Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Laura McKenzie" <laurabrownmckenzie@worldnet.att.net>]

We are very stressed for space here so my compost piles always do double 
duty.  I made three "slow" compost piles late last fall.  These aren't 
turned, are chock full of rotted wood from the forest along with kitchen 
scraps, weeds, and leaves.  These were topped with silt carried up from the 
dry branch next to our land.  In February I planted potatoes into the silt 
(I put about 8 inches of silt on top of each pile).

    The caveat of this method is that the piles are made in wire bins. 
They do not hold water easily.  This would normally be an advantage because 
most springs have us drowning in rain in April, May and early June.  But 
this year we're experiencing a drought.  Some of the potato plants died 
early and only put out small potatoes.  But there are a few left that are 
very healthy and thriving easily.  Yesterday I pulled the dirt away from one 
plant that died this week.  I harvested four 4.5 inch potatoes and a lot of 
small ones from the plant.  Given water restrictions and lack of rain, I'm 
pleased.

    I am considering putting several layers of cardboard around the inside 
perimeter of each compost bin the next time I use this method.  My husband 
works in a very large office building and plain brown cardboard is an 
abundant material to be had.  Doing this might help with retain water in 
each compost bin.  BTW, the piles ARE slow but are showing signs in this hot 
weather of degrading now.  The finished product will be used for seed 
starting more than likely.

    And I have one very very hot pile going right now.  When it cools I'll 
top it with silt and plant something in it. I haven't decided what yet.

     It really gets me when people I know say they won't garden because 
they have little time or space.  Tossing a bunch of leaves and sticks and 
kitchen scraps into a pile, putting a bit of dirt on top and throwing in a 
tomato or a pumpkin isn't all that hard work. As for space, most of our land 
is climax forest with 70 to 80 foot high oaks being predominant. Still I 
have found 7000 + square feet of garden space and about 85% of it is sunny 
enough to work well.  Finding things to plant in the spots that get only 5 
hours of sun is the challenge I haven't figured out yet.


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Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
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