been turning into compost. With the help of a few unhandy spade jabs, probably a lot faster than the contents.
I always thought you can never have enough compost; fortunately my neighbour has and offered me some. It seemed like a good time to reuse and recycle – again.
There was some leftover wood from when the mother-in-law commissioned the sister-in-laws fiancé to replace the tatami floor with wood, whilst we were away. I rather very much liked it before. The scrap was soon to be collected for the dump.
A day was spent the previous week, savaging, sawing and hammering. Without any long nails, an hour was taken to straighten and sharpen some old rusty ones.
The slide-up front panels are some old sliding cupboard doors, butchered to fit. As luck would have it there where five 40 litre bags of weeds, ready to go into the left bin. The compost I took went into the one on the right. No work of art, it didn’t cost anything and I’m very pleased with it.
Tags: compost, garden
Written by: adekun on 20 April, 2007 4:47 am - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »
My plan to use the compost that has been stewing in the corner of the garden has been thwarted. During the last turning, I noticed an abundance of my sworn foes; koganemushi & nekirimushi (beetle larvae). Against my best efforts to do way with them, I seem to have created the perfect microclimate for them to propagate.
I am already tied to sourcing the bulk of my plants from the local farmer’s outlet. Not very self sufficient, but I believe a better step towards satisfying the fruit & veg requirement – well at least the vegetables.
The idea of commandeering the mother-in-laws car and taking a drive around Mount Daisen to the dairy farmers was appealing. Instead of leaving a lasting pong, I looked to nearer garden centres. Land Science is the closest, but predictably caters for the more chemically inclined gardener. The most economical compost was priced at ￥600, most of the twenty litre bags weighed in at double that.
Further a field there are a few alternatives and I chose JA, mentioned above. There is a wider selection and I was able to find some organic composted manure and chicken litter, priced at ￥265 (40L) and ￥100 (15kg) respectively. The two kanji for organic are 有機. I’ll skip the various interpretations of organic and settle for being content.
This was incorporated into the beds earlier in the week. At present wrangling with a 3D plan for the summer, the third being mindful of the shade cast.
A special mention for the asparagus, as the spears have already reached a height of three feet and have begun to fan out.
Tags: compost, garden
Written by: adekun on 25 January, 2007 3:10 pm - Filed under: garden — No Comments »
I’m am still trying to learn the dark art of compost. I think I need some nitrogen. Trying to improve my chances I made a compost bin c. 80cm3.
Tags: compost, garden
