Compost Vol. 6

Turning our 2nd compost heap, once again: an arrangement of sticks and branches at the bottom for aeration and drainage, then alternating layers of dry grass/straw, food scraps from the kitchen, cow dung, brown, dried leaves from garden as well as green leaves and other green material from the garden e.g. "weeds" as well as prunings from plants and flowers grown right there in the garden for their composting properties e.g. borage, chickweed and comfrey...

...remembering the hose-, conduit- or other found pipe placed to stick out of the heap to release hot air...

...and building the heap up in a definite shape at least one metre high by one meter wide to ensure that the organisms and organic processes that will break down this material have adequate space and bulk to do their thing...   Cover it all up with a large piece of plastic, allowing the 'chimney' to stick out

New beds and terraces

Spraying our tomatoes with a chili/water mixture to deter monkeys.  Well, it's an experiment...

Construction on new terraced beds

Old planks sunk into a hollow (the soil removed to form the hollow is turned into the bed itself) make a solid pathway leading between two beds...

...and these planks are then covered with saw dust.  This bottom bed is being made to incorporate the two wild tomatoes that seeded themselves

...and into this tomato bed we planted basil seedlings in a ring at the base of the tomatoes, as well as peppadews, pineapple sage, and oregano plants, and then planted coriander, lettuce, rocket and spinach in between

Head gardener Steph walking through her pride and glory

Beans are loving the summer!!

Making a stairway down through the garden by levelling off squares, filling in with saw dust and old tiles

To date we have still not spent a cent on our garden, except on seed.  Everything we've done with our own hands and hard work, borrowed tools, and raw materials found in our area and donated by friends and neighbours.  Even the new terraced beds were put together using pruned branches from the main garden's coral tree.  Sales from surplus herbs over the Xmas season were enough to buy seed for the next 2 - 3 years.  We have already begun to rehabilitate the soil, and we have not used a single drop of artificial (chemical) fertilizer or pesticide.  The garden is populated by loads of different bugs and birds, including a kingfisher who has made a nest in a hole in the boundary wall to the one side of our compost heap

Produce!!