Leaves and Compost

I mentioned before that I am into making compost. With all the leaves and some of the grass, you can make beautiful black gold. Here are some pictures of the work I did in my yard.

Leaves piled up...

View of the pile of grass together with the leaves, ready to be shredded with the lawn mower.

Here is the same pile after I shred with the lawn mower.

 

Here is me, holding the "beautiful" future black gold.

Composting in My Garden

I decided last year that I need to compost. When I lived in Michigan, we built a compost bin with two compartments. I had the best vegetable garden ever.

Moving to California, we got a much smaller backyard. I love my smaller backyard, as I do not spend a lot of time cutting grass.

When we move to our current house, the soil was bad, really bad. I did not see a single worm for two years!!!! The day I decided to plant my first rose in this yard, I decided to follow the book: did a 3 by 3 by 3 hole, and analyse the drainage. Let me tell you.... After a whole month, yes you read right, a whole month, the hole was pretty much full of water. The only water that "left" the hole was by evaporation. I planted the rose anyway, and the rose survived!

Going back to composting. As I mentioned, the soil was bad, and there is still parts of the yard that the soil is not that great. So, I decided that it was time to compost in a "more serious way". I was already composting, but in a more loose way. For instance, when I cut the grass, I spread the grass in my garden. I make a layer of 3-4 inches to prevent weeds, instead of damping the grass on the street to be collected my the city service.

You can see in the picture above some grass already dried up, and another pile of grass drying up.

Last year when the fall arrived, I saw all the leaves. Leaves and grass makes a great compost pile. Oh... and the ground coffee that we throw away everyday: the acidity might be great for the azaleas, and blueberries!

I went to Costco and could not resist buying the compost bin. It looked perfect: black to retain the heat, easier to turn then the "traditional" compost bin. I got home and my children helped me put it together. That was a project that I could not do by myself at all.

 

Here  is the compost bin. Great buy. Now, you might be asking: why she is still damping grass around the yard. Answer: the bin can only fit a limited amount of stuff :-) I also wanted to have a batch done before putting more stuff in the batch. Here is the batch all ready to be used:

 

Really great stuff. The "big pile" shrinks quite a bit. I can't wait to use it around my garden. So, go ahead, and start composting. Get all the leaves that are available now. Put in bags, build a pile, etc... but keep them so you can use it with some grass. Carbon + Nitrogen = Black gold. I do not pay too much attention to the proportion of carbon-nitrogen. I do pay attention to the pile: not hot enough means I put too much carbon, or I am not turning it very often. Oh, by the way, the leaves need to be "cut" into smaller pieces: I use the lawn mower for that.

I also keep a small pail close to my sink. I collect coffee, egg shells, potato peel, orange peel, etc. Anything that goes in my compost bin.

Composting is great for your garden, and for this planet.

Luiza

Tomatoes

 

I love tomatoes, and so does my husband - my children do not like them too much, yet. I like to grow lots of varieties. I try several heirloom varieties. This year I tried Black Krim,   Brandywine, and several others that I cannot remember the name. I love Brandywine. I am sure you heard that before... I actually thought it was just marketing that people were talking so much about this tomato. But boy, was I wrong: they are so good. I have tried others, but I like Brandywine the best.

This is the way that all starts... Seeds. I plant lots of seeds around February, and take a lot of good care of them so they survive. As soon as the seed sprout, I take them outside to my mini-greenhouse. I have a new greenhouse, as my old one was really falling apart. I believe the name was flower house. After 3 years of good use, the fabric fell apart. The older one was very low, and I had to sit down in order to take care of the little plants.  This one  is vertical, with 4 shelves. It is much easier to put the plants down. However, I have to be careful to provide enough sunlight for all of them. Also, the cover is made of plastic. I am not sure how long it will last. But I am happy with it.

 

In the picture below, I tried to point where some of the tomatoes were. In particular the one pointed at is Black Krim, a Russian heirloom tomato. 

As I mentioned before, my tomatoes only started to mature almost at the end of August, as we did not have a hot summer in Silicon Valley, where I live. But when the heat started.... my tomatoes made me smile.

 

Do you see these red tomatoes? These are some Brandwines. I did not get too many of them. But, I enjoyed the ones I got.

Another tomato that I really like is Jubilee. They are yellow, big, and meaty.. I planted some this year that did not turn out very good. I wonder if these are the ones from some seeds I saved last year... They were too soft and squishy and small ... Jubilee are meaty and delicious. They are big. I did get some of the good ones. I am not saving seed this year, as they are hybrid, and I only wanted to check. I will just buy the seeds next year.

 

Here is a closer picture of some of the yellow ones, which I believe are Jubilee Tomatoes:

 

Still pretty.But most of them were small. I had to try and see if the seeds were going to turn true to the kind. But they  did not. No big deal: I always like to make experiments and take chances. Not much too loose.

Just in case something goes wrong, in terms of diseases, I always plant a big red tomato that has all the letters in the title of the seed package, describing their disease resistance LOL. This year I planted Big Boy. I think I got several of them. I also planted a very small tomato. I have to be honest that I do not even try to find them, as my eyes are acting very hungry when I go and pick the tomatoes, and I tend to pick the big ones :-)

The reality is I try to label the tomatoes, keep the names as I label the seedlings. But I plant so many together, that at the end it is a crazy, delicious mass... Lots of leaves that make it even hard to pick the tomatoes, let alone see their names. Sometimes I do not know the type I am eating, but I do not care... I only want it to be tasty.

This year I had a good weed control. When a company came to cut one of my trees, I asked that they dump their truck in my driveway. I spread the wood chips all over my yard (and yes, I did not get any help). It was very labor intensive, but save me a lot of time during the whole summer, and now during the fall, as I have very little weeding to do.


What I will do different next year? I hope I have some time to build my cages from the "cement wire".  I did that when I was living in Michigan. The cages I have are not big enough for the kind of tomatoes I am planting. Most of them are indefinite. So, they keep growing. Right now, some of the plants are growing at ground level. I do not like that, and I am not a neat freak :-)

For sure I will use my compost (I will describe in another post). I am making it at home, and it is turning beautiful. Almost time to collect the leaves so I can mix with the grass. Beautiful black stuff....


I will also try to make bigger labels, so I can read far away. Not a priority, as I can recognize the tomato that I like best: my Brandywines!!!

How about you? Which tomatoes did you grow this summer? Which ones did you like best?

Luiza