welcome to my garden, part 5

 My Compost Pile

To my own surprise, I have found that I really enjoy the process of composting. I tell those who visit my garden, "I'm good at making dirt." The compost box (a leftover from our first attempt at gardening) sits in the southwest corner and is about an 8th of the greenhouse. 

 My compost recipe: generous amounts of horse manure procured from a friend, a scoop of sand from the wash, a shovel or two of organic dirt, and a sprinkle of diatomaceous earth. Use the above mixture to cover material to be composted. (First dibs for food scraps go to the chickens but there is typically plenty of non-chicken kitchen, yard and garden waste to make a good sized batch of dirt.) Water and stir periodically. Wait patiently. When soil is a rich brown and composted items are no longer evident in the mixture scoop into growing containers and start planting.