May 8, 2009

Ah, having a Friday off of work is refreshing.  I got to sleep in til 9 and go shopping with the family.  Surprisingly little got done in the garden because for the second straight day off, my time wasn't my own.  Not horrible, just a bit tiring.  My wife deserves an award, or at least a day for all she puts up with the kids.  Hehe, oh wait, that's what's going on Sunday.  Just kidding. What a lame set-up.  She'll get a big box of her favorite chocolates and a day of pampering from the guys. 

Back to today though.  Before I grabbed a shower this morning, I took the opportunity to run out and hill up the potato bins.  They haven't grown all that fast, but they were definitely 4 inches high.  That and for some reason the dirt that was covering the seed potatoes kept washing away. I hope it's not a raccoon, that deterrent should be working.  Anyway, here's what one of the bins looks like when I was done...



The other bin is a bit sparse in the greenery department.  Not sure if any more sprouts will pop up, but I'm kind of holding off putting much dirt in.   Last year one corner was 8 inches lower than the rest of the bin until I finally dug down and found a dud of a seed potato.  I suppose I could plant another seed potato in the other bin right now if wanted better coverage.  I have plenty to spare in the garage. hehe.

So, after our shopping trip, the boys and I went outside and I showed my oldest everything there was to know about mowing the lawn.  He wanted to learn.  He's still too young and not strong enough to effectively handle the self-propelled mower, but at least he's learning the basics now.  It was fun.  The back yard took much longer to mow as a result, but I still got both the front mowed before 6. 

When it was time to do the compost, wanted to take a few pics of the bin before and after, however, I also wanted to get a few shots of the volutneers.



There big one could some sort of melon, but there are tons of them down in the bottom corner.  Don't worry about the left hand corner, that's a rotten white mellon that my wife got for my eldest, but forgot to feed him.  It was growing mold so it's now composted (at the bottom, the worms will LOVE it).   Anyway, here's a close-up of the volunteer.



Sorry, it's a pain holding the phone still that close.  I guess it doesn't really matter what they are, they got composted in with the rest of the partially cooked material.  I doubt they'll be back.  They'll just be fresh greens, like I need them.  I used up all the shredded paper and still probably have too much greens in the pile.  I'll check for smell tomorrow and Sunday and add some dryer lint if necessary.

Here's the before shot.



It is definitely working as the pile's half what it was when I built it.  Boy was the full yard waste container heavy to dump into the compost bin after I aerated the pile and stored it on the edges.  I normally like to fill it only half-way if I'm dumping it myself.  This time I ended up dumping it in handfuls until it was too far down to reach in.  As for the bin that I'm working right now, it's nowhere near done.  I think on the off weeks when I don't mow I need to go out and turn the compost and maybe only add my kitchen compost. 

Ok, so the pic above tops out at the second board of the pallets.  Take a look when I was done.



Wow, it's nearly to the top board.  There's less than a foot to the lid.  I figure if this keeps up, I'll have to take up all 5x5 feet by 3 feet high.  That would be cool!  Then it would be very EGish... hehe.

I sure hope you all have a great weekend and get some gardening in.  And to all you mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!  You've earned the day and 364 more!