Compost & Other Such Things

Yesterday we were cleaning out the animals, when it became clear the compost heap needed to be emptied a bit. There followed a fair bit of digging and removing half of the compost in readyness to put it on the raised beds next weekend. Last year we had a bit of a problem because the heap was smelly, a sure sign that we were getting the mixture a bit wrong. However I was reallly happy to find that now it has rotted down to the most beautiful loamy mixture and doesn't smell at all. It's beautiful, and absolutely crawling with life! Hopefully the grass snake will be back this year...

Recipe for excellent compost

copious quantities of each of the following:

- vegetable peelings etc

- paper, cardboard, and straw/wood shavings from cleaning out the animals

- animal droppings

- dead leaves

- worms, woodlice, etc, who should come of their own accord

allow to mix and stew. Serve on raised beds, dug in or as a mulch, and therein plant vegetables, fruits, flowers... Delicious!

The animals very much enjoyed the ordered chaos of rearranging the compost...particularly the ducks, who were slurping up every worm they could get their hands on.

And the good news is that despite a couple of days of wet weather spring is definitely here! The daffodils are finally out, having been late for St. David's Day :( ...there are nearly always bees in the park near my college collecting stunningly bright orange crocus pollen... and best of all, this week saw the first clumps of frog spawn!