The Fecundity of my Compost Pile
Jody and I never seem to have overly much luck when it comes to gardening here. Last year we put our tomatoes next to the house, but they didn't get enough sun and really didn't produce much. The cucumbers, meanwhile, got put out near the fence and died from the heat. So this year we're going to reverse the gardening areas, once Jody gets around to renting a tiller.
Our yard is also very strange in that we seem to have plants popping up in the oddest places. I have a daffodil that pops up every year in the back yard, and the last two years it's actually bloomed. There are other things that grow from bulbs along the shady east side of the house and in the back where the hose is, that I've never seen bloom. So one of my goals this year is to use roundup along the fence in the front to kill the grass and weeds, then look at tilling it, putting in some wood or brick to separate it from the lawn, and going around the yard in the fall, digging up all of these bulbs that pop up and planting them along there as it's the only real sunny spot.
I've also, over the past year, been attempting to keep a bit of a compost pile in the back. I'm not so good at composting in the summer, when you have to run back there everyday to prevent flies and stuff from accumulating in the house, but I'm great at composting in the winter. This year, Jody even dumped some dirt in my pile for me, and mixed it up a bit. The last time I went out there, I not only found several onions popping up, but also about 5 small cucumber plants. I think I'll wait until they get a bit bigger and then definitely transplant the cukes. The onions, which I've never been successful in growing in this soil, I think I'll leave there for now.
Our yard is also very strange in that we seem to have plants popping up in the oddest places. I have a daffodil that pops up every year in the back yard, and the last two years it's actually bloomed. There are other things that grow from bulbs along the shady east side of the house and in the back where the hose is, that I've never seen bloom. So one of my goals this year is to use roundup along the fence in the front to kill the grass and weeds, then look at tilling it, putting in some wood or brick to separate it from the lawn, and going around the yard in the fall, digging up all of these bulbs that pop up and planting them along there as it's the only real sunny spot.
I've also, over the past year, been attempting to keep a bit of a compost pile in the back. I'm not so good at composting in the summer, when you have to run back there everyday to prevent flies and stuff from accumulating in the house, but I'm great at composting in the winter. This year, Jody even dumped some dirt in my pile for me, and mixed it up a bit. The last time I went out there, I not only found several onions popping up, but also about 5 small cucumber plants. I think I'll wait until they get a bit bigger and then definitely transplant the cukes. The onions, which I've never been successful in growing in this soil, I think I'll leave there for now.