Compost is as important to your garden as the air you breathe. It is the stuff of life and improves the structure of your soil no end. It improves heavy clay soils by making them drain more easily in wet weather, and improves sandy soils by letting them retain water in dry weather. Compost helps to hold essential plant food. Much of our kitchen waste goes onto the compost heap – tea bags, egg shells, potato peelings, and also grass clippings, dead flowers, and fallen leaves. We do not put hardwood cuttings like rose or tree prunings, all of which take far too much time to rot down. We do not compost old cardboard and never put stale bread onto the heap because it will attract rats.
I have mentioned before that we use old 40-gallon drums with perforated bases which have proved to be good for compost, but I am sure that a simple netting enclosure no more than six-foot square and five-foot high will serve equally well. It’s very easy to construct using a few sturdy corner posts and some chicken wire five-foot high on three of the sides and a five-foot length of chicken wire at the front of the heap which can be tacked up as the height of the heap increases. I sprinkle sulphate of ammonia over the surface of the heap for every twelve inches it grows, which is then watered thoroughly to accelerate the rotting down process. When the first bin is full then the second bin is started and in no time at all we have the most beautiful rich brown/black crumbly compost ready for the plants, and almost good enough to eat!
Grass is growing at a very fast rate at the moment, and the cut is so heavy it has to be raked up and composted, rather than allowed to ‘fly’ as it would be in really dry weather. This raking is done by a very large plastic grass rake which has proved to be a very good buy, having lasted for over two years. In my view it has superseded the metal grass rake which used to be so popular. Cutting grass is a form of pruning, and because it is done every one or two weeks throughout the year you can imagine just how much food is removed from the plants each time they are cut. That is why gardeners have to top-dress the lawn occasionally, to replace the nutrition which has been lost by grass cutting.
You will have noticed how certain parts of the lawn are still wet long after the rest has dried out. This may be due to it being shaded by trees or overhanging shrubs, or because it is sheltered from the prevailing breeze. Whatever the reason, you should try and reduce the level of surface moisture. This can be done easily by sweeping the surplus off with a pointy broom (made from coconut leaves) tied to a broom handle, or just with a long piece of bamboo cane. In the longer term you should try and reduce the amount of shading you get in these wet areas by pruning the trees or shrubs which cause the shade. If this proves not to be possible, then over time you will notice that the area becomes colonized by larger-leaved grasses which naturally prefer shady conditions. This isn’t a bad thing, but it prevents the grass uniformity so many of us strive to get.
A dear friend of mine has just spent some time in the village of Kurukubaru in Region Eight doing some important work. He thinks it a piece of heaven, as I do, and longs for another visit. It is, alas, quite an expensive place to get to. Nearly as expensive as Trinidad or Barbados. Nevertheless it’s worth it. Meanwhile the weather remains changeable and the Christmas rains are not yet upon us. Take care in the garden and on the roads and may your God go with you wherever you are.