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Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

If you have a heavy clay soil the best thing you can do is put lots of gypsum and lots of organic matter in it. This will change the structure of the soil and will improve drainage and workability.

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

So we made a day of the beach and I gathered some seaweed. This sargasso weed has little berries all over it so being paranoid about the salt content and taking "Richards" advise I sprayed it off real good then let it soak in a bucket for an hour then rinsed again and now letting it soak overnight then to the ole composter it goes.

It was real fun taking the little one to the beach since it turned into a mini marine biology lesson for him with the little crabs and fishing to boot. I try to expose them to all aspects of the outdoors and instill good ethical habits as stewards of the outdoors. Andrew (4yo) is a Florida lifetime "sportsmans gold" license holder. So when we found a crab that stowed away he insisted we take him back to the beach. So off to the beach we went and found some more seaweed and let the little guy go. Was that pointless......maybe but atleast he cares about his impact and I couldn't be happier.

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

Very cool Dad. Sportsmen are dwindling in numbers so every one we add counts and that's the age you learn to enjoy all things outdoors.................of course a crab that size is bait but, time to learn that one later! Well done.

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

Great thread Bob,
I remember when me and a friend of mine planted our Sequoia trees,she added some compost into the hole.I planted mine and watered it and fertilized over the summer.Of the 15 or so(total)Sequoias planted in all,hers grew the fastest,almost twice as big as the others.Compost really gets it done!

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

My neighbor is famous for growing cauliflower heads 24" to 30" across (snow white variety). In addition to regular feeding, he tills mushroom compost into the soil 18" deep every 5 to 7 years.

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Bananas (Post 92982)

Twice a year(spring and fall) I gather grass clippings and feed them to the banana plants. I use big free bags from around the neighborhood. The banana roots actually grow up through the old grass sometimes. I also add kitchen vegetable/coffee/eggshell/shrimp peel/ fish head surplus to the bananas directly. No complaints.

I learned this early on(20 years before I grew bananas) when my anthropoply professor told me in that his Caribean country, household bananas plants were ' garbage disposals' for kitchen kitchen scraps.

I would LOVE to compost EXCEPT it takes an ENORMOUS amount of effort, a "herd" of cats, several dogs, and insect baits just to keep insects and rodents out of a hygienic house in which ALL food and garbage is stored in air-tight containers. I shudder to think what a compost heap in the outdoors would attract. But for 3 separate "herds" of cats in the same neighbourhood, we only just got rid of most of the field rats and mice!

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

If you have an active compost pile that is working as it should, you will not have any animals in it as the temperatures will be well over 100. There are a few bugs that inhabit the outer layers like sow bugs, but until it is ready to be used, even earthworms stay out. I do keep a small pile of compost that is ready to be used and the worms do like that pile.

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

When I pick up humic compost from the greenery facility in Oceanside CA, my temperature probe reads 150 F to 170 F. You will see smoke if you expose the inner core to air!

Re: The best thing you can do for your garden!

Bob,

Thank you for your response. Haven't decided yet, but at least now I'll consider it.