Making Dirt

I've posted a good deal about our garden and our wonderful tomato harvest this year and some of our methods for growing in the garden in our back yard.  I want to discuss composting as a great way of making soil for enriching the earth for growing medium in the garden.

There are many ideas on composting, but I like cheap...uh...oh...well, I think frugal sounds better~so it's frugal and easy!

I am going to list some links with good methods with summaries of how they are done so at a glance you can take a look to see what will work for your space for composting.

EPA on composting
I found this site to have a lot of information that was even geared geographically.  There is a list of publications and also FAQs.

EPA on Organics for Composting
Very informative about what makes great compost!

Composting 101
Nice website that is informative~has bins to chose from and loads of information.  This writer is in MT so growing is an issue and this is discussed.  How Composting Works is very informative on how to create the place and how it's done. 

OK~here are just a few good sites.  Remember to prepare the garden will require some prep.  Composting 101 suggested putting the compost pile or bin or receptacle near the garden~makes sense to me!

We have a friend who gardens who has prepared his garden for spring by spreading manure for it to 'set' all winter.  This will enrich the soil as well.  But my FIRST recommendation before adding these is to have the soil tested by your county extension agent.  You will want to know what your soil needs FIRST!

Getting READY for a full harvest after a full season of growing which is AWESOME for my budget!

Falling for the Garden!

I've written a great deal about our garden efforts this year and the wonderful harvest from it! 54 qts of tomatoes are just waiting for my pot this next year along with squash, peppers, and in a few weeks~celery! I've had all the tomato and summer salad greens (spring mix and spinach) with cucumber a gal could enjoy FRESH from the patch! But Autumn is here, so now is the time to prepare for NEXT year's garden and bountiful harvest!

We have an overgrown and wieldy mess out there NOW~

Pull it out~chop it down and put into the compost.

One of the best things I am doing NOW for the future is composting!

All of our garden refuse will be chopped into the composting area so it can decompose...

We are tilling up our bed now, will put into it leaves and manure for the winter rest of the land...

Our yard does not have hardwood trees, but evergreens so we will offer to rake some leaves for some leaves for our bed...

We are falling for our garden this Autumn so our garden will produce for us next season!