Sunday 10 October 2010

My first SFG step - composting!!

Having read almost half of the Square Foot Gardening book, I am so keen to get on and do something in preparation for next year's garden. I've been doing research into where to buy timber for the boxes, conduit for the frames for climbing plants, and moss & vermiculite for the mix, as I am resisting the temptation to buy and build everything now, and just getting the plans in place.


Compost Heap
However, the one thing I can legitimately do now is make my own compost for the mix, and so today I've made a compost frame (as per the book) out of chicken wire, and collected leaves and weeds from around the garden (and the back path) to try and make a good start on my compost pile.  


The SFG concept of compost making involves mixing different types of plant-based materials, chopping everything up into small pieces first, keeping the pile moist, and regularly moving or turning the pile. I've made my frame out of chicken wire and put it on ground-cover material. The idea is that a few times a week, I'll put down the second square of the ground cover, remove the frame from the pile and put it onto the second ground cover square, and move the compost pile into the frame again, mixing it up as I go. The chicken wire will also allow air into the pile - hopefully creating better compost and not a slimy sludge...


Since I took this photo I have covered the top of the pile with one of the squares of ground cover material, so as to prevent the pile from getting overly wet from rain..


Sundaville Red?
As well as this, I've started planting bulbs for daffs and snowdrops next year, extended the growing support for an amazing Sundaville Red (is that what it's called?), and I ran a 10k for Cancer Research UK on Saturday morning..

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