Compost

We’re running late on the garden this year. I was hoping to plant yesterday, yet time flew and it looks like we won’t be planting until next weekend! ACK! I didn’t intend on tilling the garden again. I would have much rather turned the soil by hand as not to kill all the little critters living there. Yet, somehow I just don’t seem to be able to do much raking at this stage of the game. Unable to get the tiller here, and noticing how I was really frustrated with myself, TJ was kind enough to work the entire garden by hand. This is no small task. My garden is huge, and it took him the whole day. And by whole day I mean from morning until evening. I couldn’t of asked for anything else! I knew he didn’t really want to do it that way, and he even sustained a nasty sunburn (and by nasty sunburn I mean like lit yourself on fire burn). All for me! If I didn’t thank him enough hopefully all the goodies I make throughout the summer with the precious fruits and veggies will tell him so.

I get REALLY excited about compost. I love the way it looks, feels, and smells. I’ve been known to yell, “look it’s steaming!” on more than one occasion. Skylar rolls his eyes. TJ plays along. I have what some people call “lazy mans compost”. I take everything i have a throw it in a pile in the yard enclosed by a plastic fence. I have WAY too much crap to worry about perfect mixtures, compost bins, or anything of the sort. And as for the “lazy man” title, it irritates the crap out of me! It takes me weeks to rake the lawn and sort the brush. The food waste ends up out there a few times a week all winter long. If we are lucky, someone will turn it, but chances are it will freeze and the turning becomes impossible. Here’s the best part… the one’s that say I have lazy mans compost are also the ones wondering how I grew so many darn tomatoes last year. Anyone wondering how my organic bell peppers were the size of your head??? Yep, you guessed it. My half-assed compost. Seriously, “way back when” I have to wonder if people had all these perfect compost bins, and worried about perfect mixtures. Or did they recognize that the decomposition was good for the soil and just bury it in their gardens like I do? I’m not entirely sure. What I am sure of is that my garden was spectacular last year. We’ll try again this year and see if it was just a fluke.