July 2021 - Week 4

 Compost

News Flash before I start a long discussion on compost; I have successfully attracted a garter snake to the garden.  Here it is stalking in amongst Jacob's sunflowers:

Garter snake in the veg patch

We've been watching bats hunting in the garden at dusk recently so that's two top predators for my biodiversity list.

And now to compost.  Last year I began a compost bin in a stack of worn out tires.  I dutifully filled it with kitchen scraps, leaves, cardboard and old compost and also the finished contents of the bokashi bucket and even turned it over from time to time.  It got left to freeze for the winter and this spring I began a new 'heap' in a recycled plastic garbage bin with a broken wheel.

This morning I decided to see how things were progressing in last year's pile.  Here is a lovely photo of a sample bucket of it:

2020 garden compost

I've got to say that I am quite amazed that it is kind of usable soil and not just sludge.  It is still a bit lumpy and there are a number of things of note that haven't broken down and lessons for this year:

• Egg shells.  Take the time to crush them up before you put them in
• The bag things that those expandable coir plugs are contained in. Don't use them or remove the outer stuff before composting.
• Maple leaves.  Gary said those would take a long, long time to degrade and I should have listened.  I'll maybe get a shredding machine to help it along faster in the fall.

Apart from that I think it is good so I sieved that bucket and put the leftovers back in the compost bin with a bit of bokashi bran and I'll take another look at it in a month.

The sieved contents went on top of the veg bed where the peas have been removed and I've planted a bunch of stuff for harvesting in the coming weeks.  Please enjoy this fabulously notated photograph:

Wow, that is truly amazing lol

What's poppin' in the garden?

Blazing star is coming out in the front pollinator garden

Blazing star with coreopsis, hostas, coral bells and dill

Anise hyssop is now going strong and should continue until fall I hope

Anise hyssop

The wildflower meadows have enough actual plants in that I've been able to remove some of the weeds

There is a squirrel nesting in the chickadee house lol

Birdhouse gourds are halfway up the canes

Patty pan squashes are doing well in the minefield, I should have planted more

Big squash leaves with purple cone flower and anise hyssop behind

Geranium Rozanne has been magnificent this year, I must buy a couple more

Bumper blackcurrant harvest

What shall I make with all those?

Jobs for this week

Weeding, weeding weeding.

• Herb bed
• Berry patch July 22
• Minefield, especially around edge of deck July 22

Buy compost

Pot on:

• Culver's root July 21.  Assisted by the lovely Rose
• Sweet Joe Pye weed July 21.  Ditto
• Mulberry trees July 21.  And again
• Pale purple cone flowers

Plant out:

• Lemon bergamot July 22.  2 planted out in the minefield.  I've discovered that these are probably tender annuals so they probably won't come back next year.  Hope I get a couple of flowers out of them
• blanket flowers July 22.  2 in the minefield and 2 in the berry patch.

Extra bits and bobs

July 21.  Rose helped with the potting on (see above) and I pricked out 8 foxglove seedlings.  I've got about a million more and nothing suitable to pot them into so we'll see how that goes lol.  Started to fill in the couple of gaps I still have in the wildflower meadows with 4 asters and 

July 22.  Weeded the berry patch and harvested potatoes.  Planted geranium Rozanne and 2 home grown blanket flowers.  Gave the minefield a bit of a once over, planted 2 asters, 2 lemon bergamot and 2 blanket flowers.  Propped up prairie clover.