Must. Build. Something like this.

But with more beauty and less width.

Referring to berry production, but true overall

"The best management and cultural practices cannot compensate for soil problems that should have been corrected before planting."

-Here-


I spent a good part of Saturday preparing our east edge back beds for the winter. I removed the tomato plant, took the last zucchinis off the plant, removed the lily stems and dry foliage and composted them. I also worked in a garbage can full of leaves from our front yard locust tree into the back beds with the idea that if the leaves get worked into the soil, it would increase the organic matter, aerate the soil a bit, and encourage the bugs and microbials to start snacking so they could stay healthy in the fall. A couple of items to research though:


1. What type of material should not be composted, or, what type of diseases/parasites which might be present on dead plant material (particularly tomatoes and zucchinis) will survive the heat and chemical reactions of the composting process.

2. Whether or not locust leaves will adversely affect the soil for a mixed flower/vegetable garden.



I also discovered what slug eggs look like. They are remarkably less disgusting than that from which they come. They look very much like silica gel, actually. Still, I found the slugs and slaughtered them and left their progeny exposed for the birds to eat. Some sparrows came to finish the job a few minutes after I'd left. Sparrows are friends, slugs are enemies.