I decided I needed to take pics when something cool occurs to me or something I want to remember, and then caption it, and post to Instagram.
I didn't realize that your "story" photos are portrait shaped, and your "post" photos will be square. I have a lot to learn about posting to Instagram.
Anyway, here they are with better explanations.
OMG, the resolution is terrible! Hmm. Would've been better to take the shots using the phone's camera, try and caption it, and then upload later.
Lasagna layers (coffee grounds, sticks, green leaves, wood chips) and wind protection (the tree stump) around the mandarin orange "tree". :)
I left the hose, which snakes its way throughout the compost pit, on overnight about 2 months ago. Maybe 3. This patch of lawn downhill from the pit has been soggy ever since. This tells me there's good water holding capacity on the surface, and the surface layer is deeper than it was. However, there's still compacted clay underneath.
I put another lasagna ring around this tiny hazelnut sapling. It's in a cage because the rabbits kept eating it down to the ground. Lasagna rings--what a great way to identify plants that you want to protect from any future digging/working in the garden, or that you want to check on next spring. Also, if all of the rings look the same, it'll be tidy and pretty, which makes for happy neighbors.
I found a bucket that was filled with a couple busted garbage bags of Starbucks used coffee grounds, and a lot of rain water. The smell was gross, like a porta potty. That tells me there are anaerobic microbes in there. Not sure if they're good or bad. They didn't smell like those chemicals that Dr. Elaine Ingham tells you to scent for. I'm gonna look at the red liquid under the microscope tomorrow to see what's in there.
I spread out the coffee ground sludge and mixed it with dry woody material. I'll look at samples under the microscope every day for a few days to see how long it takes for the anaerobes to encyst and the good guys to come back.
This sprouts around the established parent tree (ornamental crabapple) need to be tidied up. I won't cut them down to the soil, though. I know we have rodents who like to nibble bark. I'm going to see if, by leaving about 3" of each of these sprouts, if they rodents decide to chew on the younger bark instead of the tree's bark.
My far-away neighbor collects 7-9 buckets of horse manure for me every week. I used to put it on my compost pit, but that was excessively laborious, because I strove to keep the ratio of nitrogen | green | brown material correct, so that meant hauling wood chips on top of the manure and finding leaves, etc. I'm gonna call my manure pile (nay, windrow) done for the year, and start hauling the buckets across the ditch into the yard to start lasagna layering in place. I intended to haul the finished compost down here, but who wants that extra labor. Why not compost in place. Then I have built-in green material (the plants I'm covering). I cut out the second haulage event. I won't kill weed seeds, but the worms will kill any pathogens if I leave it long enough. I'll layer first in the spots where I want to grow food next year so that it'll have the longest time to age before planting. Then I'll start piling the manure in the fedge areas, since I won't be planting that for a year or more.
OMG, there's an acre to cover. WHY OH WHY didn't I compost in place before now? Oh right. I felt like I had to have the driveable paths done with gravel so that I could truck stuff in. MAN, how the bucket method makes things so much easier.
Can't really tell how big my compost windrow is now. It's 5 feet tall. It's 10-20 feet wide. And it's longer than 2 trucks end-to-end. I cannot possibly turn it myself. It was an experiment that I learned a LOT from. You can't have a compost routine where you have inputs arrive every week. At least, not without heavy machinery. I need to make a few static piles, properly made, 40 buckets each (5-gal buckets, not the massive ones above). And I need to do the temperature monitoring and turning as per Dr. Ingham's instructions. This massive pile... well, it was soggy and anaerobic, at least where the wood logs touch the compost. I found nasty fungi. I need to sample things under the microscope, though, to be sure. I'll do that tomorrow. As for the windrow, it's time to start moving it into my market garden (annual veg) beds after I finish the terracing.
At least something likes the compost pit. :) The strawberries, which were almost dead when I planted them here, are now thriving in the top 6 inches of compost, which is probably totally aerated.
Here are some photos from a few days ago, before I decided it would be good to caption and post them on Instagram right when I took them.
Look at how the potatoes became exposed over time. Bah! I understand the hilling-up thing now. Look at that great, short, groundcover, though! It's miner's lettuce. I have a patch that's solidly covered with it. I planted a few of the good potatoes in it, so hopefully they'll come up next spring. They were already sprouting, unfortunately.
Here are pics from my massive compost windrow:
Here's what I found under the top row of logs. You're looking at the top surface of a log that's in the bottom row.
Same view, zoomed out. Rodent hole visible. Damn them.
Close-up of the top surface of the log. Look at that red blood drop. I can't remember what fungi that is. The smell was not good, and the compost behind the removed log was sodden. :( Oh well. Live and learn.
