Gardening. Part 1: Composting.

As spring draws near, I get VERY excited about getting my gardens going. I have to be patient though, because even now, on May 15th (the last frost date for our Montana zone) it's pretty chilly outside. Not to mention our overnights, while not frosting, are very cold and windy. So, not safe for plants outside just yet.
I did buy a green house, and have had it indoors for the last couple of months. I made a previous post about it HERE.
It's been quite a learning experience trying to gestate and grow plants in it. I've lost a lot along the way, but I think I have a good idea now how to make it work for me. I could still use some more lighting in there, but for now, I've managed to keep my zucchini, a handful of bellpeppers, a bit of mesculin, and most of my potatoes alive, and that's a start.

In the mean time, I have been actively composting, outdoors, for the last year. I'll be honest, I've not been as good at maintaining my bins as I need to be, but, like many other things I'm attempting to do better in my life, this is one of them. I'm very tired of wasting time and money on stuff because I am not giving MY 100% at making them work.

You see, I'm from Kentucky. And when I started gardening out there, we lived on a plot of land that had once been a cow farm. Therefore the soil was already rich with nutrients, and I didn't need to do much to it to produce awesome vegetables.

Up here in Montana, this dirt is just that. DIRT. Nutrient non-existent, thick packed, hard pressed DIRT.  I'm surprised there's even worms IN my garden.

So last year I started composting outside. I had composted before, but we moved twice, so I had taken a break from it. So while my kitchen, yard, and garden scraps have been breaking down slowly, my "fix" for my veggies last year was to feed them with store bought organic liquid fertilizer. It helped, and I still have quite a bit of the fertilizer, but I would rather not have to spend the money to buy more when I run out.

So, this will be an ongoing series about my composting, and gardening. I will be updating regularly, as there are things to add, and then weekly as my gardens grow. And maybe there will be some things you can learn from my mistakes!

I've currently got my outdoor compost bins. Simple, plastic totes with holes drilled into them, for dumping organic waste, to allow it to naturally break down. These are great for out door waste, and large waste. I have 2 now, but will be adding a third to make it easier for me to tumble. You see, wormless compost has to be stirred up to help it break down better. I have been just transferring the compost back and forth from one bin to the other, but I've found I'm filling the bins up faster than the matter is breaking down, so I want a third one to have 2 full bins in rotation.

I've just purchased a hand made, stackable worm vermicomposter from a friend of mine! Yes, I could have saved some money by making it myself, but I just had a baby and already have so many projects going on that I knew it would just be too much of a burden on myself. So it was well worth it to pay someone else to do it for me.

The vermicomposter is made from pine, and coated in polyurethane to protect it from moisture.

Find the instructional how to HERE and build one yourself!

I have done some reading and found that I'm going to need to add a third tier to the bottom of this stacking set to collect the 'compost tea' that will puddle at the bottom. It's going to need to be able to hold water, but strong enough to hold the weight of the two trays above it. So I'm thinking about making a frame that's the same size of the trays, and using fiberglass and caulk to make a sort of 'tank' for the collection. This compost tea will become an awesome liquid fertilizer for my plants as they grow!!

The more I read, the more things I find I want to help make my garden actually WORK.
So I'm going to build a "Worm Inn", and a "Worm Tower".
As I get those projects going, probably the weekend of the 21st (after payday!) I'll post about them!