Cinderblock Vermiculture Compost Bin

I dug out a rectangular area as shown to the left in the pink.  Inside, I placed cinderblocks.  The blocks are higher on the north side of the garden.  They are stacked two high.  However, I was three blocks short of the number needed so I will need to buy some from one of the supply stores.

Inside, I dumped two loads of nearly pure horse manure. I'll probably add one more load.  The manure will begin composting in the next few weeks. Hopefully, by the time the red wriggler worms arrive, it will be cool enough for the worms to go to town on the manure.

My blocks are not secured with mortar.   I am going to need to build some kind of ramp structure so I can roll the wheelbarrow on top to dump manure into the system.  I think if I placed posts and a beam on both the east and west side of the bin, I could put hinges on the beam.  Then, I could roll the wheelbarrow on top of the roof and maneuver it into position to dump on either side as needed depending on where the worms are working. That means I'll probably need to put a 2 x 4 across the middle of the structure as well.

I will draw some plans and post them when I get it more finanized in my brain.

Horse poop

Put one wheelbarrow of horse poop around each of the two chestnut trees.  Spread the poop out around the  circumference of the trees.

Mulching around the annual garden

We obtained another large load of wood chips from the landfill.  A huge trailer load only cost $5.  That is a lot of organic material for that price.

We spread a layer of cardboard around the east and west edges of the annual garden. Then, placed wood chips on top of the cardboard.  We did not put any composted horse manure between the cardboard and the chips so it will be interesting to see if the worms attack the cardboard over the winter months.

Put some uncomposted, pure horse poop around the small persimmon tree by the west paddock.  There was some uneaten hay mixed in with the poop.  The poop and hay went 360 degrees around the trunk, about 18 inches in diameter.  Left about 4 inches around the trunk free and clear.

Added more chopped oak leaves

Ran the lawnmower around the white oak tree in my front yard a few weeks ago to chop up the leaves.  Today, hauled them over with a tarp and spread them over top the wood chips in the annual garden area.

Mulching Outside Annual Garden

Spent the morning unloading wood chip mulch from the Welford, SC, landfill.   The area was set with a base of cardboard, manure, and a thin layer of wood chip mulch.

The grass is peeking through the edge of the garden.  Tried an experiment.  Placed some pure manure along the southeastern edge.  Maybe it will burn out the bermuda grass.

The new layer of mulch is about six inches.  I spread a thin layer of horse manure compost over the top.

Harvested some mustard greens and spinach from the fall garden for a nice meal of greens this afternoon.

Oak leave layer addition

This morning I used a push mower and mowed under several white oak trees.  The idea is to chop up the leaves so that they will compost more readily.

I then loaded up several loads of the leaves and delivered them into the southwestern side of the garden.  I had already spread a thin layer of horse manure compost in that area.  The leaves were spread on top and tromped down.  I figure that there is now about nine inches of leaves on top of the garden.

In review, we have the following layers:

chopped up oak leaves

horse manure compost

wood chip compost

horse manure compost

cardboard

buckwheat greens

bermuda grass

We have had three pretty solid frosts.  I looked at the perennial rutabaga plant in the SW corner and it did not look well.  The leaves were wilted, and full of holes.  One of the stems pulled loose from the plant as if it had rotted or been eaten.

I don't know if this means the rutabaga is curtains or if its root system has gone dormant.  I am worried about the rutabaga.

As I raked away the white oak leaves north of my goat paddock, I was impressed by the soil.  There is a lot of poison ivy vines underneath the leaves.  I wonder if I could plant something there that would grow in the shade.

To the south, there should be an area of good sunlight.  Could this be a place for paw paws and blueberries?  Maybe I could grow some amaranth plants here, or wheat or corn to feed our animals.

Welford Landfill Mulch

On November 20, I bought ($5) a trailer full of the Welford Landfill mulch.  Filled a wheelbarrow full of horse manure compost and spread it across the south side of my garden fence.

The area there was previously covered by cardboard and a thin layer of compost.  In there, I planted an echinacea flower and some comfrey.  Our free-ranging chickens eventually tore up the echinacea, then they worked on the comfrey plants. By the time of our second frost, the echinacea was completely obliterated, and the nearby comfrey was mostly gone.   Hopefully, the plants put down roots and maybe will comeback in the spring.

The manure is pretty thinly spread.  I started placing down the mulch in the area, and I figure when I finish unloading the trailer, I will have about six inches on top of the cardboard.  The chickens scratched up the cardboard pretty well.  You can still see the bermuda runners down at the bottom where all cardboard and mulch has been scratched away.

The plan here is to create a buffer between the garden and the bermuda lawn.  If comfrey can come back, it will shade out the grass.  It also has a deep root so it should be able to better survive a bermuda infestation.  That was the thinking before the free ranging chickens decimated the area.

Now, I am thinking how will I keep my garden buffer growing with free rangers.

mulching project continued

Finished out the wood mulch layer.  That layer is about six to nine inches deep. It is on top of cardboard and horse manure compost.  Only the winter raised beds have not been mulched over now.

It has rained a few times in the past few days.  Decent amount of rain.  Maybe an inch on each occasion.  Hopefully, the water is soaking into the cardboard down below and the worms are feasting through it to get to the manure compost.

Plan now is to spread more horse manure compost on top.  Also intend to spread some chopped up leaves too.  Maybe this will bury the bermuda grass rhyzomes so deep they will suffocate.

Winter preps

Today, I pulled up my faithful tomato plants . . . all but two that still are producing one or two small fruits.  Most of the vines were played out, brown and dry.  Two bushing vines were still quite green and vibrant, but there was nary a tomato on them anywhere so I pulled them.  I took all the pulled vines, from the nightshade family, to the edge of my garden compost pile.  I meant to chop them up with the shovel, but became distracted.

Still to do ... removal of the trellis wire systems used to grow tomato vines.

Also loaded another eight wheel barrows of mulch onto the northwestern side of the garden.  Hopefully, we will get soil over there that may sustain some climbing or tall plants next year.

Soil work

Today we added more mulch to the garden. My son, Nathan, helped by shoveling several wheelbarrows full into the western section. We also added another wheelbarrow full of horse manure compost on top of the cardboard base.

Stood in the garden and looked around focused on slope.

The garden is kind of bowl-shaped. Gets me figuring on how to apply drip irrigation system, water management to the veggie garden.

Maybe run PVC pipes along the northern and western edges and attach soaker hoses from those?

Can we build any kind of earthworks systems inside the garden that will help distribute water evenly?

For planning purposes, I heard on a gardening podcast today that it is not wise to keep planting certain veggies in the same place year after year. You need to rotate veggies to keep the soil fresh and to deter predator bugs. Rotating your vegetables around makes it hard for bugs that are reborn in the ground to find their target plants.

Need to come up with a written plan for the garden this year.

Improving the soil

Today, I drove to the Welford landfill and bought a load of wood chip or yard waste mulch for $5.  Some of the wood was still fairly large in size.  Not sure if it will break down by the time for spring planting.

Used the mulch to fortify the edges around the Veggie Garden spot, and increased the mulch by the Fig tree underneath the dying pear.

Took a wheelbarrow load of compost from the pasture.  It looked pretty well composted.  Some stray bermuda roots were present, but I think most of them were removed before I left the compost area.  Bermuda has started growing into the compost.  Soon the frost will kill it into dormancy, but its rhizomes are likely to be fertile into the spring.  Bermuda is the nemesis.

The garden was covered largely by cardboard.  I scattered compost across the western third.  One wheelbarrow full scattered over the cardboard.  This is the second layer of the lasagna garden method of soil enrichment.  The mulch will be placed across the top.

The greens are growing well in the raised beds.  Need to start harvesting and eating.