New compost barrel

Our compost situation was, well, squirming. Seething might be a better word. Wriggling works.

I have a very high threshold for such things, and even I quaked, when it came to be MY TURN to take the accumulated scraps to... the swarm. Caught some nice bluegill, though, using the soldier fly maggots as bait.

So for Mothers Day (in addition to buying a new super-efficient fridge to replace our 1995 model), I built my wife (and myself, of course)... a drum composter!

Fifteen bucks for the barrel. Twelve for the hardware and 4x4x8's. I used a salvaged steel rod from our old awning (very very strong), and the top from an old trashcan. Four conduit brackets hold the barrel onto the posts.

I still need to add a doorknob to make turning easier, and rig up some way of keeping the door closed when turning. Oh, and i need to finish painting it and clean it up some. But otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied.

It's at exactly the right height to empty into my wheelbarrow, and I have the option to add a second barrel, above the existing one, if we decide we need it. We could start compost in the top, transfer to the bottom when that load is finished.

The hardest things were cutting the plastic neatly (it's seriously stiff plastic -- I broke a jigsaw blade and wore out two power drill batteries cutting the holes) and digging the four foot holes for the posts (dry dry dry sand and no posthole digger). Otherwise, an afternoon project. It turns the compost beautifully, and drains well, which should help the soldier fly maggot problem. Too hot and dry for them to flourish.

Persimmon and Purple Sugar Cane

At Ernie's, I got a new kind of persimmon, a Sharon. Tasty. Reminds me of a cross between a cantaloupe and a fresh date. With a little bit of complexity, like a citrus cinnamon. Nice. I also bought a cool purple sugarcane. Stuck it in the ground. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, I finished cleaning up the limbs from having our canopy raised in the back yard. Water oaks. Blech. But they'd be very expensive to remove, and they are pretty trees. I had the trimmer leave the limbs behind, so his crew wouldn't rip up my garden. It was a pile about seven feet tall by twenty feet. Argh. Spent all day yesterday and a good part of today sawing it into manageable pieces, packing it tight in the truck, and driving it to the dump. Made it in two trips (extended bed pickups are nice!), along with a big pile at the street.

Now I can move along with my latest backyard plans. I started work on my composting areas: Three piles. One for smallish limbs &c. that will take a year to decay, another for smaller landscape junk and leaves, and a third bin for household refuse. That last stuff turns into humus gold in just a couple months here, so long as you turn it and keep adding brown materials.

Leu Gardens

A lovely late-summer day. "Cool" temperatures (86 degrees or so) and very low dew point of upper 50s combined to make a gorgeous taste of the cool, dry season that lies at most a month away. We spent the morning at Leu Gardens, enjoying the weather, butterflies, and the blooms. Leu has a great Bamboo Garden, and in today's heavy winds the creaks and cries from the timber bamboo were eerie and beautiful at once.

I finally finished unloading the mushroom compost from my truck. Driving the 'hood, I noticed ten large contractor bags full of live oak leaves! Very exciting. My garden is now heavily composted and thickly mulched in leaves.

A great day.