Compost Class at Portland Nursery

Today I attended a class put on by Oregon Metro about composting. This was located at the Division street Portland Nursery.

Why should you compost?

It improves soil quality, soil texture, saves money, and helps the environment.

Most of what Glen Andresen, our instructor was telling us was nothing new to me, but a few things that i did not know included:

1. If you put fruit in your bin you should bury it so it will not attract critters.

2. Openings in your bin should be less than 1/4 inch to keep critters out.

3. That wood shavings/sawdust has little nitrogen in it and can take a very, very long time to decompose

4. Those little black compost bins can be purchased for only 35 bucks.

5. And the best thing, after attending a class at Portland Nursery i got a coupon for 10% off of my purchase.

Last Years Garden

Here I am, working in my garden last year. In this picture we have corn, tomatillo, zucchini, beans, broccoli, and edamame. What you can't see are the tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, artichoke, spinach and lettuce.

In the coming year there will be no corn, broccoli, peppers, artichoke. Instead we are having Asparagus, melon, garlic, herbs, more tomatoes, carrots and onions.

Yesterday in the foggy, chilly weather i started prepping my asparagus bed. I hoed under the clover cover crop, topped with a layer of composted steer manure, 10 pounds of greensand (mineral additive) and a bale of compost Then I topped it all off with a thin layer of leaves. All this i will till into the soil in February right before i plant the asparagus crowns.

Itching...

This is my first post for my new blog. I plan to talk about my garden, pond, and the rest of my life that i think you might find interesting.

Today is one of the first sunny days of the new year. I am itching to start my veggie garden.
In anticipation of this I have recently ordered my seeds from Nichols http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/ and, hopefully, all the gear from Charlie's http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/ necessary to start some of the seeds indoors. This will be the first time I will grow so many veggies from seed. So i am currently researching times and techniques.
I hope i don't screw this up.