SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

Joel is out in the garden this morning doing some relatively heavy gardening. We have a high-school boy helping with some of the gardening chores. He had cut the lawn (which is more of a field than a lawn!) Joel has been raking up some of the clippings and dumping them into the compost bin.

We all need to remember that when you put grass into the compost, it will settle into an impenetrable layer of felt-like substance. No air or water will penetrate it! At any rate, we need to remember to TURN that compost when a pile of grass goes into it. It needs to be mixed with soil and other compost-y matter. If you don't do that, aside from the layer of "felt", you will also have an anaerobic pile and it will SMELL! NOT A GOOD THING! (Check the link I provided.)

The other chore he has been tending to, is cutting some limbs off some low hanging branches. Trees GROW in case you hadn't noticed! When they begin to block sunlight and interfere with the growth of the plants below, it's time to trim them. So this morning, they were trimmed. What to do with the limbs? Fortunately, we live in a pretty woodsy area so it's rather easy to dispose of them. We have a number of "brush piles" around the property. Those brush piles create homes for little critters, birds and various reptiles. They are happy for the shelter, and it gives us something to do with the brush!