I have been going for walks as soon as the sun comes out- these days as it has been rare but it has given me a new appreciation for nature, and even decay. Japanese poets traditionally used haiku to capture and distill a fleeting natural images such as rain falling or a flower bending in the wind. Many people go for walks just to find new inspiration for their poetry, known in Japan as ‘ginkgo walks’. This weeks poem was inspired by David Bowie who left the earthly abode last week.
Those of you following the blog since last year will know that I created a small home composting system. This consisted very simply of putting a plastic pot inside a large planter and covering it with a double lid. Today, I went to see what it was looking like. Here it is, some compost made from kitchen waste six months ago without any additional help-
As the stuff gets composted, it gets compacted and goes down and so I added some more fresh peelings and kitchen waste into it today. I will also be using some accelerator to see if that helps to speed up the composting. As the weather has been so wet, this is not ideal but at least it seems to be working. Inside my kitchen, I have made a four part sorting system- one bin for composting, one bag for cooked food waste, one for dry rubbish and a big bag for recyclables. I tried using a normal sized rubbish bin and realised that it was taking weeks to fill up with the result that the cooked food waste thrown in was getting mouldy. I also have very little cooked food waste which is not compostable in the above manner and so this four part sorting means that I can use my peelings and tea and coffee grinds for compost, crushed egg shells for staving off slugs and also for sprinkling on the pots. The small rubbish is kept in crisp packets or similar size bags that I was going to throw away anyway. This way my kitchen also doesn’t have any mouldy stuff while I save on buying bin bags! Of course, this kind of system will only work if you have small bits of non compostable rubbish and don’t eat lots of meat, etc. Here are my carrot tops growing in my home made compost.
Winter is a time of hibernation, of sleep, of drawing back but also a time for rejuvenation and preparation for the glory of spring and summer. I have been busy but there is not much to show at present. These gorgeous holly branches with their vibrant green and reds show that winter still has power to dazzle as much as spring.
Britain has been hit by storms and rains and it has been very hard to do any useful gardening work. However, the warmer winter has meant that the plants which normally would have died down by this time are still thriving without any help- such as as the sweet peas and some of the flowering climbers. But soon, I will be back out again, to show you some of the ‘invisible’ work that nature has been doing without my help. In the meanwhile, hope you all have a lovely 2016!
The Canny Gardener 