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Old 07-06-2017, 01:29 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
George Shirley[_3_] George Shirley[_3_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2014
Posts: 851
Default Looking to start organic gardening, help

On 6/6/2017 11:56 PM, compo77 wrote:
Hello Garden banter forum,

As you guys can see from the title I am looking into getting some edible
organic fruits and vegs on the go. I'm not much of a gardener and this
will be my first attempt so I thought it was best to find some
information before jumping into the compost.

I have read online that the best compost is your own compost made out of
dead leaves, twigs and veg peels. So it makes sense if my first step was
to make some compost but how do you go about doing it?? I understand so
far the above and that you have to mix it with soil and water then leave
it for a few moths, before you know it you have compost. There must be
more to it than this?? any help would be greatly appreciated.

So, once I have my compost, what would be the best veggies to grow in
September in England? It will be getting rather cold so they will have
to be winter veggies?. Even know it's not really a veg I thought that
potatoes seem to be an easy start? but really I want things like
tomatoes, eggplant, chilies and things like this.

Really looking forward to speaking with you guys and getting my small
organic garden started! All help really appreciated.

Thanks




We use a composter, a black plastic barrel on a stand. Grass clippings,
tops of pulled veggies, etc. go into the composter. Inside on the
kitchen counter there is a large, gray plastic bucket on the counter.
Yes, it's from an old portable toilet from when wife was recovering from
surgery many years ago. Vegetable peelings, anything that will compost
that shows up in the kitchen. When it gets full it gets emptied into the
composter.

Anything compost able, including newsprint that has been torn up so as
to rot quicker. Alternatively you can just start a compost heap in the
backyard. Either way you need to churn the heap frequently so as to get
it composting quicker. Note: modern newsprint uses a print type that is
from a vegetable type ink that rots quickly and safely. Do not use slick
magazine paper. Our area gets a newspaper once a week that is free and
is thrown on the front lawn. Most of our neighbors don't even pick them
up but we will go out and pick all of them up on our block and then put
them through the paper shredder and then into the composter. A few days
later you can't even see the paper.

It just takes some time to make the compost whether in a heap or a
barrel. If you have some decent dirt (we don't) you will be able to just
turn your compostable stuff into the dirt and it will compost itself
plus earthworm's will do a job eating it up and you have good soil.

That's a lot of work but it is the best way to get good earth and good
stuff to eat, eventually.

Our garden is raised bed as our house sits on five feet of gumbo clay
with a few inches of sand on top of it. Basically the builder raised the
ground up to avoid flood insurance. We've been working on our raised
beds, four feet wide by 32 feet long for five years now and our garden
is prolific. We also do the same things to the length of the back fence
by digging our compost into the clay and also put a little gypsum into
the area as gypsum mixed into the sand/clay makes the clay start to
degrade and will, eventually, turn into true soil.

That's a long winded set up but, eventually, you make good dirt.

George