Manure Depot » Composting

The No Till No Dig Way: Revisiting Soil Tilth and The No Till Garden

Adina — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:46:34 +0000

My garden grows beautifully. All I do is feed the soil with lots of organic wastes. I don’t dig, I don’t worry, I don’t fertilize plants and I don’t spray plants. All in all I would say that growing the No Till No Dig Way is an easier, more successful way to nurture a food garden.

Composting: To Turn or Not To Turn?

Adina — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 05:15:38 +0000

The conventional approach to composting is that we should turn our compost piles. I have already discarded the conventional approach to gardening: I won’t turn the soil. It occurs to me that it is past time to re-examine my approach to composting.

Composting: The Nose Knows

Adina — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:25:16 +0000

The first thing a person wants to do when they decide to start composting is to keep their kitchen garbage out of the landfill. It is a noble purpose for sure, and kitchen garbage is an excellent addition to any compost pile. If you have grown up in the garden you will know the smell of properly working compost and what goes into it to achieve balance. If you haven’t done this before it takes just a little information and some practice, and you will be making nice compost in no time.

Friends: Heathcote Botanical Garden’s Community Garden

Adina — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:47:43 +0000

Photos by Nan and Adina Heathcote Botanical Garden recently decided to create a community garden. I was fortunate to be at the first meeting about a year ago, and I was able to get involved with this project at the beginning. This community garden is currently focused on growing for a Sarah’s Kitchen in Port Continue reading →

Garden Pests: No Problem If You Foster Soil Life, Diversity and Balance

Adina — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:04:27 +0000

After I wrote the article Garden Pests: Nematodes I received a comment from Naomi. She wrote “Wow, mind boggling how many things can go wrong in a vegetable garden!” Her comment made me realize that I did not bring home the point of my article very well. While there are lots of potential problems [...]

The No Till No Dig Way: Why Soil Should Not Be Disturbed

Adina — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:49:35 +0000

To grow in an organic manner in such a way as to decrease the cost of your inputs, increase the health and disease resistance in the garden, and increase garden yields, a grower must focus on the soil. This focus must be on maintaining optimum populations of the microbes and the invertebrates that are present in healthy soils.

Garden Amendments: Composted Cow Manure and The Commando Garden

Adina — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:40:43 +0000

Composted Cow Manure is an excellent garden amendment. In the garden we focus on the soil a great deal. We work to make great compost, and if it goes in your garden the way it goes in mine you will run out of your home made compost before your compost needs are met. Composted Cow Continue reading →

For The Best Composting Materials Learn to Scrounge Around

Adina — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:50:42 +0000

All joking aside this world was made to regenerate itself. When trees and plants drop their leaves on the ground they set in motion the cycle of decomposition that makes it possible for life to go on. Raking up leaves from the ground on your land is a shame. Bagging them to be taken off property is a crime. When you pick up your neighbors’ leaves from the curb you are doing your part to erase that crime.
Now go fight crime.

Manure: An Earthworm Inoculant for Compost?

Adina — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:33:17 +0000

Eventually when I speak to people about their compost piles and bins the inquiry turns to earthworms, and whether they should *buy worms to add to their compost piles. I always say “Put your compost on the ground, and the earth worms will come.”. That, it seems, has always been true for me, or has Continue reading →

Invertebrates of the Compost Pile

Adina — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:25:45 +0000

This is an excellent article from the Cornell Waste Management Web Site. I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to run right out and see how many of these invertebrates I can find in my compost heap. Invertebrates of the Compost Pile Written by Nancy Trautmann, Cornell Center for the [...]