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Post by woodeye on Sept 3, 2022 19:08:15 GMT -6
Glad you all were able to get some work done on your place today, chrysanthemum , it's looking good. I'd sure like to trade you some dirt for some of those rocks that you have in the 3rd picture. I have no rocks, but I have a beaucoup of red dirt...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 3, 2022 20:46:32 GMT -6
Oh, we’ve got rocks. We’ve definitely got rocks. I even had to pick chunks of limestone out of the roots of the weeds that my husband was pulling today.
We have an area in our “way back” that every so often when the weather is good, and we’re not in any danger of wildfires, where we bring out a metal fire pit and have a cookout with the kids. We moved a bunch of large rocks there to become our seating. At one point, though, we had a contractor using a skid steer front end loader on the property, and he offered to move some even bigger rocks to the area for us. We just had to point out rocks we had been unable to move ourselves. I’ll see if I can get a picture of some of the really good ones.
I grew up in Virginia where red clay abounds. I know it has its own difficulties when gardening, but I have to admit that I miss it (but I don’t so much miss the mud on the kids’ boots during wintertime).
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Compost
Sept 3, 2022 22:35:57 GMT -6
Post by woodeye on Sept 3, 2022 22:35:57 GMT -6
You mentioned "caliche" in an earlier post, chrysanthemum. That's a word that I once heard a lot, back on the fishing forum I was on for a few years. I had sort of forgotten about that word, there was a guy on the forum that lived in Texas and apparently his land was mostly caliche. Seems like it meant there were high mineral deposits in the soil, or something like that. I see very well why you have to have raised beds for your garden...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 5, 2022 15:59:12 GMT -6
The caliche does have a lot of minerals. You may also hear it referred to as “hardpan,” and that does give a good idea of why I have raised beds. I need to keep putting compost in those raised beds, so I’ve been working hard on that today. My husband had the day off work, so he did lots of weed pulling this morning. We might try to do more if it cools off this evening, but we had to stop in the afternoon with the bright sunshine today. There are lots and lots of little weeds, but he pulled up some that were eight or even ten feet tall. A few even had long lateral roots with shoots growing up them, so this thing spreads by suckering as well as seeds apparently. We didn’t know that. I think this pile was the first two loads that my husband and son did together. My husband and I did a really big third load which finished up the “way, way back” and the path that leads down there. I then ran the weeds through the chipper. On Saturday we left some long unchipped fronds that just went through the machine. Today I would take those back out of the cart and run them through again. We got lots of wood chip and leaf mulch all mixed together. I completely filled the compost bin that we had emptied Saturday, and I added what was left to our other in-process bin.
That bin also got a five gallons pail full of cucumber vines that I took out of the garden today because of aphids. I didn’t drown or poison them first, so I’ll be checking temperatures over the next couple of days. Overall the compost in that bin is looking good and smelling earthy. I hope that my additions today help it rather than throw something out of balance.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 5, 2022 16:07:05 GMT -6
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Post by woodeye on Sept 5, 2022 19:31:14 GMT -6
chrysanthemum, lots of work going on around your place, looking good! You mentioned aphids taking over your cucumber vines, so I looked a little closer at mine today, and looks like the black aphids have started in on them. I sprayed the leaves, will see if that helps matters...
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Post by rdback on Sept 6, 2022 10:42:12 GMT -6
chrysanthemum Ahh, the Black Soldier Fly. Chrys, have you heard of a fellow by the name of Harvey Ussery by chance? He lives in N Va, between Winchester and DC. He's a retired mail carrier and is into self-reliant living. Fascinating fellow. Anyway, he was the first to introduce me to BSF larvae. He uses them in composing, but also cultivates them to feed to the chickens!
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Post by woodeye on Sept 6, 2022 16:01:35 GMT -6
rdback, when you wrote Harvey Ussery, it rang a bell. He was the one I most remember as the leading authority on using chicken tractors. It's been quite awhile since my chicken ranching days, but yes he is quite a character...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 7, 2022 20:23:59 GMT -6
chrysanthemum Ahh, the Black Soldier Fly. Chrys, have you heard of a fellow by the name of Harvey Ussery by chance? He lives in N Va, between Winchester and DC. He's a retired mail carrier and is into self-reliant living. Fascinating fellow. Anyway, he was the first to introduce me to BSF larvae. He uses them in composing, but also cultivates them to feed to the chickens!
The name rings a bell, but it’s a very faint ding. I’ve not raised chickens, but I have read time and time again about what a good foodstuff black soldier fly larvae are for them. I’m happy to report that my compost piles aren’t steaming hot, but they are definitely cooking on a low simmer. The older one that got less of the weedy material was about 110 degrees this morning. The newer one that is almost all woody weed chips was about 100 degrees. I had room to add our kitchen compost bucket scraps and lots of hair cutting debris into the older one with room to spare. Probably the soldier fly larvae are already going to work in there.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 10, 2022 20:20:46 GMT -6
My husband was worried on Monday when we filled our compost bins so full of weed waste that we wouldn’t have room for kitchen scraps. Here’s are some pictures I took last night. In less than a week, we’re in no danger of not having room for our kitchen scraps.
We spent more time today working on pulling those woody weeds before they can go to seed. We hauled five garden cart loads up out of our “way back” and chipped them up. We didn’t put them in the compost tumblers but in a pile in a corner where we sometimes pile shredded leaves. We’ll have more to add next Saturday if we can get the chance to work on the rest. The end is in sight at this point.
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Compost
Sept 11, 2022 17:13:23 GMT -6
Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 11, 2022 17:13:23 GMT -6
It never ceases to amaze me how much compost shrinks as it decomposes. It reminds me of when I'm gathering greens for the steam pot. I'll think I have more than anyone could possibly eat, then it boils down to only a few servings.
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Compost
Sept 11, 2022 17:27:48 GMT -6
Post by amyinowasso on Sept 11, 2022 17:27:48 GMT -6
My husband built these. I'm not sure he's happy with either one. I like to use a bed for composting, but I'm in an urban area, though I've seen plenty of wildlife. We would pick one bed, pile all the garden debris and leaves on it and when we had kitchen scraps we put it under the dry stuff. Some people dig a hole in a bed or the pathway of an ungrounded and bury all kitchen scraps. The next year they move the row over to where they buried it. We were always going to make a worm tower, but it never happened. I prefer "No dig" heavily mulched beds, but I'm no longer doing much work, so don't have control. I like jungles, he likes neat. He also likes power tools like the cement mixer he bought for mixing up potting soil ingredients (and Mel's mix) and a grinder for grinding debris and alfalfa cubes which then mulch the beds. We have the same counter bucket, I used to use a plastic coffee can but this is classier. Cat litter. You can get clay in 50 pound bags at the auto supply store. We used to use it for cat litter. Now I can't speak to whether they put anything else in it. Husband claimed it was safe for the cat. She's 17, so I guess it didn't hurt her. I've been Googling clay floor dry and can't find ingredient lists. They also sell DE as floor dry. We got some once...I think to put in potting soil, but I don't remember using it. Thistle video was interesting. I like to know what's around me I could eat in an emergency, although I'll be the first to die, so nobody else will know what to eat. And horehound! I planted it and wouldn't even let it be composted when we pulled it out. You can do a Bio assay to see if your manure (or compost or mulch) is contaminated. joegardener.com/how-to-conduct-bioassay-test/Black soldier flies are cool and their dried larva sells for big money. My chickens thought it was candy.
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Compost
Sept 13, 2022 15:18:48 GMT -6
Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 13, 2022 15:18:48 GMT -6
Those are some cool compost bins, especially the one made from a plastic barrel. I like that!
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Compost
Sept 13, 2022 21:31:50 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by amyinowasso on Sept 13, 2022 21:31:50 GMT -6
Ron, he mounted the barrel on rollers so he could turn it. It was originally at ground level but with it raised as it is he can put a wheel barrow under it to empty it. Then he decided he wanted the bigger one. We don't have chickens any more, so our compost has slowed down a lot.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 16, 2022 20:20:12 GMT -6
amyinowasso , those are quite the compost bins. You must have a pretty resourceful husband. heavyhitterokra, I’ve been making regular additions of kitchen scraps to the compost bin that was all weeds at first. The solider flies have found this one, too, and the more kitchen scraps I add, the smaller the level of the whole is. It is very like to cooking greens in a volume comparison. I have had more digging in my garden the past couple of nights. I’m guessing it’s another skunk who knows that winter isn’t far off even though it’s still hitting the mid 90’s here. He’s made some pretty deep holes in a couple of my beds but thankfully hasn’t done too much damage yet. My neighbors have removed all their vegetable plants, so I’m kind of hoping he’ll stick to digging in their empty beds. Somehow when I try to fill in the holes, he’s made, I just don’t have enough soil to do it, so tomorrow I may get out my buckets of stored compost and see how far it will go.
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