Sunday Morning Mystery

Special Sunday Sock Supplement

And I searched for it's brother...

(?)

Plenty O' Trellis'

Despite it's appearance, this is actually fresh fruit
trimmings, the dark specs are coffee grinds that were
mixed in.

Picked up my first batch of produce waste from John at Edible Arrangements.  When I got home I decided to use it in the compost tumbler to try and finish off a batch of compost that has been a real challenge.  I chopped it up with the shovel and tossed it in there.  Fingers crossed.  If it goes like I hope it does the temp should be up in the 130-150 range in a couple days.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but I've been looking to add some worms to my beds to expedite things, I mean... I'm confident they will show up eventually, but I just don't want to wait.  I went so far as to post a want ad on craigslist for local worms.  Really you shouldn't think that so weird; people farm worms for bait, they are worm farmers.

"My buddy Harry and I are gonna open a pet shop."

"Well that's nice..."

"I got worms."

"I beg your pardon??"

"That's what we're gonna call it, we're gonna specialize in selling worm farms, you know like ant farms except..."

Mostly "red wigglers" which aren't ideal but better
than nothing

That's an easy one and I know Vinessa will get it but bonus points are of course available.

Back on topic: So I struck out with the CL ad and then Today I was digging around in my raised bed and hot damn what'ya know!  Worms, TONS of them, so many in fact I started harvesting them and in about 20 minutes I'd say I had a 150 or so.  I opened up my raised bed (the news ones that need worms) and dumped them in.  A beneficial side effect is that I basically cultivated the entire raised bed!  Win-win.

Trench Composting

Trench 8" down, toss in kitchen waste,
chop, add water and cover.  Easy!

I've been interested in so-called "trench composting" for awhile now and decided to finally put it to the test.  Trench composting is simply digging a trench in the dirt and burying kitchen scraps.  You don't retrieve the result, it's simply a passive technique to dispose of waste while enriching the soil.  Should attract worms and other beneficial yard citizens.

I've been on the hunt for a spoiled produce source to bump my nitrogen levels in my compost and also realized the same source could serve as a trench composting source.  After stopping by Produce World only to have the manager and his crappy attitude tell me "Yeah, other people have asked for spoiled produce but we don't keep it separate from the glass and other trash." "Are you willing to separate it if I supply you a container?" "No, I don't want to"  Next stop was TJ's and the manager informed me that some food kitchen or something comes by and grabs their stuff.  Hmpphh!... well fine!

I did two trenches side by side, this one a
bit more shallow to test if it matters.

Then I'm driving by and see "Edible Arrangements" and remember my neighbor Frank telling me months ago that he wanted to ask them for compost ingredients.  I stopped, met John who had a great attitude and told me he had actually been LOOKING for a recipient for all his fruit waste. Long story short he's going to ask his guys to throw their scraps into a container I left for them.  John had a great attitude and seemed truly relieved to have someone walk in and ask for the very junk he responsibly wanted to handle.  While I was there I grabbed a box of pineapple tops from the dumpster.

I'll dig up a section in about a month or so and see what it looks like.  Pineapple tops are pretty tough and probably not the best to test with but oh well, Tomorrow I should have a tub full of watermelon, cantaloupe, etc. to test with in another trench.

Hey! You're a Nitrogen Factory

What?!...

Creepy title but I'm gonna leave it.  I've been wanting to write about this for awhile but have been putting it off because I wasn't sure if it was "too weird".  I've decided (after a bottle of wine) that it's not that weird, that people are just too uptight!

Urine!  It's amazing stuff and we are constantly creating and disposing of it.  We pee and flush it away, using several liters of water in the process.  Turns out that pee has some excellent uses in the garden and compost pile.  Urine is created by our kidneys, it's a byproduct of regular body functions and is the primary vehicle by which our body will evacuate toxins and surplus nutrients from the blood stream.  Nitrogen can be quite toxic and our body is constantly trying to get rid of it.... by sending it out in urine!  Did you hear the N word (Nitrogen) in there?  Right, the same "N-P-K" nitrogen that we purchase as 1 of 3 components in most fertilizer.



In a nutshell, if you can get over yourself enough to use urine as a fertilizer you can enjoy:

• saving water from flushing the toilet
• saving money by not buying fertilizer
• Utilizing an organic nitrogen source in your garden and compost

I go through phases when I do and don't use urine as a fertilizer.  It's a difficult habit to maintain, righteous and confident as I may try to sound in this post I am susceptible to the social stigma that "using your own urine as a fertilizer" carries; I don't exactly brag about this to everyone that walks in my front door.  But then here I am blogging about it, it's like I'm coming out as a urine-as-a-fertilizer user and proponent!

Turns out now is one of those using-urine phases, it was triggered by one of my compost piles that went totally cold and was neglected for some time.  I knew that a gallon or so of good old, urea based nitrogen would get it cooking in no time.  I also knew that I would be planting blueberries and I read that blueberries CANNOT have nitrate based Nitrogen, bur rather they need Urea based Nitrogen - pee to the rescue!

A couple of quick notes:

• Urinary tract infection? - don't use your urine, it may contain bacteria
• Older than 24 hours? Don't use as fertilizer, use in compost instead
• As a fertilizer you will want to dilute heavily with water  (10:1)
• If you are dating someone kind of new, you may want to wait awhile before letting this cat out of the bag...
• This article has some nice info and echos some of what I said above