On 8/28/2014 7:16 PM, Boron Elgar wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:09:53 -0500, George Shirley
wrote:

We're taking the vines out today, blasted things only produced about two
quarts of actual beans. My fault, probably, for planting them to close
together. Ie. five seeds per square foot. Saved some seed for next year
but will only plant one seed per square foot. Seems planting close
together keeps the sun from getting into the plant and spurring flower
and seed growth. Oh well, lots of good green stuff for the composter.
Looks to be about two, maybe three bushels of vines. Will mow them over
when it cools off, if it does, this evening. That should fill up the
composter so will let that sit, turning it three times a day, until it
is done and can be used in the gardens.

We also put all vegetable scraps into the compost bucket in the kitchen
and then into the big composter. Coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea
bags, crushed egg shells, whatever will compost with the exception of
meat and bone scraps. Can't have a compost heap here, against HOA rules.
I actually prefer a heap because then the earth worms inhabit the heap
and help break everything down. Have been thinking of one of those
earthworm farms, daughter has one and it works well for her small salad
garden.

Hot as a two-dollar pistol out there and humidity running close to 100%.
Only hope is the weather heads are predicting rain later today and,
possibly, for the next seven to ten days. We can use it.

George


I have two composters, one is raised and on a frame so it can be
turned, the other is pretty much an box that is open at the end that
sits on the ground and has a removable top on the other end. That box
composter is the one that gets all the earthworms...but that's ok...we
make those composters share their wealth.

Boron

Ours is on a frame that allows us to turn it every day. Makes compost a
bit quicker that way it seems. We have no earthworms here, we have two
inches of sand on top of five feet of Houston gumbo clay that is on top
of a few miles of very old Gulf of Mexico sand. At least with pure sand
you can amend it and get decent soil, there's not much you can do with
gumbo clay. Actually the clay was put in this area to raise us above the
need to buy federal flood insurance, that does save money.

George