Blood Orange

Yesterday, thanks to my ever-helpful roommate-step-daughter, Lydia, who is much stronger than I am, my dwarf Moro blood orange tree found its new home in the garden.

Couldn't have done it without you, Lyd!

Front Yard Makeover

 45 blocks; two pickup loads.

 Vinegar every other day for a week.

 Plastic, and then layers of newspapers.

 Mulch from the local tree-shredders.

One-third complete!

 Got up at 4:30 to beat the heat. Forgot the sun doesn't come up until 6:00.

Got to this point by 7:15.

~ FIN ~

Big thanks to Bill and Steve for all their help!

I finished a thing

Before

After

Demon in the pond

Pay attention people. This is a metaphor for life.

In other news (perhaps exciting only to this gardening geek), we've finished building our new compost corral. It's been a long time coming, but we wanted to put some thought into it and build something that a) wasn't going to cost a bunch of money, b) would last a long time, and c) would be effective and user-friendly. We feel good about this system. Shorty here can easily shovel the contents from one side to the other, stir, water, etc.

It looks like Lincoln Logs, doesn't it? Well, it kinda is. Landscape timbers held together by threading a piece of rebar through each joint. Simple and effective. And, no, those aren't munchkin-stairs for Shorty, just leftover pieces.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

I've been composting for a couple of years now. All my eggshells, coffee grounds, and other kitchen scraps go into the bin I keep on the counter. Used Swiffer Duster pads, used up (many times) Bounce dryer sheets, dryer lint, and even used Kleenexes go in, as does all of my shredded paper and leaves from the garden. When the bin fills up, it goes into the compost pile. When we remember to do so, we turn and, if necessary, wet down the compost.

All of this has become second nature to me. My compost pile is home to zillions (yes, zillions) of wiggly, fat worms. It produces beautiful, rich, black dirt. I only have one problem. I've filled the bin. And if I keep adding new stuff, we don't get to use the final product because it's mixed up with new scraps.

Today I threw kitchen scraps in the garbage. The garbage that ends up at the curb on Monday nights and gets picked up by the big, loud truck the next morning and schlepped to the landfill.

It was a little bit traumatic.

I need a second bin.