This week we did a lot of much needed work in the garden. And managed an accidental "harvest" of 2 pounds, 81/2 ounces of Cherokee Purple tomatoes. We put a new and taller cage around the floppy CP plant, and lost a few limbs and fruits, but they will ripen on the window sill and we will enjoy them.
We also FINALLY added soil (um.... compost) to our 4x8 bed. My ONLY raised bed. I am so excited and cannot wait to plant it up! AT our Memorial Day cookout, one of my friends mentioned that the city landfill also has a greenery section that you can acquire soil, mulch and compost from, at very low prices. SCORE. I was looking online and found a place that had "container soil" -- for raised garden beds, for $35 a cubic yard, with an $80 delivery fee.... So we asked our friend to borrow his truck (which led to the soil conversation) and managed to get a cubic yard of material for $12. When we went to the landfill, they let us know that they did not have top soil, only compost or mulch. Well, we were going to need compost anyway, so we went ahead and purchased it. A quick search showed we could grow in pure compost (anyone have any negatives on this? I've seen various posts about things accidentally growing up in compost piles.... so it's ok for plants right? Compost is added to soil to amend with nutrients and lighten soil....so this should work, right?). The city kindly loaded up the bad of the truck and we worked the rest of the afternoon on moving it from the truck (front yard) to the back. The boys "helped" get the soil in the bed and break up any soil clumps from the original bed soil by throwing them against the house.
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| Before |
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| After |
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| And the compost that was left over |
Now I need a drawing of where everything will be planted and apparently some more trellises if I want as many climbing plants as I envision. Oh, an if I never have to add most of a cubic yard of soil to a garden again it will be too soon....
Happy Gardening all!
Perfectly fine to grow in it - may jsut want to let it sit a few days to make sure it isn't 'hot' is all.
ReplyDeleteG/L!
I grew in straight compost the first year I put in my raised beds, and the garden grew great. Better than it is now, with just a couple of inches of compost dug in as an amendment.
ReplyDeleteUmm, have to look into this city compost thing, I've heard both good and bad about city compost.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure those tomatoes will ripen up nicely for you. Your plants should grow really well in that rich compost.
ReplyDeleteBarbie - Thanks! All cooled down now, and seeds are in.
ReplyDeleteAG - I can't wait to see what the "super garden" can do....
Mac - Uh oh, I hope this city stuff is all good.
Thomas - So far they are looking good on my windo sill. And I can't wait to see how the plants do this summer.
Hope it does well for you. I have used city compost before and didn't really have any more weeds with it than I have had with other composts I've purchased.
ReplyDeleteYes you can use compost. The only issue with compost is that it decomposes over time. So it disappears over time. Dirt doesn't. The filled bed looks great.
ReplyDelete