Garden Bed Composting

Annie’s Garden Bed Composting Method

When I compost directly in a garden bed,

I follow this procedure:

1- Make a small hole or depression in the soil & cover the waste with a bit of soil
2- Use a shovel to cut through both the soil and garbage several times…this cuts up whole cabbages, bad lemons, moldy squash, wrinkled apples, etc into smaller pieces ( naughty me for wasting such good food!)
-& mixes the soil into the old food mass, which lays a pattern of bioactive microbes into the center of the garbage. They do the work for you, even in the cold of Northern California Mountain winter ( it gets down to about 20 degrees here)
3- I also pile loose straw on top of the whole thing…then walk away from that area once it is pretty full, and use another part of the bed or even another bed…this takes a month or 2…
4- By spring the straw is still whole and dry on top, but has started to compost where it touches the soil, that gets mixed into the bed when I turn it and dig it…

Now, if you want to be a “no-dig” gardener, (Ruth Stout was my hero!)…this method does not work more than once for each garden bed…so, I am doing it only to start new beds, as I am a lazy gardener and want to double dig (John Jeavons style) only once, and then never re-dig the bed again!!!

There are 2 schools of compost style -
I am a compost “mixer, not a piler/stacker”…as mixing seems to speed it all up, reduce smell, etc…although I am now trying a stack method inside of a “box” made of old pallets this spring…using layers of yard waste, cardboard, newspaper layered with my kitchen scraps, I‘ll report on that in a few months!

PLANTING edible LANDSCAPES & GARDENS

The RED WAGON REVIEW

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PLANTING edible LANDSCAPES & GARDENS

It was a beautiful Saturday morning on April Fourth!

Four teams of Little Red Wagons left the Willits Little Lake Grange ready to plant veggies in neighborhood garden plots. We were loaded with cuttings from an easy to grow staple vegetable – the “Tree Collard” & lettuce donated by Brookside Farm, also broccoli & chard starts donated by Emandal Farm. Potatoes from Michael Stewart’s garden were also offered as a planting option. Thanks to all of our wonderful sponsors, donors and hardy volunteers!

Why were we walking the streets with vegetables? The future of healthy food begins at home – local, fresh – best when harvested daily. We can segue into larger kitchen gardens by creating an Edible Landscape – beginning with the introduction of 1 or more food plants into an existing flower bed, or large container of perennials or any landscaped, watered & tended area.

On Saturday, We planted over 15 different locations with an assortment of veggies, with grateful household recipients standing by, or helping to shovel the holes out! Who didn’t want a free plant? Some renters or older residents declined, they couldn’t care for it or didn’t like to eat those foods, but – mostly – anyone who was home, wanted us to help them get started! I found that meeting a number of my neighbors was a very great thing, not to be underrated. I encourage anyone to take on this simple and fun opportunity – share a garden with your neighbors, especially the ones you haven’t met yet! It could change you, the community, the world.

-Submitted by Anne Waters Weller