Thank you so much! Itās really exciting watching these all come up! Feels like forever since I planted them! (It was only the fall), but I actually planted over 500 bulbs all over my yard. The bare root plants I go and look for every single day. Still no sign of any of them. Most are summer blooming though. My guess is they will start late Feb or March (if they come up). Either way, I have all the baby annuals in the greenhouse to excite me if they donāt. lol I really think next year when everything is established itās gonna be beautiful out there! Iām gonna get a lawn chair and sip my iced coffee next to the best smelling group of flowers I can find! btwā¦ My prized lilac bush (I mean twig) is FINALLY getting a new branch! Itās slowly emerging from the very bottom of the twig. lol Sighā¦One dayā¦ that will be my coffee spot for about 3 weeks in May.
@Tinytuttle speaking of compost starterā¦ Iām filling the second tumbler now, but I open it and itās just fruit flies like crazy cuz of the banana peels. Should I just dig a bit of dirt out of the veggie bin and throw it in? And I still donāt know if Iām supposed to be spraying some water in the tumblers and if so, how often?
Ya make sure stuff is buried and yes throw dirt small shovelful is more than enough this is where the microbes come from that start the process high N products will act like accelerators Blood meal, alfalfa meal grass all high N products ā¦ moisture should be 50% remember our squeeze test to check? Microbes need water just like you and I or they die!
Mix with browns as well!
Oh shit! I havenāt checked that. It looks like partially decaying black stuff when I open it and it smells goodā¦like good soil, very earthy. Something tells me that my first batch of compost may suck though. learning curve.
Is there anything else that I could use in my compost to make it top notch? Like how do you charge biochar? In a tea or something or can I compost it to charge?
I think it has a good brown to green ratio right now actually. Itās mostly soil, grass clippings, dried leaves, cardboard, banana peels and dead flowers.
I probably shouldnāt say that they die so to say but go inactive by encasing themselves in their slime puts them in cryo state
Iād say you have good compost !
Adding minerals during the compost would be good microbes would already be breaking them down in plant usable form
Yup your exactly right compost teas worm casting teas ,etc, left to soak for a few days would be good!
I love that idea! Another stupid question but what minerals are best? Rock dust kind of stuff? I have never used any of these things. It sounds like I need a mineral shopping spree on the cheap.
Yup exactly rock dust , Iāv put azomite in mine last year, basalt , green sand would work Iād think pretty well , add your meals as well bone meal, crab, anything you want ! That kind of compost would make a kickass tea .: I like using EWC along with compost to make teas
So let me ask you thisā¦ if you had a hundred bucks only to spend on excellent things to add to your composts, what would you buy?
How much of these minerals would I add to a 40 gallon batch of compost?
Mark my wordsā¦ Iām gonna get there! An aerator and the whole thing, but first I need to learn how to make great compost. The tumbler is my newest toy, got to learn how to make magic in there. lol
Well we try to keep it as simple as possible Iād add minerals in form or rock dust , maybe kelp would be good as for additional sea minerals one has to think that all the minerals trees pull from the soil all get return to the earth , grasses weeds they all have minerals in them , thatās why they say some weeds are more nutrious than supermarket salads and vegetables compost is wonderful stuff and will take you along way as far as soil health! Everyone should compost IMO!
Couple handfuls should do the trick!
Man, I have considered going to the beach many of times with a bucket and snatching up some seaweed. Just not sure itās legal. Iād only grab the stuff that already washed up though.
You may need a nominal fee permit! But yes a vid Iāv seen by Kaligrownbuds just had been posted recently!
Check some of this guyās vids on you tube!
I love this! Gonna have to bring my bucket with me when itās beach weather again. Wonāt be long now. lol
Move 13 or so post to your thread to help keep things tidy over in the other thread.
Is there a way to dehydrate the seaweed on a home scale? Or could you make a goo or liquid with it to save? Just curious. It is wonderful stuff. I know itās a weird plant too. Kind of melts in the sun, doesnāt it? I suppose it could be laid out on mats or tarps to dry it.
Itās be cool to have local access to it. Itās everywhere up and down the west coast. I donāt believer the east coast has anything like the kelp or not that I remember. At least not in shore.
Kelp is the shiznit. peace
absolutely! Like any other greenāsā¦blanch -> dehydrate -> grind
Fermenting then freeze in portions or add a stabilizer like veg glycerin
Yes, it is!
Thank you MOTR! I lived on the Puget Sound in Washington long ago. Then on the Hood Canal. Lots of seaweed. Iād love to go back there someday. Maybe I could go bring a load of seaweed back, lol.
No problem!
Me too! When I 1st landed there, I was on Pearl street ~6 blocks from Pt Defiance then migrated to Enumclaw for a couple yrs and found myself in Steilacoom just before coming back home to Ak though I will never forget Enumclawā¦absolutely loved the whole area! Seward reminds me alot of that area
The guy on the above video said get 20 gallons of kelp in a trash can with water and leave for 3 months. After that use the liquid on anything and everything with no overdose from kelp. Or even put the kelp directly on the soil like mulch.