Think Spring!
With spring just around the corner, I can’t help getting excited about gardening and what to plant this year. I did buy a few seeds recently which I might start indoors soon as long as I can find a sunny spot where my cats can’t get to. This year I will be trying a garden in my front yard since that is where we get the most sun. It’s typically thought of as unneighborly to plant a vegetable garden in your front yard, but I say, why not ! Since I usually always buy organic produce, I felt it necessary to search out organic seeds and was able to find a very good selection at Home Depot. So far it will be carrots and string beans for this year. That might be about all I can fit anyway. As soon as the ground starts to warm up a bit, I will go to my compost pile and dig up some good earthy dirt to mix in for the garden. Composting is so simple, you just need a small area in the corner of your yard or you can buy one of those plastic composter bins to put on a deck or back porch. Here’s some basic do’s and don’ts to composting:
Do’s
- Add vegetable and fruit scraps
- pastas, bread products (no cheese or dairy on them)
- Shredded newspaper
- Shredded cardboard(cereal boxes)
- Lint from your dryer and vaccuum
- eggshells
- lawn and house plant clippings
- garden trimmings
- dried grass and leaves
Don’ts
- Never add meat or animal products
- No fish
- No dairy(milk, cheese, yogurt, etc)
- No diseased plants, plants with insects
We basically set up a square area about 3 feet x 3 feet and bought plastic green fencing with 4 wooden stakes to form a square container and just dumped the scraps in. Toss it a bit every few days (it’s ok if you forget) and in a couple weeks, you will get this great, earthy, healthy dirt. It’s great for adding to your garden, adding to potting soil for potted plants and to just sprinkle around on your lawn as a fertilizer. Compost is very nutrient dense and is the most natural way to fertilize. Happy planning and planting!
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