Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben E Lou
I turned piles #2 and #3 completely yesterday {11/19}. And by "turned completely," I mean that I actually moved them over a few feet, essentially creating new piles where what was on the bottom is now on top. I'll do the same for #1 this evening. #2 definitely is moving seriously toward being usable compost. I'd imagine that #1, especially near the middle, is going to be heavily decomposed.
|
I assume that the cold weather is affecting the heat some. The temperature has been in the mid 30s or lower just about every night for the last week-ish. Pile #3 (the newer) is the hottest, coming in at 154 yesterday. Given how new it is and with a complete turn, I would have expected the low 160s. Not complaining, though. Pile #2 was at 147. Again, I would have guessed 5-8 degrees hotter than that for it. And as I'd guessed, pile #1 is fairly close to looking like just dirt, especially in the bottom/middle, and it has only managed to heat up to 128 since being turned on 11/20.
Because I moved those piles, I grabbed a few bags of leaves from around the 'hood and started a relatively small pile in the back corner where the original one began. That area is in shade from the storage shed and back fence, and can't be tilled because of cable/phone lines, so growing much of note there isn't really feasible. Instead, I expect it to be where I keep an ongoing pile throughout the growing season where I'll dig into the middle to use some if/when I need small amounts.
ACTUAL NEWS ABOUT PLANTING SOME STUFF!!!
I did some reading of the
extension service's recommendations for planting in my area, and it turns out that I need to be planting my garlic....now. (Technically, I'm actually a week or two late.) Garlic is an excellent pest deterrent for the garden (both rodents and insects), and ideally I'd like to intersperse it near the plants that benefit from it. However, because I still need to till, my thinking is that I'll do two plantings:
1.
FOR HARVEST--To harvest/use/eat actual cloves of garlic, it would appear that I need to get it in the ground ASAP, so I've ordered some
California softneck garlic for planting, and it should be arriving today. I'm thinking I'll put it just outside the brick perimeter to help deter rodents from the entire area until time to harvest it in June/July.
2.
FOR COMPANION PLANTING--Several organic gardening resources list garlic as THE #1 crop out there to help other crops. A significant portion of the stuff I intend to grow is listed
here (and in other places) as benefiting from having garlic nearly, so once I cover with compost, till, and get stuff i the ground, I'll be interspersing a garlic clove or two near the appropriate plants. I don't expect to be able to harvest any of that garlic, but based on my reading, I liken this strategy to signing a 20/20 minsal mentor in FOF: you're not signing him for his production, but for how he helps the youngsters thrive.
I intend to get the first round of garlic planted today or tomorrow. The planting guide for my area suggests November 15th as the last date, but since I live on the far northwest of the area in question. I'm hoping I can get away with doing it 9-10 days too late.
EDIT: In case you're wondering why I waited late, it's simply because though the planting calendar had been on my radar for several weeks, only a few days ago when reading up on pest management for my squash plants did I fully realize how revered garlic is in that arena.