April 29, 2008

Like the new look?  I'm still partial to the old theme, but it had a big flaw.  I recently got to look at my blog stats and found that my Build-As-You-Grow Bins page is the favorite among visitors (it's mine too).  Unfortunately with many themes including my old one, you couldn't allow comments on pages, even if you said you wanted comments allowed.  The themes just don't support them.  Weird, but what do I know.  So I chose another theme that did allow comments everywhere. It's clean but functional, kinda like my garden, hehe yeah right!  Anyway, that's why I changed.

That said, now on to gardening.  Starting with weather.  Yesterday was warm (mid 60s) and sunny. Today, it's upper 40s and overcast/wet.  No wonder my plants don't know whether to grow or go dormant.  Next year I'll definitely have hoop covers over all my beds.  This year I figure it's too late to get much benefit from them.  I'll install the holders when I get more brackets and cut more 3/4 inch pipe, and I'll probably buy and store the PVC and plastic because they're all made from oil, and I don't see oil-based products going down in price... ever.  So in a rising cost environment, buy now, use later.  Sorry this is a gardening blog, not Econ 101. hehe.

As for composting, I read a great factoid about weeds.  I knew they robbed soil of nutrients and moisture, but what I didn't know is that weeds have high levels of nutrients in them as a result.  Composting the leaves, stems and even yellow flowers is a great way to return nutrients to your soil via the compost they make.  Just don't compost the puffy clouds.  Hehe, whenever I see one I always pick it and gingerly carry it to the yard-waste container. It's funny to see.

I want to start composting this weekend since I'll mow again (weather permitting) and I have some 6 inch twigs from my cherry tree that will be a good start of "brown" material.  However, I found that most businesses re-use pallets so they're not available to use by the public.  I checked Craigslist and found several places giving them away, if I want to drive a ways.  Hopefully I'll be able to build it and start filling right away, because when GardenGirl says jump, I ask how high!

Enjoy your garden!