Compost and Things

The garden is really wet this year. Because it's based on clay, this means the grass and a lot of the beds are waterlogged. I try not to walk on the wet lawn but it is difficult. There hasn't been much really cold weather either so the slugs and snails are EVERYwhere. I use  Slug Gone wool pellets round specially vulnerable plants such as the cardoon and  the bergenias which works pretty well, but has to be replenished from time to time. And I also put all slugs and snails I find in the compost where they seem quite happy to remain. There are always more though. 

Compost heap last autumn

I make a lot of compost, not in bought plastic compost bins but in two wooden ones I had built when I first came to this garden. One is maturing while the other is being filled. I get a lot  in a year, putting in lots of paper and cardboard and only not using the sort of weeds that won't  break down in a year such as ivy.  I clear the compost at the beginning of the year, about March, so it's available when I need it. I used to use it immediately but now that I'm making so much I keep it in old compost bags so I have it all year round for potting up and planting etc. It is due to the compost that some of my beds are tall enough to cope with the rain.  Theoretically, I turn it after six months, but it's all a bit heavy for me now so it's not quite as well composted as it should be, but it seems to work fine just the same. 

There are tadpoles in the little pond. Lawrence mended it for me after I pronged it with a fork to break the ice. A week  later a great pile of frogspawn was laid in it and now they have turned into tadpoles. 

Finally, a book I think we should all read. It sounds unusually miserable for this author and I suggest you read the last pages first - which are what we can do about it. He writes well and he knows what he's talking about and I really recommend it: Silent Earth by Dave Goulson.