Such beautiful black gold
In preparations for more plant starts, I just finished sifting out the bottom levels of two of my worm bins, and the results are oh so beautiful! This really is the nicest looking batch of worm castings I've ever seen or smelled. There won't be any sterilized potting soil used in this house this year!
We're experimenting with making seedballs for planting our wildflower and cover crops, and it really is a lot of fun. We take an old cat litterbox and put in half a cup of seeds and three cups of sifted compost (not the good worm stuff mentioned above) and spray it lightly with water. I sprinkle in a little powdered bentonite clay, and Laurie mixes it up with gloved hands. She breaks up any clumps that get bigger than 1/2 inch, unless we are using big seeds like beans. Repeat spraying, mixing and breaking until at least 5 cups of clay are added. You never want the clay balls to get more than very lightly damp, so that more clay sticks. Let them dry for a few days, then go spread them out on your intended site. We have no clay in our soil, so this has the added benefit of improving our water holding capacity
Playing in the dirt makes me happy!
We're experimenting with making seedballs for planting our wildflower and cover crops, and it really is a lot of fun. We take an old cat litterbox and put in half a cup of seeds and three cups of sifted compost (not the good worm stuff mentioned above) and spray it lightly with water. I sprinkle in a little powdered bentonite clay, and Laurie mixes it up with gloved hands. She breaks up any clumps that get bigger than 1/2 inch, unless we are using big seeds like beans. Repeat spraying, mixing and breaking until at least 5 cups of clay are added. You never want the clay balls to get more than very lightly damp, so that more clay sticks. Let them dry for a few days, then go spread them out on your intended site. We have no clay in our soil, so this has the added benefit of improving our water holding capacity
Playing in the dirt makes me happy!