My old compost bin ratty would just run round the garden digging it up 🤪. He turns the compost bin for me anyway. I only grow flowers so I don’t worry about his personal habits.
If we are going to welcome wildlife into our gardens, it has to be all wildlife. And slugs.
oh, boy! everyones gotta eat! maybe my memory is lapsing but I haven’t struggles hard with slugs but they are more than welcomes because there is baby birds who need feeding as well. haha
Haha here it's foxes who dig it up. Suburban garden, the foxes play freely. I guess we do a half hybrid thing here - rot it a bit in a tumbler composter and then add it in when it's no longer palatable to foxes.
We have naughty foxes too. One went into my greenhouse and stole my gardening glove (just one). I think it was for the little ones to play with because I found it later, torn to pieces. My sister lives in London. A fox ran off with her trowel while she was kneeling by one of the beds. She managed to get it back. It was one of the really pricy copper? ones.
In our 3 year old (clay) flower garden in zone 5 NYS, I put down a heavy layer of cedar mulch to choke out the poison ivy that was driving us nuts. Now I’m concerned that our scant summer rainfall is being repelled by the mulch and I want to remove it and put down compost instead. When should I do this to wreak as little havoc to the already impoverished soil?
I would, before the flowers start waking up, rake all the cedar up (does not have to be perfect!) use it somewhere else and put a nice 1-2 inch layer of compost on top. Add more compost each fall + maybe a leaf layer or lighter mulch.
I had the same worries! I direct compost in our garden beds - no worries about tillage. I focus mainly on annual cover crops instead of perennials because I want them to die over winter. I can the same goods without tarping over or tilling!
I gave up on outdoor composters, period! I have a small city yard so I switched to a new composter from mill.com It is amazing! It keeps things clean in your kitchen. It makes compost virtually over night. Check it out if you want to keep operation small and simple!
My old compost bin ratty would just run round the garden digging it up 🤪. He turns the compost bin for me anyway. I only grow flowers so I don’t worry about his personal habits.
If we are going to welcome wildlife into our gardens, it has to be all wildlife. And slugs.
oh, boy! everyones gotta eat! maybe my memory is lapsing but I haven’t struggles hard with slugs but they are more than welcomes because there is baby birds who need feeding as well. haha
Haha here it's foxes who dig it up. Suburban garden, the foxes play freely. I guess we do a half hybrid thing here - rot it a bit in a tumbler composter and then add it in when it's no longer palatable to foxes.
We do what’s safe for our space!
We have naughty foxes too. One went into my greenhouse and stole my gardening glove (just one). I think it was for the little ones to play with because I found it later, torn to pieces. My sister lives in London. A fox ran off with her trowel while she was kneeling by one of the beds. She managed to get it back. It was one of the really pricy copper? ones.
In our 3 year old (clay) flower garden in zone 5 NYS, I put down a heavy layer of cedar mulch to choke out the poison ivy that was driving us nuts. Now I’m concerned that our scant summer rainfall is being repelled by the mulch and I want to remove it and put down compost instead. When should I do this to wreak as little havoc to the already impoverished soil?
I would, before the flowers start waking up, rake all the cedar up (does not have to be perfect!) use it somewhere else and put a nice 1-2 inch layer of compost on top. Add more compost each fall + maybe a leaf layer or lighter mulch.
I would like to incorporate these methods in the garden but I worry about tilling and reducing the beneficial microbes and insects.
I had the same worries! I direct compost in our garden beds - no worries about tillage. I focus mainly on annual cover crops instead of perennials because I want them to die over winter. I can the same goods without tarping over or tilling!
I gave up on outdoor composters, period! I have a small city yard so I switched to a new composter from mill.com It is amazing! It keeps things clean in your kitchen. It makes compost virtually over night. Check it out if you want to keep operation small and simple!