Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Moving the Compost Bin

 Michael made this compost bin for me in 2018. I usually scoop out of it to fill 2/3 of a new bed and top it with topsoil. The last two years I've made lasagna beds and gone with layer composting.  We've talked about another compost bin....I'm torn.  I'd like it close to the garden for ease of moving compost, but I'd like one near the house as the walk out to the garden in the winter seems long. In fact, there comes a point every winter when we have a wall of snow out our back door and can't walk directly out to the garden. What to do? 

We were debating and then Michael told Alex he needed to empty and move the compost bed, now.  Hmmm...


Our greenhouse will be delivered next week. We thought they could unload it from the side, but it appears they have to unload it straight off the back of the trailer.  See the little compost bed at the back of this old foundation. Yep. It has to move. Michael is frustrated he's been out all week with pain. He had planned to make more progress on extending the footers.   Alex tackled this part of the project. 

He and I untangled the snapped frame from last year's lasagna bed. I put compost in here through the winter.  There is space in it...I suggested we just put all the compost here and I not use this bed this year to be sure the chicken manure has aged a year. Alex liked the idea of leaving it here rather than unloading it and loading it all back into a new bin. LOL 

The above set up worked well. Michael says he can rebuild it. We'll take it one project at a time.

And here it is....It's too full. The stuff on top is over 2 years old and so we'll use it to go into the other beds we are planting in this year. They've composted and need some top fill. That should take this down to a good level....I'll cover it with black plastic so it stays hot this summer and it will be the compost we use next spring. 

This compost was on the bottom of the bin. It is not all broken down, but it will be fine to go into the other beds. It will cut down on the volume of soil I need to add to the beds. 

The beds are thawing out. We still have significant snow in some of the garden, it's clearing in other spots. I bet you wish you had a self-fertilizing garden. πŸ˜…πŸ˜πŸ˜
The Moose left payment for raiding the compost

I am thankful for Alex' work today! I'm going to dig out all the charts and figure out which seeds I want to start. I'm actually thinking I'll start some lettuce in one of the beds... even though there is still snow around the beds. I can cover the planted beds with corrugated plastic and they should be fine. Maybe next week as the nights should be getting above freezing....and the plastic would keep it warm.....