View allAll Photos Tagged Compostable
compost pot, helps break down waste faster.
Tenuous Link: Rottweiler/ Rotten food to make a garden "weller"
This came up volunteer in the compost pile at the back of the garden on the edge of the field I walk in.
Drying Gourds
There are a number of different methods to dry gourds and the particular method anyone uses will be up to them. If you want to pick your gourds early and place them on pallets, then fine, they will dry. However; there is more chance of your gourds rotting when you do this. If the gourds are picked before maturing, then they are much more susceptible to rot. If you want to leave your gourds right in the field attached to the vines, then fine, they will dry, And no, you don't have to go out and put anything under them to protect them from the damp ground. Gourds have been drying by themselves for eons and have been doing just fine. In fact, I believe gourds will cure faster if left right on the vine until dry.
However, here are a few points to remember.
Gourds need air to properly dry. Lots of air. So if you pick your gourds early, DON'T put them some place where they will not get good air flow, like in a cellar or a small room.
Gourds will dry out in the weather just fine. No, it won't hurt them to get wet from rain, nor will it hurt them to freeze. Yes, a hard freeze will kill the vines and leaves, but mature gourds will do just fine. Commercial growers don't pick their gourds from the fields until they are fully dry. Gourds are dry when they are very light in weight and the seeds rattle when they are shaken. Gourds that are left on the vine to dry, harden off much better and seem to be of much higher quality than gourds that have been picked while still green.
REGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU, DO NOT SCRAPE OR CUT INTO A GREEN GOURD IN ANY WAY TO FACILITATE DRYING.
I made Pam a compost bin for her allotment.
The design was driven by the materials available: a pallet, portions of the neighbours demolished garage, and tongue-and-grove pine panelling.
Ned tying on spiked boots for a trip to the compost bin. It's still early enough in the season that the compost bin hasn't been plundered by raccoons or bears.
This is our very first compost pile. It got full and we create a second pile. We have a nice sign asking people to not add anymore!
Building compost windrows with the front end loader, while we get a delivery of food waste in the back.
Rehomed the compost bins under the plum and pear tree.
They're sitting on concrete now, rather than space in the back corner that I could use for growing.
We don't seem able to eat artichokes. Kindly given as a gift from our allotment neighbours...
The mould down to very hot weather mainly!
July
Now published with 16 other photographs from this group:
Compostion
ISBN 9781-870736-17-6
17 large Premium colour photographs plus an Afterword
36 pages, 216 x 280mm, Hardback.
Retail price: £18 $25
Short Description: A book of 17 photographs taken of my compost caddy whenever I found the contents interesting because of the colours or composition of elements or both. The photographs were taken with natural light from a skylight which gives a variation in the speed and aperture used. This information is recorded on the facing page with date of capture. The camera used was always a Sigma DP2 with Foveon sensor.
See previews here:
stefan-szczelkun.blogspot.com/2018/09/compostion-advance-...
Horse manure fresh from the stable begins composting the minute that it is in a pile. Piled green manure generates so much heat that I've seen it strip paint off the bed of a pick up after being left in the truck overnight. That kind of decompositional gusto would be wasted in my driveway but is a huge advantage in the pit out back, so the manure was moved swiftly to the compost pit. There the contents were turned as every three or four barrows of manure were pitched in. The pile was then topped with straight manure and wet briefly. Various clippings and vegetal kitchen scraps will be forked into this over the winter and it will be turned periodically.
Big manure deliveries should also not be left in the street or driveway during rainy season. Rain hitting this pile would carry nitrogen and salts into the gutters and storm drain system. Steer and chicken manure are already considerable problems for LA's rivers and beaches because of a convention of spreading bagged lawn "toppers" at the advent of rainy season.
I have many friends who use horse manure supplied by Tim straight-up as top dressing on their gardens; some even call it "mulch." I tried it and found that the ammonia content was not a huge problem even for sensitive crops such as salads. But I stopped spreading it fresh from the horse around the house because of the the number of flies it attracts, which invade neighbors' homes. My dogs, who enjoy rolling in it, were not pleased. The reason above all that I depart from most of my fellow gardeners in Altadena about how to use Tim's stuff is water. Laid down among the old citrus trees in four or five inch layers, an area where it wasn't ground up by regular traffic, the manure's native fungi quickly formed an absorbent sponge-like carpet. This proceeded to lock up irrigation above the root zones of the trees. I subsequently broke it up and switched to wood chips. Mulch should keep water in the ground, not prevent it from getting there.
John Newling, 'Eliot's Notebooks', pages made from compost created from shredded copies of 'The Waste Land'. The Waste Land exhibition, Turner Contemporary, Margate.
This photo was taken at my home in Hyattsville, MD, where the city provides free basic compost equipment to improve the towns footprint. Composting is a form of recycling in which things such as plant litter, fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells and much more are decomposed over time with the right balance of temperature, sunlight and moisture. The Compost Education Center defines compost as a biochemical process, and continues in depth by stating that biological life breaks down chemical bonds to turn organic waste materials into nutrient rich humus. The primary reasons for composting are for use in gardens and agriculture practices because composting greatly benefits multiple soil conditions. The US Composting Council explains why compost aids soil factors and why this helps gardeners and agricultural specialists. Adding compost to soil increases the soil moisture holding capacity, which is beneficial to many areas affected by poor soil qualities. Personally, my hometown of Toms River, New Jersey has a soil profile that is 88% sand, making my garden a Sandy Loam, which drains water very rapidly as the particles are very coarse and water does not stick to them. Additions of compost to my soil has aided in the soil’s ability to hold water more efficiently, reducing runoff and keeping plant structures more stable. Another benefit to composting is that the organic matter stimulates biological activity, increases the amount of soil nutrients and microorganisms, the soil pH and the soil structure are stabilized, and compost matter improves the retention of soil fertilizers. The process of composting allows microorganisms such as actinomycetes, mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria and fungi to break down organic matter. After the compost temperatures are lowered and bacteria and fungi die off, macroorganisms such as earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris), red wigglers (Eisenia foetida), sow bugs (Oniscidea spp.), mites and centipede species will move in and physically break down the remaining organic matter through the processes of chewing, grinding and excreting as explained by the Compost Education Center. Compost has many beneficial factors, however one of the most noted factors is the reduction of landfill usage and reduction of methane production. It is common knowledge if you have ever visited a landfill that decomposing material in anaerobic conditions releases high levels of methane into the environment. Because the bulk of this material being broken down is food waste from residential homes, offsetting the amount of this waste that reaches the landfill greatly reduces the methane production levels and therefore, lowers greenhouse gas emissions. This ties into the Sustainable Development Goal #13- Climate Action. The Government of Western Australia’s Agriculture and Food Department states that methane is 26 times more potent compared to carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and therefore, contributes a much higher impact on global warming. Since composting is aerobic, methane producing microbes are inactive in the chemical breakdown. Another way to improve climate change is by reducing the transportation of rates of waste materials to landfills, which reduces greenhouse gas emitting- fossil fuels needed. Lowering the amount of methane released into the environment lowers our greenhouse gas emissions, which helps in fighting climate change, something that is becoming a very real issue by the day.
Sources:
compostingcouncil.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/GHG-a...
www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/composting-avoid-metha...
compost.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Compost-Ecology-...
I'm testing using Turkey Tail and Red Reishi blocks to myceliate Tulip Poplar sawdust before using it as a compost or mulch input. Commercial mushroom compost inoculates compost output, growing mushrooms but depleting nutrients and elevating the compost's salt content.
in the spirit of "compost everything" I put these in the dalek.
All that's left is elastane, the cotton's completely disappeared
Virginia DEQ staff Steve Coe, environmental specialist/recycling, Office of Pollution Prevention, and Virginia Butler, regulations and program developer, Office of Financial Assurance, tour Royal Oak Farm, a Virginia composting operation, in Evington, VA, in October 2009. (Photo/DEQ)
The compost is kept covered by a plastic tarp to retain moisture and the whole bin has a sliding tin roof on top. One end has a full piece of plywood and this end has two pieces to make it easier to unload when the time comes.
Table scraps plus wiggly worms equal vermicompost. A complete how-to is available from OSU Extension. ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/23... (Photo by Michael Noack and Sally Noack.)
Petals from Mothers Day and not a great diet!
March
Now published with 16 other photographs from this group:
Compostion
ISBN 9781-870736-17-6
17 large Premium colour photographs plus an Afterword
36 pages, 216 x 280mm, Hardback.
Retail price: £18 $25
Short Description: A book of 17 photographs taken of my compost caddy whenever I found the contents interesting because of the colours or composition of elements or both. The photographs were taken with natural light from a skylight which gives a variation in the speed and aperture used. This information is recorded on the facing page with date of capture. The camera used was always a Sigma DP2 with Foveon sensor.
See previews here:
stefan-szczelkun.blogspot.com/2018/09/compostion-advance-...
This has now settled to about 50% volume of the original pile. It is frozen on the edges and top but still hot in the inside.
I have 3 in a row which are rotated.
One long panel is split lengthways and used to start the build. One short panel is split lengthways and used at the top to finish the build.
At Wowo campsite, which has got to be one of the loveliest campsites anywhere.
For more info and bookings see www.wowo.co.uk
This had an 'early' plucked allotment pear and some tomato skins and pips from some home-grown toms that had been ripened in the dark.
October
Went to take the compost out and in the dirt bed we use are two huge Tomatillo plants - with fruit! None of the squash I planted has come up - but these are looking good. Sounds like green salsa is in the future.
Beautiful slug found in a compost heap. Of the whole series, I like this the most because it has the best colors and contrast (without processing). It also captured clearly various details like the texture under its skin, the eye and the translucent skin.
we had to go grocery shopping today & i just saw a commercial/read a blog post about the new sunchips compostable bag. very excited about this! wish it was always so easy to shop green. plus they use solar/wind power in their chip plants too.
and i picked up more worms for my compost bin :D
would love suggestions on more practical ways to go green. here are some things i'm already doing....
-compost bin
-recycling glass, paper & plastic
-gave up red meat & chicken. still eating turkey but not for much longer. will always eat seafood!
-thermostats set at most efficient temp
-tankless hot water system
-porch around the house for better energy conservation
-switched lightbulbs
-reuseable shopping bags
-drive a beetle. wish darren didn't need an suv for work. he would love to be able to have a mini instead.
-no more chemicals in the yard or house. "green" cleaning products inside the house & organic products for the yard. i also use organic fish emulsion to fertilize my plants the past few years.
-we do use paper towels but the ones i buy are select-a-size made from recycled products.
-we just bought a rain barrel made out of recycled plastic. very excited for it to rain now!
ok-i know there's more. i'll add as i think of them. please add your ideas as well. always looking for things we can incorporate into our daily life. especially now with the oil spill, i feel like i have to be doubly conscious!
there was also a free kindle book on earth day. need to read it next for more tips & ideas.
Wooden box, toilet seat, hidden bucket. Next to the composting toilet, barely visible is a container with saw dust. For more info, please read Humanure by Jenkins.
We took friends to visit Aberglasney Gardens. It seemed unsociable to start sketching, but when I spotted these huge bins and all the contrasting colours, I treated myself to a ten minute break. It would have been good to have had more time to focus on the colours,
At Wowo campsite, which has got to be one of the loveliest campsites anywhere.
For more info and bookings see www.wowo.co.uk