Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Power of Compost

When moved into this tiny little starter-home over 4 years ago, we had big dreams. The house was on a cul-de-sac, with a big yard and a conservation area behind the property. It was perfect.

Even though the house was only 2 years old at the time, the previous owners left a lot of work for us to do. From painting every interior surface, to French drains, to tiling the whole house & new carpet (we actually had contractors show up for that one!), to resodding the lawn with an irrigation system last year, we’ve pretty much have touched, scrubbed, tilled, and handled every inch of this house. We’ve made it into our little paradise.

When we were settled, the first thing I wanted to do was start a compost pile at the edge of the conservation area. Take a look at this pathetic amaryllis on the bottom left of this photo.

After 2 years of a continuous diet of leaves, cow chips, grass clippings and kitchen scraps, this thing is almost as tall as I am! I’m 5’6”! The compost pile is behind the amaryllis and has turned this thing into a monster. Luckily, I was able to repay my cow chip supplier friend in Deland with big, healthy clumps of amaryllis for her garden.

Grow baby, grow!

5 comments:

R.Powers said...

Whoa!!
That growth is amazing and a happy photo!

VitaminSea said...

LOL! The same thing happened to us at our house up in Gainesville. We planted a row of crepe myrtle trees along the back fence, and one of them was only a foot or two from the compost pile.
Well, not too long after that, we moved down here, to tampa bay.
But every time we go back to the house, that one tree is 3x the size of all the other trees!

jojo said...

you ever want some more let me know. i'm swimming in compost. ha.

Just the Right Size said...

FC, yes those ARE some happy amaryllis. One reached over and grabbed me one day!

Laura, there's a silk floss tree (I think) within 10 feet of the compost pile that seemed to pop up overnite! Where did THAT come from?

Jojo, gardeners can never have enough s**t! :-)

OhioMom said...

WOW! Compost is black gold :)

 

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