After much research it seems to me that making compost is both an art and a science. I’ve read a few books now and I’m really none the wiser. I have a compost bin. I chuck stuff in. Will it end up as something which will help me grow the biggest, healthiest and tastiest vegetables in town? Who knows? All the advice I’ve read has ended up taking one of these contradictory positions:
1. If you don’t get the nitrogen:carbon ratio exactly right you’ll end up with a slimy, unusable mess.
2. You can put just about anything into a compost pile and eventually you’ll end up with something good.
Somehow I think I’ll be taking the second option then.
(Although I’m pretty sure the “just about anything” shouldn’t include tempura paint slathered down the sides of the bin and dribbled between the slats. But what could I do? It was the first sunny day in a week, we’ve all been sick again and the children wanted to paint something. It was the compost bin or the trees.
I had been wanting the compost bin painted green but I’d been thinking of something a little more subtle!)
This is my son’s new no-dig garden which we made the weekend before last. We took a break from clearing the rubbish heap and built it out of blocks from the old BBQ I’d made my husband demolish the day before. At the bottom is a layer of newspaper (kills the weeds, will rot down and enhance the soil), then there is a layer of pea straw (will rot down and enhance the soil), and finally topped up with a mix of topsoil and compost.
I think it’s much prettier than my garden. Certainly much neater anyway which just goes to show you what starting with a proper plan and having someone decisive in charge of choosing what to plant will do.
We planted (at my son’s request) peas, carrots, marigolds, sunflowers and parsley. Amazingly, after a week of warm weather everything except the carrots was poking through the soil. I hate to think what this week’s cold snap will do to them.
This Saturday, 22 September 2007, is not only the Spring Equinox (down here anyway) it is World Carfree Day! From the World Carfree Network information page:
Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.
2007 should be no different.
But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to “normal” life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars.
Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars…365 days a year.
As the climate heats up, World Carfree Day is the perfect time to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of to the automobile.
I only found this out today from a poster on the train as I was coming home this afternoon. I bet it’s old news to everyone else! It’s going to be tricky because I’d planned to do a lot on Saturday, but I think I can manage it.
If you’re in Wellington on Saturday Metlink will have these special offers available:
Bus and harbour ferry - child travels free
A child travels free on Saturday 22 September on the following services when accompanied by a fare paying adult: Go Wellington (formerly Stagecoach Wellington), Cityline Hutt Valley, Mana Coach Services, Newlands Coach Service and the East by West harbour ferry.
Train - two extra people can travel on a Group Rover ticket for the day
On Saturday 22 September up to six people can travel on a Tranz Metro $20 Group Rover ticket instead of four people, so an extra two people can travel for free for one day. A Goup Rover ticket allows travel anywhere between Paraparaumu, Upper Hutt, Johnsonville and Wellington.
I’ve been too busy to blog. It’s mainly the continuing excavations in the garden but also I’ve taken on a part-time job in the evenings. I think it’s a good sign that I’ve been doing more gardening than reading (or writing) about gardening.
By the way, peak oil has popped up again in New Zealand’s mainstream media. This time as a cover story in the New Zealand Listener. It’s well worth hunting out, especially if you’ve just asked “peak what?”.
