The Rhubarb patch
Well this is the Rhubarb patch this morning, after Sharron took another bag into work today and I made about 3kg of Rhubarb and Ginger jam yesterday, it still doesn't look as if we have touched it. We actually inherited the patch when we moved here, it was the only thing in the veg patch worth saving the whole thing was ovrgrown. I am going to save the leaves this year to make organic pesticide which should be interesting.
In my post yesterday I mentioned my compost. Well this year I am trying an experiment I have heard of people making tempory compost heaps out of large cardboard boxes, well I am taking this a stage further.
I am using a large box to line the compost bin. The bin is already half full of this year grass cuttings so I am hoping that the box will as it fills compress the material beneath it and will add fibre to the compost as in breaks down. Of course it might all go horribly wrong, I will keep you all posted. The other thing that I add to the compost is the cat litter, we (I mean the cats) use the wood based cat litter, if you remove the solids and add the remaining material to the heap it adds nitrates, nitrites and ammonium compounds that the bacteria require to aid decomposition, this is what compost accelerators you buy provide, the wood pulp also adds cellulose to the heap.
Forsythia
In my post yesterday I mentioned my compost. Well this year I am trying an experiment I have heard of people making tempory compost heaps out of large cardboard boxes, well I am taking this a stage further.
I am using a large box to line the compost bin. The bin is already half full of this year grass cuttings so I am hoping that the box will as it fills compress the material beneath it and will add fibre to the compost as in breaks down. Of course it might all go horribly wrong, I will keep you all posted. The other thing that I add to the compost is the cat litter, we (I mean the cats) use the wood based cat litter, if you remove the solids and add the remaining material to the heap it adds nitrates, nitrites and ammonium compounds that the bacteria require to aid decomposition, this is what compost accelerators you buy provide, the wood pulp also adds cellulose to the heap.
Forsythia
Gary, Great blog. I am a little concerned that you put the wood based cat litter in the compost. Wood based cat litters like FreshAire With Bio-Filters are great, but should not be put into compost that is used around vegetable gardens toxoplasmosis. If you use an all-natural plant based cat litter it can be composted. However, you must remove the cat feces before composting (which I know you said you do) and the material should never be placed in vegetable gardens. Always wear gloves and be cautious when handling cat waste.
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How great to grow your own eco-friendly pesticide! Good luck with them. The compost idea sounds cool - will keeping coming back for updates on it. And I'm curious about your roof that you posted weeks ago... How's it coming? And your eyes - getting better?
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