5 2009-08-27T14:55:12+10:00 false Wow, I've positively failed at keeping up with my journal. Lots of things have died. Other things have fruited (sort of). I'll try harder. This summer, though splendid on the anti-heatwave front, has been dismal for most of the balcony dwellers. No summer squash. One sad cucumber. (Actually the cucumber is pretty nice, it's just sad that there is only one of it.) Currant tomatoes only now fruiting (and no ripe fruit yet, and the plants are dwarfs, maybe only 3' tall). Strawberries are in heaven, however; if there's one thing that really likes my balcony, it's apparently strawberries. (And the stupid pineapple sage, which is trying to take over _yet again_.) In the meantime, a quick update on the planting front: I just threw the rest of the chive and dill seeds, along with some 'wild garden lettuce mix' lettuce seeds into a spot lately vacated by my morning glories. Yes, they were glorious for quite a few months (picture is from a month or so ago, when they were in their heyday), but as of late they had been looking rather sad, so out they came. There are a few sprouts remaining, and I'm fairly confident that it self-seeded into the big tomato bin, so I'll probably be pulling MG seedlings forever. Or let them grow again. What can I say? I'm a fickle gardener... And my worm bin is a bit sad as well. I started a third tier a week or so ago, and have added some materials, but have gotten only a few worms up there. The second tier is chock-o-block full of worms, though a fair amount of undigested materials still, and it stinks a bit. And, what's worse, the bottom (first) tier, though pretty much devoid of identifiable food, and also supporting a fairly large number of worms, is extremely wet and smells of salt marsh (ie anaerobic). No dead worms, no mass migrations, and they seem to actually really like it down there, but definitely anaerobic. It only smells when I open it up though. I pulled the bottom tier to take a peek at the collection tray, and it was totally full of compost-poo that had fallen through the grid. Completely full. I haven't looked in there since the last time I wrote about it, so it's been a while. I didn't want to ms with trying to harvest the compost today (I was messing with it before work), so I scooped up all the material and deposited it in the second tier, which was more accessible than the first the way I had them stacked up. This material was also very wet. It's too wet, I think. I've been adding coffee grounds straight from the filter (rather soggy) and a lot of watery foods lately which hasn't helped. Oh, also, I seem to have a rather large number of mites at present - I wouldn't call it an infestation, yet, but I want t get a handle on it before it get's out of control. So my strategy for now: 1. Hold off adding any new kitchen material starting today, until some of it gets eaten (with an exception below) 2. Add coffee grounds to provide more attractive bedding structure, but not until they have dried. Hopefully only adding coffee grounds for a bit won't make the bin too acidic. I suppose I could test the compost pH using the soil testing kit I bought earlier this year. 3. Add some finely shredded newspaper (what a pain) and mix it in to the material to soak up some of that excess moisture in Tier 2. I don't really want to add any new material to Tier 1, so I'm going to hope it dries out on it's own because of the other steps I'm taking. (Done) 4. Keep an eye on the collection tray to make sure it doesn't fill up again. Although, to be fair, it was still definitely draining, because my little catch-bowl filled up fairly frequently. 5. Add some shredded newspaper to the top of Tier 3 to hopefully keep any stink down until the worms get a chance to start working on that stuff, though honestly Tier 3 does not smell at present. (Done) 6. Open up that bad boy and stir up Tier 2 every day to hopefully get some more aeration in there. Tier 1 is kind of on it's own, because it's hard to get at, but I'll do this whenever I check the collection tray as well. (Done yesterday and today) 7. Leave the lid off at night - actually I'll put an inverted tray on top (to prevent potential escapes). I'll put the lid on during the day though, as I doubt direct sunlight on the top layer of material is a very good idea. 8. Cross my fingers and hope for the best! 1 false 3 67542 false false false Entry 2009-08-26T10:00:00+10:00 DMY 80326 Public 2009-08-27T14:55:13+10:00 1342 Sunny 70 F