Looking to start organic gardening, help

[compo77]

Hello Garden banter forum,

As you guys can see from the title I am looking into getting some edible organic fruits and vegs on the go. I'm not much of a gardener and this will be my first attempt so I thought it was best to find some information before jumping into the compost.

I have read online that the best compost is your own compost made out of dead leaves, twigs and veg peels. So it makes sense if my first step was to make some compost but how do you go about doing it?? I understand so far the above and that you have to mix it with soil and water then leave it for a few moths, before you know it you have compost. There must be more to it than this?? any help would be greatly appreciated.

So, once I have my compost, what would be the best veggies to grow in September in England? It will be getting rather cold so they will have to be winter veggies?. Even know it's not really a veg I thought that potatoes seem to be an easy start? but really I want things like tomatoes, eggplant, chilies and things like this.

Really looking forward to speaking with you guys and getting my small organic garden started! All help really appreciated.

Thanks

[George Shirley]

We use a composter, a black plastic barrel on a stand. Grass clippings, tops of pulled veggies, etc. go into the composter. Inside on the kitchen counter there is a large, gray plastic bucket on the counter. Yes, it's from an old portable toilet from when wife was recovering from surgery many years ago. Vegetable peelings, anything that will compost that shows up in the kitchen. When it gets full it gets emptied into the composter.

Anything compost able, including newsprint that has been torn up so as to rot quicker. Alternatively you can just start a compost heap in the backyard. Either way you need to churn the heap frequently so as to get it composting quicker. Note: modern newsprint uses a print type that is from a vegetable type ink that rots quickly and safely. Do not use slick magazine paper. Our area gets a newspaper once a week that is free and is thrown on the front lawn. Most of our neighbors don't even pick them up but we will go out and pick all of them up on our block and then put them through the paper shredder and then into the composter. A few days later you can't even see the paper.

It just takes some time to make the compost whether in a heap or a barrel. If you have some decent dirt (we don't) you will be able to just turn your compostable stuff into the dirt and it will compost itself plus earthworm's will do a job eating it up and you have good soil.

That's a lot of work but it is the best way to get good earth and good stuff to eat, eventually.

Our garden is raised bed as our house sits on five feet of gumbo clay with a few inches of sand on top of it. Basically the builder raised the ground up to avoid flood insurance. We've been working on our raised beds, four feet wide by 32 feet long for five years now and our garden is prolific. We also do the same things to the length of the back fence by digging our compost into the clay and also put a little gypsum into the area as gypsum mixed into the sand/clay makes the clay start to degrade and will, eventually, turn into true soil.

That's a long winded set up but, eventually, you make good dirt.

George

[songbird]

garden banter is an interface website which actually uses what is called usenet. so your article actually went far beyond the uk to the rest of the world via the usenet newsgroup rec.gardens.edible...

if you want to avoid their leechcrap you can get an actual usenet reader and subscribe via free usenet services (like eternal september). some e-mail clients have usenet options built right into them.

selecting a garden space and getting it ready. what is your garden soil like? how is the drainage and light? how will you control wildlife? almost all animals seem to find garden's tasty. will you need a wind block? irrigation?

compost can be added later. for most new gardens in decent soil you may not need any additional nutrients the first season.

it will likely be too late for the warm weather crops if you wait a month or more to put them in. is your garden area ready for planting now? get the plants and get them planted. use the spacing recommended on the tag (often it is a good idea to read the tags before you plan where to put things so you don't crowd things).

i'm not a potato expert at all. i don't know what their season is like. this will be the first time in many years we've put in potatoes.

:)

i've been organic gardening since i moved in here and it's been going pretty well. my climate is somewhat different than the uk's, but i'm still in a cool climate (so we are just now putting in the warm weather crops) our last frost was a few weeks ago.

songbird

[Pavel314]

We're about 95% organic. We use a little chemical fertilizer to get things going and I spray the orchard with insecticide and fungicide, but we rely m ostly on compost for the gardens. Here's a link to a picture of the compost bin system I built several years ago;

g.html?sort=3&o=0

I sunk eight 8-foot fence posts to make three bins four feet across and eig ht feet deep. A ring of 2x4's around the top stabilized the whole thing, th en I put woven wire fencing around the sides and back. The front doors are

18 inches high.

Currently, we're using compost from the right bin and putting weeds in the center bin. Next year, we'll start using compost from the middle bin while putting the weeds in the left bin. And so on, rotating the bins.

Paul

[compo77]

Wow, guys some great replies and very detailed. I am going to make a start on the area of my garden where I will be composting. I think for my first a 2m long by 1m wide by 1m tall will be a good start for my first compost try out, and then if all goes well I can extend.

I am surprised at the number of different items you can add to a compost heap. I'm deffo going to get onto all my family members and get them to save all of their trimmings for me so I have more to add in the beginning. Time to get my gardening gloves on and get to work. Speaking of gardening gloves, I do need a good pair that are puncture resistant if possible. I have found some on this site

do they actually work?

As I start to build my little composting project I will post pictures up to keep you guys updated on the build and the materials I use, if there is anything that you think could be done better along the way please throw in your thoughts and opinions.

[Pavel314]

If you can get any fresh manure around your area, like from a riding stabl e or a cow farm, add that to the pile. We raise sheep so every few months, I sweep out the sheep barn and throw that on the compost pile. It's just en ough to make a thin layer but the bacteria in the manure speed up the compo sting process.

Also, we have a wood stove, so during the winter I scatter the ashes on the garden and compost pile. Lots of good minerals in ashes.

Paul