Compost

I used to buy potting soil for my plant starts and to refill the raised bed garden- but now I generate new fertile planting media for free.

No blog about urban gardening would be complete without a mention about composting. Composting is good for the environment. Otherwise the kitchen trim would go into the trash or down the disposal, the dead leaves and grass would be tossed into trash bins and carted away, and packed deep into landfills- where it would generate methane gas.

Instead by composting- you get free topsoil, soil conditioner and fertilizer- plus by stirring it up and turning it over every morning with a short tined rake- you give your arms and abdominal muscles an easy but effective workout.

I posted an article 10 ways to heat up your compost- A step by step roadmap for a low cost, efficient way to feed your garden, condition the soil and get fast, easy, green results, safely.

The efficient compost heap has a pleasant fragrance, is warm, even steamy. I keep mine in a black plastic bin with vents on the sides- about a yard around and between 3 and 5 feet deep. When it gets below 3 feet, I make a concerted effort to top it up- because the pile cools down.

Yes it does attract some undesireable insects- like fruit flies, and earwigs- but it also supplies earthworms, lizards, birds, and beneficial spiders as well- and your garden will be kept in balance.

Whenever I add kitchen trim I immediately turn it over and mix it into the dead leaves and grass cuttings. And I can always put the lid on.

I move the compost bin every year or so- to get the full benefit of its production. Last year I put it between the avocado, the blueberry and the dwarf meyer lemon. Delicious volunteer heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, and wild spinach now grow in that place. This year it sits in a different part of the yard amid tropical plants like elephant ears and shade trees like the schefflera and the privet hedges.