Slowly but surely I am moving the dump trailer load one wheel barrow at a time. I do not see a need to kill myself with this so whenever I think about it or get bored I go out and shovel a couple of wheel borrow loads into the raised beds.
Every year I have to add compost to the garden beds. Over the course of the growing seasons the older compost in the beds compresses and decays down even more leaving room at the top for more beautiful nutrient filled dirt to be applied leaving no reason to till and disturb the gardens ecosystem .
I had planned on doing a separate 30x30 garden this spring and planting nothing but sunflowers. I wanted to extract the black sunflower seed oil to use for most of my cooking needs. Further research has shown me the oil causes cancer for women, but then other web sites say they help lower the risk. Many of the sites I visited say it one way and many others say it another. I really do not want to take the risk at this point so I will stick to store brand cooking oil unless proven otherwise.
Presently I have five raised garden beds I grow in. I have enough material on hand to add one to two more and plan to do so when I get the chance. I also need to build a sun screen over at least two of the beds so if we have another summer like the last one, I can at least save some of the plants and not have to eat so many store bought canned foods.
You can tell compost is done when it looks like plain ol' dirt. Yours looks to be perfectly done!
ReplyDeleteI love sunflowers, but hadn't heard that about the sunflower oil. The birds and bees would enjoy the seed heads though. Bees will love them while they're blooming and when they're done, you can cut them about six inches below the flower and hang them upside down on the porch to dry. When they are sufficiently dried, the song birds will have a feast.
That compost is certainly looking good!
ReplyDeleteYou have the right attitude about moving it! Don't want to have all the fun at one time!
your compost looks positively deelish! we have been working on our compost since we got here...everyday we add our kitchen scraps and all of our yard waste and whenever we find an earthworm or two we add them too. jambaloney met a friend in town who has a horse farm and told us that we could get a pickup truck of horse manure whenever we want. we plan to go get some later this month and add it to our compost. then we will go down to the beach and get seaweed and sand to add to it. we are hoping to have some compost as nice looking as yours by next spring/summer to add to our existing raised beds.
ReplyDeletei am really glad that you got some good nutrient-filled compost for you beds buddy! and jamie is just like you - he likes to do a wheelbarrow or two full of dirt just for the fun of it!
your friend,
kymber
Good looking stuff, should not have any weed seeds in it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for thought HB. Your right even is I don't use them it would be great food for the farm.
ReplyDeleteHJ - Fun is an understatement. I don't think I want that much pain all at once so I justify it but meticulously calculating where each wheel borrow full will be spread. LOL
Kymber - I think it might have something to do with age now more than muscle.
It sounds like you have yours figured out. I can't take the credit for making this compost.
Not one so far Duke but I bet as soon as it hits the gardens the weeds will run rampant.
I find they say a lot of things are causing cancer now days. I wonder though if it is not the GMO seed or the products we put on them. If we grew like our grandparnet did with organic heirloom I wonnder if the possible problem is still there?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great way to tackle that compost project. I need to start a few projects like that. If I did that they may eventually get done. - Genevieve
G - I am not sure what causes it. I read some blogs that black sunflower seed oil is all they use and never had a problem. I also know people that smoke all their lives without ever getting lung cancer as well.
ReplyDeleteI don't see what a little would hurt here and there tho. I might still do it.