compost!

I don't know why I'm always so happy when my composting goes successfully. It's so simple, really. Throw the stuff together, and let nature do the rest. Even at times like this, when I haven't touched the pile in months, and my garden plants are all suffering from being ignored, the compost keeps quietly cooking away.

I started turning it over yesterday and was delighted to find very nice black finished stuff at the bottom of the pile. I know I say this every year, but I think this year was the best compost batch ever! Probably because I just left it alone so long. When I lifted the bin up off the pile, crumbly stuff was spilling out from the base, it was that broken down. You can see the layers quite well here. That rich black layer at the bottom, that's the good stuff!

I've started digging it out.

 Fed the Rhubarb

I've cleaned up the bed and trimmed surrounding bushes, it looks quite a bit nicer now.

and Strawberry patch today

(from this view you can barely see the strawberries for that crepe myrtle growing in the corner. One of my next projects is to dig up and move it)

Next chance I get to go out into the garden I'll finish shoveling out the compost; feed the rest of the hostas and the baby crab apple tree (which is looking sad since its transplant) move two and feed all of the crepe myrtles. Then if there's any left over save it in bags for spring or perhaps dig it into part of the garden soil now...