Reuse, reduce, recycle?

Today was about setting up my new compost bin.  I have a ton of stuff I've been raking up and cleaning up and I figured it was time to start figuring out how to reuse it.  My community offers them at a steep discount and it was actually pretty easy to set up.  Now I  need to head into the local Agway to get some worms to get that going for realsies.

Of course, having no idea of what I'm doing, so I broke up big chunks of things and stuffed them in, watered it down, pulled a ton more of wild mint and tossed it in and watered it down and mixed things and I guess it's a good start.  Along with the bin, they also had kitchen scrap buckets, so time to start tossing in my coffee grounds and filters which, according to the directions, are good. 

Along with the composter, I also finished up my  4x6x12" box and started to fill it.  This will be where I grow root veggies and maybe a 3 sister garden in the 2x4 part of the box. I'll be adding soil tomorrow and getting my corn in.  I'll add my beans and squash as it grows.

I have carrots and parsnips that need to get planted.  Beyond that, I've got my beans ready to go in, my tomatoes are getting their true leaves and then  I've got my herbs.

Along with getting that done today, I also planted some Parisian carrots.  They're little carrot balls that look interesting.   I also got some radishes in and even some sugar pie pumpkins.

The trellis I sort of marked out last week vexed me.  I  need to figure out how to build a stable trellis and kept seeing an obelisk style trellis for vining plants on Pinterest.  I kept thinking, "I could do that," and after today I can say, yes, yes I can.

I'm still going to need a more traditional trellis, but now I have one for tomatoes and one for my beans.  :)  I have some trellis netting and the next step is to finish clearing out around the  12"  boxes and start getting my deck boxes set up with a kitchen herb garden.  Soon I'll be breaking down my deck greenhouse for the season, I won't need as I can now start planting directly in the ground.

While I was working today, I  saw all sorts of things that made me happy.   There were butterflies, big fuzzy bumblebees, dragonflies, and birds all playing and flitting around. It's that reminder that this little corner of the earth is still viable.  I hope that all gardeners feel that way too.

I'm hoping that I can get some cement blocks from the maintenance guys to plant one more corner of the plot.  I'll toss in a bunch of wildflower seeds to attract more bees and things.  Given the number of things that I think are not garden friendly insects, I may pick up some ladybugs when I go to Agway too.

So my garden continues to grow and, hopefully, so will the things I'm planting. :)