compost cake!

Today it was time to turn and dig out the compost pile.

I think of it as "cutting the compost cake" and you can see why:

It was so rich this year! Very well done.

I spread six wheelbarrow-loads today. One per each side yard, one for the front bed and mailbox spot, two for the shrubs across the back fence line (I'm still pampering those rhodies a bit), and one for the rear perennial bed and hydrangeas.

Got a sweaty four-hour workout and then had to call it quits, whew. The rest is going onto the raised garden beds (soon).

Thinking why did it do so well this year (compared to last). After I scraped off the top layer of dried leaves and green plant material into the moved bin, the done compost was up to my hip! I don't think it's every been so full of finished material. And I didn't have a leaf shredder this year. But I did use leaves continually, from the nearby leaf mulch pile, and I also added old shredded cotton clothing, cut up cardboard and halved wine corks along with the usual garden trimmings and vegetable kitchen scraps. So, more 'browns'.

The other difference, is that I laid down a base of roughly shredded bamboo twigs. That's the matted stuff on the bottom. It didn't break down completely, but maybe helped by allowing some air flow underneath. I will probably repeat that next spring.

Just FYI, the corks didn't break down. These were near the bottom of the pile, still very much a cork. The shredded cloth, on the other hand, was completely processed. I tossed the cork pieces back in.

Next up: cake recipients! because it makes me happy