John from Northland writes: I gather seaweed from a local beach. It gets washed up in big tides so it’s easy to collect. We had so much of it that I just dumped it in a pile in a place that was easy to get to with my trailer. This weekend I have been preparing […]
A reader has asked for suggestions regarding lawn clippings. Her husband has been putting them in the wheelie bin and has asked for a better suggestion. Lawn clippings can certainly be put to good use, and without a lot of bother. A really simple way to turn it into compost is to put lawn clippings, […]
I order a truck load of manure at once. At $60 a truck load it’s really economical, as opposed to $12 a bag.
Getting rid of Cutigrass. We have the misfortune of having almost a dozen of these huge weeds in our garden. After much pondering I decided to chop down around the base & leave them to decompose. Instant mulch. Not only has it covered some bear ground & stopped numerous other weeds from taking hold, it […]
To make rich compose, place lawn clippings, weeds and other garden waste into a big black plastic bag (such as a big garbage bag). Seal the bag and leave. Turn it once a week an after three months you will have good garden compost.
I have four round black plastic compost bins. I fill these with the household scraps and clean garden weeds. When bin 1 is full, I start bin 2, etc. By the time bin 4 is full, bin 1 is ready to use. If there is any uncomposted material in the “using bins”, transfer it to […]
If you have the space available, a great place for collecting your kitchen scraps is in the top draw! If your cutting board is above a utensil draw, move these utensils and create a compost draw. Of course you will need a plastic container to put the scraps into. A long shallow dish works best(similar […]
Compost. To date I can’t put my veges in but all the agrapanthus/leaves now noxious weed. I cut off the green leaves and add to my compost. We have tons of it here as well as Ginger which is excellent for the compost heap. Don’t forget to layer with brown vegetation. This will speed up […]
A tip for making compost using nothing more than large black plastic rubbish bags, helps with the slug and snail problem too. I fill the rubbish bags with soft green waste rather than stalks, keeping them in a warm sunny place, and turning them occasionally. The warm bags attract heat seeking slugs and snails. I […]
I always had a problem composting, till at a night class I was told to simply wrap peelings etc in newspaper and put in the compost. The newspaper provides carbon and so balances the green nitrogenous waste.