It's raining, and. . . .

. . . I cannot do any leaf raking for compost, so I am going to do some indoor work.

I am going to shred newspaper and cardboard for my worm bins and stockpile it for the future. Start work on my pile of paper that needs to be decluttered, some of that will be shredded, of course.

Get some sleep because I have been leaf-raking and shredding leaves whenever I got the chance, which means going on longer that I really want to, in expectation of the rain and snow to come.
(I have collected and shredded 55 bags of leaves, a few more bags to go and my 4x4x4 heap is nearly full and the interior is nicely warm). right now I am too tired to want to do any physical work and I am glad the rain has come because I can stop.

I am not complaining about the rain as I am thinking of the people in the path of the Sandy Hurricane on the East coast. My prayers are with you.

What do you have lined up to do during the winter, those of you, like me, unable to garden now for five months? Apart from day-dreaming.

Hello Kelejan,
I will still be trying a little gardening, both in my cold frame and even a little in the basement in front of the east facing window and some lights as well. Maybe nothing will survive but I will have fun trying. But mostly I want to work on learning some Spanish, and do some long missed reading. I love to sit down on a cold day with a hot cup of coffee or tea and a good book. What are you planning?

I spent at least four hours today hauling bags of leaves, bags of horse manure, a bag of dog fur (my daughter is a groomer), tore up tp rolls, and wet newspaper, broke up corn stalks and started a compost bed. I was mowing the leaves to shred them as I was building the pile. I watered the layers as I built. It is just about 18-24 inches high by 4 feet wide and about 6 feet long. I know it is too long but I am putting the wire fencing that I have around it and didn't want to cut it. I may do some reworking. I had to quit and hobble into the house and up the stairs for a very hot bath. I am so sore and texted my kids that I need their help within the next few days.

I can't believe you have shredded 55 bags for a 4 x 4 bed. Now I am feeling like I may not be able to make enough compost for the spring. I want to make enough to replace soil in a few beds and make them the new sfg way. I have the old book and will be getting the new. I also need to make 3-4 new beds because I feel a need to grow some extra to share.

This winter I will be babysitting grandkids, hopefully getting my house back in order. I had one son get married and moved out, hub moved out, daughter, son-in-law and their baby moved in, bedrooms changed, etc. I will be taking care of my father's probate stuff which is in another state. I will hopefully get to some family history, get my photos organized and do some reading and maybe some cross-stitch. I always want to do too much done!

Triciasgarden wrote:I spent at least four hours today hauling bags of leaves, bags of horse manure, a bag of dog fur (my daughter is a groomer), tore up tp rolls, and wet newspaper, broke up corn stalks and started a compost bed. I was mowing the leaves to shred them as I was building the pile. I watered the layers as I built. It is just about 18-24 inches high by 4 feet wide and about 6 feet long. I know it is too long but I am putting the wire fencing that I have around it and didn't want to cut it. I may do some reworking. I had to quit and hobble into the house and up the stairs for a very hot bath. I am so sore and texted my kids that I need their help within the next few days.

I can't believe you have shredded 55 bags for a 4 x 4 bed. Now I am feeling like I may not be able to make enough compost for the spring. I want to make enough to replace soil in a few beds and make them the new sfg way. I have the old book and will be getting the new. I also need to make 3-4 new beds because I feel a need to grow some extra to share.

This winter I will be babysitting grandkids, hopefully getting my house back in order. I had one son get married and moved out, hub moved out, daughter, son-in-law and their baby moved in, bedrooms changed, etc. I will be taking care of my father's probate stuff which is in another state. I will hopefully get to some family history, get my photos organized and do some reading and maybe some cross-stitch. I always want to do too much done!

Well, in addition to my 4x4x4 pile, I mulched 84 sqares of my SFGs
and topped up the compost pile I am currently using that has many worms in it, still have three bags to shred, and I have three shredded bags stored in my shed along with dried grass, shredded newspapers and cardboard.
So I estimated that I used about 42 bags of leaves. Of course, it depends on the size of the bags, how tightly they are packed, and I am only counting unshredded bags. I reckon that when I shred the leaves, I can pack 8 bags into five. At the moment I am a little tired of leaves, but I know my garden, my worms, and I, will be very happy next year.
I think you will have plenty of compost for your needs next Tricia; as for me, I want to increase my worm population and improve my lawns as well, but most of all I want to grow big stuff like Josh and Boffer.

If the snow showers hold off today I am going to get out there with my mower/bag combo and chop up some leaves!

GG

instead of sorting out the garage, i'm sitting in front of this computer wasting time improving my gardening knowledge. I was checking out the Jackson and Perkins rose site as my DIL loves roses but their yard is pure sand. I want to find out more about container growing roses for her. I gave her one for Mother's day this past year in a Homer bucket of MM. So far it is doing fine, but I need to know if there is a better soil mix and if bigger pots are needed. Any suggestions.

Rebuilt two compost piles a little over a week ago and started a third. (half a truckload of horse/goat manure had to go somewhere) Hope to find another yard this year with bags of leaves. Used up all I begged for last year. Sandy may leave a few yards ready to rake.



Kay

I still have an active garden, altho may not by Wed after Sandy blows by.

I have lots of books, magazines and videos to catch up on this winter. And ton of organizing/donating/throwing out to do. I could do some house painting if I really get bored but I doubt I'll get THAT bored. I also have a full time job that keeps me going thru the week.

Then before we know it, February is here and it's time to sprout stuff.

Rain and hi winds here now. Heading for bed and putting my earplugs in.


CC

[quote="CapeCoddess"]I still have an active garden, altho may not by Wed after Sandy blows by. /quote]

I'm with you CC. Still have fall plants growing, both broccs and cauliflower almost all have 5 inch heads, cabbages and rutabagas, br. sprouts, garlic still growing too. Watching to see that Sandy doesn't tear things out. Keeping a close eye on Tuesday - forecast now-increased gusts to 60mph. Don't know if weighing down rocks on my tabletop strawberries will help, but it can't hurt. Tied up 105 bags of leaves not yet mulched and tied what I could to the pasture fence. Stored bags of dried grass and buckets of spent grape pomace in the garage. Better compost-making days should be here by at least Friday, maybe Thursday.

Wow Kelejan you are an inspiration with how much you have gotten done! With how you have prepared so much, I sure think you can grow some big stuff without a doubt. How many worms are you starting with? I am seriously considering getting started myself.

GG, I hope you were able to get your mowing/mulching done!

Kay, good job on your compost piles! Isn't it amazing how much you can put in a compost pile and it just keeps compressing as you pile it up and water each layer? That's the experience I was having with the one pile I was building. It seemed so much more went into it than I expected. Are you doing leaves and manure?

I think the rose bush(es) should do well in the MM and the Homer bucket should be big enough for awhile. My BIL grew his rose bushes in containers. From what I can remember the containers were 5-10 gallon containers and they were beautiful! I know rose bushes like acid so watering with coffee or putting coffee grounds on top should help. You probably already know about them loving the higher acid though.

CC and LM, I hope Sandy is not too rough on you! It's amazing how big of an area Sandy will affect and how many many days it takes to go through. I am (a bit) envious of how much rain you will get but not the way you are getting it! Hope you do get some sleep, and smart idea about the ear plugs; my twin sister uses them every night. Batten down (the hatches) er your live! Hope you can take a few days off from work because of Sandy!

LM, sounds like you have been collecting and securing very nicely and I like your idea of securing the bags to the fence. That's a great idea! It sounds like your strawberries are prepared! Like I said to CC, Batten down the hatches!

Keep us informed how you are fairing!

Triciasgarden wrote:Wow Kelejan you are an inspiration with how much you have gotten done! With how you have prepared so much, I sure think you can grow some big stuff without a doubt. How many worms are you starting with? I am seriously considering getting started myself.

. . .

Tricia, I started early this year when I discovered compost worms in some compost I restarted from neglected leaves from the year before. I had added some sheep compost and that is where the worms were. They obviously increased in numbers while they were in that pile I was turning, and when the compost was finished , the best I had ever made, I discovered these little red worms; read as much as I could as I remembered Josh in particular had mentioned his worms and what they were doing for his garden, so I picked, by hand, about 1500 worms and built my Wiggler Hilton. the only cost I have incurred is about $20 to build the Wiggler Hilton, the rest has been a bit of hard work and patience.
So this year I decided to go all out and worked to prepare for next year.
Perhaps I should have PM'd this to you personally as I know I have written about this in several threads. I hope others are not too bored to hear me repeating myself.

LM, you are doing well with 105 bags of leaves and counting; double the number I have. I expect you already have mulched leaves in addition to the 105, but now all my leaves are shredded and put to bed. We have rain now for the coming week, so i will probably stop collecting leaves so I wonder, next year will I regret stopping now? Will I have enough browns to add to my 2013 greens? For the next exciting instalment, check in, in August, 2013.

NB. Of course it is a slow-moving thriller; it's worms and compost.

PPS All the above was because I was asked a simple question and the answer was 1,500. I got carried away......

Ladies, it absolutely blows my mind what you accomplish for your gardens and compost. I need to have a gardening party and invite you all!
Happy gardening, but for now, enjoy the winter.

Kelejan...post away!!....dont worry if you have posted some before.....i love reading everyones posts!!

hugs
rose.....who has been working on our compost as well....been working up the nerve to ask our neighbors for their fall leaves wonder what they would think if we snuck over and raked the leaves in the middle of the night

FamilyGardening, just go and ask them; I'm sure they will be only too pleased to let you have them, especially if they just dump them in the trash.
I do know how you feel, as for two years my new neighbours dumped their leaves over into my garden, as our back gardens go up a steep hillside behind us and it consists of rocks and trees and bears etc and can only be landscaped at great effort and expense so is left to Mother Nature.
So this year I plucked up my courage and asked them, explaining that I would love to have the leaves for my new compost pile. They were fine with it. I gave them ten bags and they have filled them with shredded leaves. I will give them some finished compost in the spring and get them hooked.
So instead of trying to collect them from the hillside which was a littel difficult, they did all the work and I was able to put them straight into my pile. My own leaves I have to sweep up and shred and that was quite a bit of work.
Go on, do it FamilyGardening.