Nuts, I composted the shiny stuff!

=:0)

whatever can I say?

I love the phrase 'rapidly spiraling downward.' i think it will become one of my standard sayings, along with going to hell in a handbasket.

It's what happens in between the being in the gutter and arriving at hell in a handbasket.

Not that I have any personal experience with this, mind you.

This message was edited Jan 5, 2008 6:30 PM

ha ha ha the three levels of getting to the seven levels of hell

And here I thought the worms were just drunk!

i think spiraling gets you to the first level only.
or does someone else have info on this?

A hand baskett would be an improvement over "going on a bob sled"Mike

Where ever they are spiraling too my lovely worms just want some privacy, air, water, food ... which means it is time for me to leave them alone in the compost for the rest of the winter and quit digging into it and interrupting their tunneling, eating and breeding ;~}

Now that the pile has gone cold again they do seem to be multiplying rapidly. I turned a few forks of material a couple weeks ago and saw 5-6 large worms. Yesterday I turned one fork of material and saw a dozen!

I was worried that if they lay their eggs on the surface, that the birds who have been very active on the pile might be eating them and leaving few to mature. But after reading more about earthworms breeding habits I discovered that many of them do not surface but breed and lay their eggs in the soil well below the surface and are not laying them on top to be easily picked off by the birds.

From the large size and number of worms I am seeing, I am fairly confident they have plenty to eat!

The white flies the birds were feasting on are becoming less of a problem now as the last added greens are beginning to compost and the birds are spending less time at the pile now.

Watching the activity in and around the compost pile has been interesting and fun. I am learning more and more about the natural scheme and although my garden is just the size of a postage stamp it will be a chemical free zone and I like that!

Z - I keep forgetting that you are in CA, and probably experiencing warmer temps (in general) than many of us. How long do you get "cold" for, and Jan/Feb being the norm for low temps?
It's snowing outside right now, so I can't go out for fresh air & I so need it.
I am courting a cold, and want no part of it. I'm sure i would feel better if i could go out & weed, check my worms, look at the Dafs pushing their noses through the leaf mulch. But kleenex don't hold up well in wet snow...

mike- bobsleds in Georgia? now , my dad grew up in Wisconsin; they probably go to H in bobsleds there!!

Only making reference to speed.LOL not wanting to go on either.Mike

Yeah, I'm with you, let me take my time for now! Rapidly spiraling downward ang going on a bobsled would sure get you there in a flash.

Katye, we are still getting lots of rain but not heavy enough so far to take the rivers above the flood warning stages before a break lets them go down for the next storm. The rivers are roiling but I am not close enough to need to worry.

Our temps have been ranging from the mid 50's down to the mid 40's in the daytime and we have had a couple nights drop down to about 28 but no real frost damage. The higher elevations are getting snow which I hope will continue and build up a decent snow pack this year but we are almost at sea level so snow is a rare thing here that usually happens every 4-5 years and then doesn't stick.

Our wettest months are usually Jan. and Feb. and winter rains change to spring type rain in late March, April, May and even June are often wet and cool. We don't get as much rain as parts of Oregon or Washington but you still need to like gray cloudy skies and wet weather to live here.

Z - I was having memory blips about whether you were at a higher elevation there.It's been a very long time since I was in that area, & my pea-brain must have dumped that piece of info back a ways.
So you're growing season is about 9 months long, realistically speaking? That is, if the grey weather allows? We have that pesky winter precip that can come in as a liquid or solid, but generally just wet & cold - 30's.
We generally start Peas in March, but potatoes can be planted as soon as the ground is dry enough to work. I leave mine in year round.
We don't normally experience frozen soil. it has been enlightening to hear of the adventures one faces, composting in an extreme climate. 40° is plenty low for me!!!

Some things that don't mind wet feet will stay green and bloom all winter here. I have a pasaflora that has several flower buds almost ready to open right now. I can't think of any time in the last 2 years it hasn't had at least a couple of blooms on it and then in the spring/summer it blooms like crazy.

We never get more than a light surface frost so the ground is workable anytime it isn't waterlogged but it stays pretty water logged for several months so I try to leave it alone until it isn't soggy.

I need to get out and cut back the canna that still have a few leaves on them so they can come back up bigger and hopefully better but if I do it too soon they will send up new growth too early and look ratty by spring.

I can't even begin to understand gardening in a true 4 season climate! We have spring/winter combined and a summer/fall combined for a two season system that suites me just fine!

Zany, does your soil tend to be acidic since it is wet for so long?

Personally, I could not get past what a true 4-season climate would do to ME, let alone the gardening aspect.
Funny how some plants are so determined to hang on - I have a yello rose that is putting out the teeniest flowers, totally in season-denial!

Yes, our soil is acidic. Great for ferns, hosta, bleeding hearts, hydrangeas and redwood trees ;~)

Maybe I should bring you a truckload of our alkaline soil and swap it for your acidic stuff! :D

That might be a nice swap at that!

Dirt is always a better pH on the other side?

Yes, the other man's grass is always greener and the sun shines brighter...

Phuggins, what shiny paper? newspaper ads or magazine?

I asked my local newspaper about the material in their color ads. They said they use only plant-derived dyes (soy, I think) and assured me that I could use all parts of the paper, shiny or not.

But I really wonder what goes into the making of newsprint. Strong acids are used to break the fibers down--so-that can't be good. And if you've ever been downwind of a paper mill--yuck.