I have two plastic rotating compost bins that I constantly work and leave to compost longer than what I probably need to. My favorite bin catches all the essential “juices” in a container base that I then use to make compost tea. I have come to realize that extracting finished compost from any of these above-ground plastic bins is reserved for individuals with 3 (preferably more) tiny arms, no fear of roaches, and a high tolerance for coping with copious amounts of fruit flies. I have adorned my oldest gloves many times to basically hand-scoop out the damp gold from the bottom of my compost drums into my wheelbarrow, a lovely job. It might be just me, but my compost has never resembled the fluffy, dry stuff found in gardening magazines and on infomercials. It is still good, so good in fact I wash it down with a nice Chianti. (accompanied with the obligatory Lector noise)


My large rotating bin and my smaller spinning drum complete with juice catcher base.

I use large amounts of used coffee grounds from a local east-side coffee shop which forms the base of my compost. I then add 4-5 months of organic kitchen waste and dried grasses etc. When it has sufficiently decomposed, I attempt to extract it from the bins. I then apply a good layer to the surface of the soil around the base of my plants, I do not dig it in.  It continues to decompose over the next 6 months and by then my 2nd compost bin is usually close to being ready.

“Sticking” on the subject of composting for a moment, I have a dark secret, one that involves multiple corpses of birds, frogs and the occasional fish.  It is 6 feet tall, 5 years old, and is full of clippings from my ornamental grasses and weeds…a general dumping ground. It smells like farmyard silage and a multitude of things live and hunt in it. . . . . but I have reason to believe something much “bigger” inhabits its’ core chamber. It is my “Wild Patch”, and recently it burp at me, or was that him? I intend to shred it all and compost once again.


Burp!


Who needs a sculpture or a focal point when you have this!
My larger grass and brush pile – complete with all the debris the recent storm brought down
from my Post Oak (luckily no main limbs came down).

Other notables right now:

Canna Bloom                                                                                   Caladium blood vessels

First Dragons have arrived! and they are never camera shy.

Asparagus Ferns in the Amphitheater

Stay Tuned for:

“Throw Another Saints Leaf on the Barbie Mate”

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