My little Urbstead (urban homestead)

captain planet · May 29, 2013

Bio- I think you'd be better of with a way to get to the bottom without having to dump, mine is constantly working, I'm prob only pulling 15-20lbs of compost/castings maybe 3-4 times a year, but I'm adding to the top daily. When I harvest the finished compost, 80% of the can still has material in various stages of decomposition.

Legumes- well I've never had any luck yet with pole beans, but I do find bush beans fairly easy to grow, they'll prob go in the carrot box after they get harvested... Carrot -cold crop, bush bean good for mid summer and finish quick

shame I eat nice skinny pole verts, and the bush beams usually end up back in the compost...*

captain planet · May 29, 2013

Oh I say compost/castings bc the way I have it (what was the top open to the ground, the worms crawl right up in, and some will have moved up further leaving some after ya harvest your black gold

Biosynthesis · May 30, 2013

Thanks cap, your way of doing compost sounds simple and cheap and im going to set up like this as well. Trashcan ive got holes in from another project so thats perfect. This method of yours sounds easy and thats me all the way. Im sure you get tons of earth worm castings this way too as it sounds like yours is a worm magnet. Rather than dumping the trashcan in the garden Ill cut the bottom out and collect it to use in the potting shed when it is available. Thanks for the tips, especially having it directly on the ground as a worm farm. Do you put activators/accelerators in the compost bin? Bokashi etc.

captain planet · May 30, 2013

Did u say bukaki...... Just kidding, I really don't do much else.....(yet) but I do add things that I feel might be good, like occasionally I'll take down a tree with a hollow cavity and find a mess of worms and castings from the broken down tree,..... Adds it to the top!

captain planet · Jun 1, 2013

Letting some toads (~40) go in the yard! Hopefully there is enough habitat for them and they can eat all the slugs and water bugs they want. They are local, they came as tadpoles I scooped up off someone's pool cover! Just poured them and some of the rain water in a plastic tub, just enough water so when I prop one side up they get a dry side, and a 1/2 inch deep otherside. The rainwater supplied the mosquito larvae that fed the tadpoles/baby toads! Pretty cool altogether

unclefishstick · Jun 1, 2013

whats rainwater again? had a desert tortoise living in my yard one summer,god only knows how it got there....

nattynattygurrl · Jun 1, 2013

Oooooh, I love your little yarden Captain Planet!!
Worms and toads!! You remind me, I haven’t seen my little toad friends yet this year; I hope they’re ok…We had 3 or 4 that were living in the beds and irrigation canals.
The trashcan compost is a really great idea!! And your tomato plants!! Oh my!! :tiphat:

Biosynthesis · Jun 1, 2013

captain planet said:
Letting some toads (~40) go in the yard! Hopefully there is enough habitat for them and they can eat all the slugs and water bugs they want. They are local, they came as tadpoles I scooped up off someone's pool cover! Just poured them and some of the rain water in a plastic tub, just enough water so when I prop one side up they get a dry side, and a 1/2 inch deep otherside. The rainwater supplied the mosquito larvae that fed the tadpoles/baby toads! Pretty cool altogether

Another great idea wich I may try sometime as well. Love the sounds at night.

captain planet · Jun 1, 2013

a little toad

captain planet · Jun 1, 2013

Full compost can

captain planet · Jun 1, 2013

Slide/wiggle/pull can up...

Ok so most of the broken down material has been pulled for spring planting, but you can easily make a sifting screen with 1/4 wire cloth, to separate the stuff that needs to go right back in the top. This time I'll just wait ...

Wiggle can back on and chop up the top a little to speed things up and make room for new uncomposted material

captain planet · Jun 5, 2013

Had 6 summer squash coming up, two got there tops eaten, the rest have first sets of leaves looking nice! Will resow the two. I will beat mother nature just yet!.... Ooops I mean learn to work with her better!

unclefishstick · Jun 5, 2013

the barrel composter seems to be working well for me...its certainly breaking down,at half the volume as when i started even accounting for compaction.

captain planet · Jun 5, 2013

Love to see it Unc!

unclefishstick · Jun 5, 2013

i need to check and see if the neighbors have mowed again and load some fresh stuff into it along with a couple rootballs,been adding the kitchen scraps and coffee grounds to it everyday as well,just been raking up what falls out of the barrel and adding it to the main pile,and adding some of the pile in a bit at a time,making sure it stays moist and turning it a dozen rotations a day...the pile is getting smaller...

captain planet · Jun 5, 2013

Cool things unc!

So I saw something today that said most people today know/recognize 1000 corporate logos but less than 10 plants

Sad, just sad

unclefishstick · Jun 6, 2013

shit,i know the scientific names of a 100 plants much less the several hundred others i could identify,not to mention trees and wildlife....but hey,most people are too dumb to look both ways crossing the road...

captain planet · Jun 8, 2013

Maters are hitting the top rung of the 54 inch cages ....
Lot to do this week , might not get pics up till midweek

captain planet · Jun 13, 2013

The mater proof!

Aaaaand baby maters! :woohoo:

captain planet · Jun 13, 2013

Black swallowtail butterfly laying eggs, and the resulting caterpillars, there is enough in my garden to share with them

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