Monday 3 October 2011

My dirty little secret :)

 I tend to post the pretty side of my garden, I hope it reflects my romantic nature......but there is another side to this woman.
 I am sure you are all familiar with the entrance to the copse but have you ever wondered if it hides a secret.    Actually the left hand side does.....come with me and I will show you.
This is where I keep my compost bins, six in total.   I have another three behind the garage.    I am without doubt, a compost kind of girl.    
Just look at that, isn't it lovely.    Breathe deeply, can you smell woodland.    If my compost does not smell sweet, it goes back into the composter and I leave it until Spring.
Today three bins were ready.   Lovely black gold.   It always amazes me that kitchen waste, shredded twigs and small branches, paper and cardboard turns into this lovely rich soil.
I spent the afternoon mulching the borders, I shall finish the job tomorrow.......

Are you a compost sort of girl??

26 comments:

  1. Hi Cheryl,

    I do compost, although I don't have enough waste to produce quite so much! I'm lucky if I get a single bin full in the season. Saying that... I really need to get mine out as it's now getting too full for me to easily turn it all so the bottom will not be getting aerated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Liz,

    I always put a layer of twigs at the base of my composter. I never turn it but I do make sure the layers are not too thick. I also add comfrey leaves on a regular basis. It works really well. I also have a couple of open heaps behind the garage. I do these mainly for the hedgehogs and ground birds. They are always full of worms and all sort of insect life.

    Has your turf turned to loam yet ??

    ReplyDelete
  3. Definitely! Ours is in the wooden beehive bins my husband made and which frightened the window cleaner as he thought they contained bees!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes! I share you love of compost! So rich and dark and warm and delicious and sensuous, one of the best smells in the world I think.
    It contains all the wisdom of the natural world to my mind, that of life and death and renewal and how all things can reveal their true magic in time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You bet I am a compost girl. I should do bins too maybe I could put more house scraps into it so Luna wouldn't eat them. If I offered her a piece of broccoli in the house she wouldn't touch it but if I put it in the compost she eats it???? what is that all about??

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I'll be needing plenty of compost at the cottage to help the soil recover from the builders. Great that you have an area out of the way to let it 'brew'!
    Dan
    -x-

    ReplyDelete
  7. We did compost when we had a garden. Here, our house is in the woods so we don't compost. If we did we surely would use a bear-proof bin.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm with you in that it always amazes me how waste can transform into rich garden soil. I've stopped composting temporarily, but look forward to it once I move. No bites yet on the house, however.

    That first pic is really pretty. And I always like walking through your garden, even the "dirty parts". LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Jane,

    I remember seeing your lovely composters.
    Ha! I would have loved to see the window clearners face !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Lucinda,

    Absolutely....beautifully put.
    I especially love to see all the little creatures running through it.
    Whilst I was transporting it around the garden, young blackbirds and robins were having a feast.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ha Lisa,

    I know you are a compost girl.....we walk the same path in many ways :)

    Wouldn't you sometimes just love to get into the mind of a dog !!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ncmountainwoman.......bear proof bins eeeeek!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Wendy,

    The house will sell when the time is right :)

    I think most gardens hide secrets in one way or another.....

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is a beautifully kept secret, Cheryl! My compost bin is behind a shed and is pretty messy, but nobody but Sophie and me see it anyway:) Last year mine was piled high with leaves at the end of fall, and I was amazed how much it had shrunk by spring. There's nothing better than that "black gold."

    What is the pretty pink bloom in your first photo? It reminds me of Meadow Rue.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Rose,

    That beautiful flower is Filipendula Rubra Venusta 'Queen of the Prairie'. My favourite bloom in the garden at this time. It is very similar to Meadow Rue......

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am green with envy as I am a hopeless composter, mine never turns out anything like yours x

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am also a compost girl.
    Love your secret.....
    Black gold is the best.
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  18. The Queen is beautiful! I've been wanting to try her in my garden and worried she needed more moisture then C and L can provide. Compost is the bestest! gail

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yes, now that we have a garden, we have compost! In fact when lovely hubby built a nice raised veg bed for me in the spring, we filled it with the contents of our inherited compost heap and it was good stuff. We keep ours in one of those big green compost bags that zip round the top (theoretically) because we don't have anywhere out of sight to put it in our rather titchy garden. Lovely hubby has some big trellis which he's going to make a screen out of sometime to hide it away a bit. We're on the list for an allotment and then we can have lots of big open compost heaps and do it all properly. I must admit, when we turned our heap out onto a tarpaulin on the lawn this spring, I got quite excited.. I just couldn't believe that the yucky stuff that went in the top could ACTUALLY turn into glorious soily stuff.. now that's magic!

    ReplyDelete
  20. That we too are part of the compatible system of mother earth needs to be taught more. Our death is just the next phase of our place here yet we try to shy away from such a perfect design by vanity. There are many places that enshrine humans thus preventing the body's natural decomposition . My plan is to be buried within hours of my passing and in a cotton wrap. Hope that will be best for the earth and the creatures who work hard to compost.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear KleinsteMotte,

    I have great respect for your words.
    We think along similar lines as far as this issue is concerned.

    Namaste

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love compost! I think it is a form of living magic, don't you? Our compost goes one step further on the dirty scale as we have a composting toilet! It is a thing of pure beauty to me to see a cycle so beautifully enclosed. I agree also that its one of the best smells in the world.

    XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Danielle,

    I do so agree, living magic....I am in love with my compost bins. Is there any hope for me :)

    Composting toilet.......hmmmmm, now theres a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Best bit of the garden! I certainly seem to spend as long around our compost bins as I do anywhere 'pretty'.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I have got into composting this year after acquiring our allotment. I've now got 3 heaps, a manure pile and leaf mould all rotting down. It makes me feel like a proper gardener.

    ReplyDelete