Ah, how excited I was to buy a house on a double lot! I envisioned growing lush, green grass along the west yard for the kids to play soccer, edging the entire yard with lilacs and flowering cherries and quinces, planting a border of lavender around the house, throwing in a couple of fruit trees, and planting my garden behind the house, with enough vegetables for lots of salads and lots of canning and drying in the fall. I love vegetables. I love fruits. I love herbs. I love flowers. What big plans I had!
I went out today to remedy my compost problem. I had started a compost pile just behind the house. I had really just started dumping kitchen scraps onto the lawn in a pile. Well, as it turns out, this is not a great idea, especially in a place where there are rodents and burrowing animals. How do I know we have rodents? The pair of shiny eyes I encountered one night in the driveway caused me to do a little googling, and I ended up with some lovely photos of opossums. We’ve got ’em. So, needless to say, I don’t need egg shells and apple cores being dragged across my lawn, possibly to find their way to an unsuspecting neighbors yard.
Also, I had started the pile in the dead of winter, knowing full well there would be no actual decomposing happening with the frozen detritus of my culinary exploits. The funny thing about that is that once it starts getting warm enough for the scraps to decompose, it is also getting warm enough for flies. And yes, the flies do come out, and they do lay their eggs, MAGGOTS, in your compost pile. (Hey Lisa, remember that one time when we cleaned out the trash can full of maggots? Good times!) As beneficial as it may be to have someone eating the compost, it is most certainly not beneficial to have swarms of flies hovering about you back door. Plus, if you don’t add some “brown” to the compost, the smell does tend to overpower. But where do you get brown in the dead of winter, with all the leaves and clippings long gone with the fall clean-up?
I broke down and purchased a black plastic compost bin from Costco. They deliver. The bin has no bottom, so as to more efficiently let in the worms who do most of the work. I de-boxed the bin, put it together, and stuck it right on top of my existing pile, without moving anything. Voila! Except then I read on some internet site that is now linked on my sidebar that you shouldn’t build your compost in full sun, because it may overheat. I don’t know precisely what overheating will do to the compost, but it sounded bad. So today, I went out, removed the bin to a safe location between our garage and the neighbors fence, and trucked our brand new wheel barrow over to the slightly smelly, but already decomposing pile. I shredded some newspapers for the brown (hoping in my heart that they were printed with soy ink), hauled the gunk, dumped it, added more newspapers, some shredded 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard egg cartons, and some mulch that I stole from the edging, and closed the lid.
I covered the old spot with some more mulch, and everything was dandy. Until I started looking around at our HUGE yard. Weeds everywhere. There are more wildflowers in our lawn than lawn. I’m not sure they’re any good kind of flowers, either. The trees severely need pruning, especially the magnolia that scapes against the house all over the place, and has way too many dead branches. We also have one crazy bush of roses that are, I think, tea roses. But they need to be pruned. And the ivy. And the huge weed bushes in the back. And the dandelions. And on, and on, and on.
How am I going to keep up with this? Especially with exactly zero experience in tending a yard. Why did I sign up for this? Oh yeah, maybe this had something to do with it.
April 16, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Is that your home Sarah? How beautiful! Spring seems to be in full bloom where you are, it’s snowing again here.
I love all your yard plans, I too have had some big plans, they are a ton of work but so worth it. I grew up gardening and we were expert composters:) I do have raised bed gardens now, but I am still trying to win my husband over on the compost thing. Thanks for the info on the Costco compost barrel, that just might do the trick. Now all I have to do is find somewhere that isn’t in full sun.
April 16, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Yeah, that’s my cute house. We bought it last fall. The compost bin was around $80, so I don’t know if it’s worth it. It’s 90 gallons, but that turns out to be kinda small. I ordered it online.
April 16, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Oh, you THINK it’s small, but everything shrinks FAST. It’s a wonder. Love those de-maggoting the trash days. What were we thinking. That was disgusting. And nobody even thanked us. Good luck with the pruning! Your house is like a little dream house. And that last picture-GORGEOUS.
April 17, 2008 at 9:34 am
Your house is beautiful! DH and I did the same thing… bought a house with a yard with all this potential… then realized the yard was huge and upkeep was exhausting just to keep it mowed and weeded and edged and yadayadayada. We wound up never planting anything. 😦
I’ve always wanted to start composting, but I’m intimiated. I think lazy also has something to do with it.
April 17, 2008 at 9:58 am
Lisa, there was nothing left to do. It was the vilest necessary evil that was ever necessary.
Jill, composting is so easy. It will work if you just make a pile, but you’ll have the flies. The best way, according to a lot of sources, is to get a 10 foot-or-so length of 4 foot high (or 3) chicken wire, bend it into a cylinder, and dump your kitchen and yard scraps in. It’s cheap, easy, no-maintenance, unless you want compost fast, in which case you need to turn the compost with a pitchfork a couple times a week. Also, I think you’re anything but lazy.
April 17, 2008 at 10:10 am
Hi Sarah, I saw that composting bin at costco the other day.
The town we live in, Gilbert is really trying to go green. They offer free composting bins and deliver them for free too!! Isn’t that cool? We started composting about 4 or 5 months ago. I love it, and find it fun. (I’m weird like that)
I have recently found a website though that sells super red worms that they say can compost a pound of waste in a 24 hour period of time! Ready to use, instead of waiting 6 months or so. It is possible to put them in the compost we have now, except that I’m afraid that each time I stir the compost that I’ll be chopping a lot of the worms up too! I have seen composters that can be turned upside down and around, instead of stiring. I think that is a better idea than the one we have, but hey it was free. Jill, honestly don’t be intimidated by the compost, it’s easy and it’s worth it. 🙂
Beautiful tree! It looks so stunning against the color of your house.
April 17, 2008 at 10:33 am
Hey Karee,
I’m so jealous that your town does free bins. Boston does too. The worm composts don’t require turning, so you don’t have to worry about chopping them up, but even if you did, they stay alive even when they’re chopped in two! But from what I’ve read, they can’t stand extreme heat, so you would have to keep them indoors. I’ve read all about them, and everyone says they have absolutely no smell, and you can keep the bin in your kitchen. There was an article in Martha Stewart magazine a year or so ago about vermiculture bins. I want to try that too!
April 17, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I have one of those black bins and it’s true — it’s crazy how much stuff will fit in there. I did not know about the no sun thing. I would’ve if I’d read the directions, but I have a medical condition that does not allow me to read instructions. It’s called “Why get informed when futzing and swearing will work just as well.”
Good luck!
Love the flower picture!
April 17, 2008 at 3:35 pm
elizasmom, sometimes I wonder if you and I aren’t actually genetically related somehow. I seem to have all the same diseases as you.
April 17, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Totally off subject but I couldn’t see an email address- just wanted to say I was grateful to see your response on the blog about who and what Mormons are and aren’t in response to the FLDS situation. You said some of what I would have said had I read it earlier. Thanks for your humanity.
April 18, 2008 at 12:27 am
OH!! Elizasmom just cleared something up for me. I wondered what that was. I can never get through instructions and always end up “futzing” and sometimes swearing my way through things. Now I know that this disease I didn’t know I had requires that I NOT READ the instructions. This will be a great help in my life. Thanks for that.
And Sarah, do you know EVERYthing? Or are there still some things you haven’t learned yet. It’s hard to think what those things might be…Sheesh.
April 18, 2008 at 11:49 am
Lisa, yes… I can attest that Sarah pretty much knows everything. 🙂
Sarah, I think I may buy the worm composter for the kitchen. It sounds like a cool science experiment for Liam.
April 18, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Hah, Lisa — I am glad to be of help!
April 21, 2008 at 11:24 am
Give yourself over to the gardening zen, Sarah.
(Boo hoo, I miss my yard. Dang rental.)
April 21, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I love a beautiful yard, and I adore flowers. I remember having conversations with them when I was a child and didn’t know that that is considered weird. BUT! I HATE gardening. Dirt on my hands? Creepy crawlies marching up my legs? Fire ants attacking my feet? No way! Solution: find yourself a husband who just LOVES gardening. I tell him what I like and he plants it. And I never forget to praise him profusely for everything he does.
Happy End!
April 21, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh, I forgot: beautiful, beautiful tree! Your house looks adorable!
April 23, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I always feel that way at the beginning of spring, when it seems like there’s so much to do. But it all seems to get done! You do have a beautiful lawn and house.