Sunday, September 28, 2008

flatworms and compost

Okay I am awake at the wrong times quite a bit lately. But anyway, here is some more blathering.
This is a flatworm. We have them in our garden. I've been feeding them to the chooks every time I find them. Apparently they eat earthworms. Which makes them very bad in my books. I've also encountered a couple of yellow oval shaped flatworm type creatures in the same habitats.

I have realised with great excitement that I am going to be able to start another new compost. Given the volume of grass clippings, chook house mix and manure I've collected of late, I think I've actually made one of those fast instant heaps they talk about in compost books where you build the compost heap in one day (well ours was in a week but close enough I think). So next lawn mowing day I'll start another one with the new grass clippings and the sheep manure which I bought from the local Lions fundraiser whcih is currently still bagged up.

On Friday morning I was working quietly on extending the garden which runs alongside the back of the house. I'm only extending it by 10-20cm width-wise in most places (it is about five metres long), but that is taking a while as I dig out well established grass and perennial weeds. I am appreciating how much easier the no dig method is. I've only dug two gardens in the traditional way at this home (I've got one more to finish after this current one), but they have taken immeasurably longer than the ones we built by the raised bed no dig method. I am excited that I now have my chooks to do most of the work for future plots for me.

2 comments:

Johanna Knox said...

Oh is *that* what those things are? I had been wondering.

All the best to you, your friends, and family. I loved your post about calendulas.

Sandra said...

Thank you Johanna.

Sometimes the flatworms are an oval shape and look almost exactly like a piece of decomposing leaf. They do very well on the camouflage scale.