composting made easy

I don't think composting should be complicated. If you have just a little space you can make it happen.


This is a shot of fresh kitchen waste added to the pile.

What to put into your compost: Put in grass clippings, yard waste and kitchen waste.* The compost pile needs air to break down, so make sure you turn it once a week or so with a shovel. Yes, animals may get into it, but we haven't had any issues, and surprisingly, it doesn't smell (keep rotating it and smell shouldn't be a problem).


*What not to put in your compost: meats, oils, animal waste, dairy, plants treated with pesticides or herbicides. It is OK to put in egg shells!

Why compost?: Compost acts as a soil conditioner, mulch and fertilizer. Composting has helped us to reduce our trash to one trash bag a week.

progress

Pictures of our garden progress as of today:




Click here to see our progress, the "before" pictures.

First Fruits

Well, more like first veggies! The cucumber plant needs a lot of water, but it produces cucumbers very quickly. I experimented with easy pickling techniques with some of the cucumbers and they are delicious.

gift plant

"Pickle Plant" or "Miniature Cucumber Plant"- call it what you will, this is an amazing plant that makes me really happy! My aunt gave this to me as a gift (a great gift idea!). I set this thirsty plant up against our chain link fence and it began climbing it in a matter of days.

garden, phase 3

before:

after:

grow your own food... the garden update.

Phase 2, taking root:

Click here to see phase 1 of our garden.






Photographic evidence. Working hard on a Saturday afternoon. :)

A big thanks to my grandparents for letting me borrow their garden tools and for sparking my interest in gardening when they let me plant a pumpkin patch in their backyard when I was 8!

the urban homestead

the story: My husband and I rent an apartment in a two-family home in a semi-urban area and have a lot of freedom with what we do to the yard.

Over the past six-weeks, I have been caring for various seedlings that I grew from seed (bought at a $1 a pack from Big Lot's) in plastic containers. I tore up two plots that were previously filled with grass and weeds and plan to grow tomatoes, leek and carrots with a border of marigolds to help ward off insects.

Homegrown vegetables, here we come!


upside down water bottles?
A cheap trick I picked up in South Africa. Fill bottle with water, turn bottle over and shove into the ground. Ta da! Irrigation! (fill bottle up and repeat when the bottle is empty).