Saturday 16 April 2011

Compost

Hello! I'm back from my little hiatus. I've been extremely busy with work and I've had no time to document my progress. The weather has been cruddy as of late, so I've been holding off on updating, I'm waiting for better light for my pics. My garden is doing well so far, but that's not what this entry is about, that will come later. This entry is about compost!

My bin of compost, look at it!

I've been agonizing over the fact that I barely have space in my balcony for a composter. So you say, why don't you try vermicomposting? Well, due to my fear of worms, I can't exactly keep a container full of WRIGGLING creatures. However,  I did hold a couple of them at Seedy Sunday (which I will post about soon) to work on my fear. While at that event, I bumped into my friend Jane who told me about this great Toronto program. I was unaware that the city of Toronto gave away free trunkfuls of compost every year! I did a simple Google search and went to the nearest processing facility here and I picked a bin's worth of this black gold. The compost I've been using on my plants from Cathy's Crawly Composters has had amazing results. Though I picked up a bunch of compost, I still plan on buying some from her next week - I simply love her stuff, I suggest you get some compost for yourself!

Ah resourcefulness! The only downside was the fact that I had to get up at 6:30 am on a weekend. Next time I go, I should bring my own shovel, but a lady there was kind enough to let me borrow one! I must warn you though, that there's all sorts of debris that you can find. My compost had some weird plastic pieces in it, as well as a bunch of pebbles. For some people that's not a big deal, and it's really not. I'm not complaining mind you, but I like a more smooth compost so I'm currently sorting stuff out to fish out miscellaneous items.

A little container with some plastic pieces I found in the compost.

Some pieces of wood and stones that I plan on saving for drainage.

I suggest that if you do live in the Toronto area, take advantage of this stuff! It'll do some wonders for your garden. Especially if you're a balcony gardener like me! I also suggest you try vermicomposting if you're not afraid of worms!

I couldn't help but touch the lovely compost! Thank you for making my tomatoes amazing!