My Winter garden plans

Well it's bulb planting time. Earlier this week I started planting and then digging up bulbs. Some people may think that the winter is not a time for gardening and that is true to a point. I Personally am faced with the problem of putting my plants somewhere to keep them save for the winter. I have a wandering Jew that I am putting inside but have yet to find a place, and I am going to have to bring in my amaryllis's in this year. Some of them I started this year and some I started last year, either way they are to young to leave outside. I really do think I am going to have to invest in another growing shelve. I'll keep it next to the one I already have. It will take some getting rearranging but I think I will be able to do it. I'll keep you posted.

composting = gardening gold

When I got married I had never heard of composting. It was something that was completely foreign to me. My husbands family had been doing it for years and what they were doing was very very simple. As I learned it does not take a lot to compost.

Some people compost in the yard with an open air composting it looks similar to a pen that you would place an animal in, you only place leaves and kitchen scraps in it. It is relatively easy to make but it does take up a bit of room and if you are limited on room I would suggest getting a barrel to compost in. My husband and I opted for the easier barrel type. It's small and easier to maintain.

All you need is a barrel, most people paint it black because it speeds up the composting process. The first compost barrel we had was a cheap trash can I got at a discount store and it worked fairly well for a year or to the only problem with a trash can is the plastic is not thick enough. We went to a flea market and purchased two 32 gallon barrels and they have been what we have been using for the last four years with no problem, and they will last several years (my in-laws have been using a 55 gallon barrel for the past 15 years and it's still in good shape).

We got two barrels, the reason we got two is because there is a time when you have to stop adding to one and let it do it's thing, but you are constantly getting compost scraps so you add another barrel so that you will always have a place to put your scraps.