It's starting to look like winter over here in Alberta - Canada
Another winter season is on it's way and it felt like we never had any summer this year.
My new raspberry patch ( bottom right ) did very well this year, the fruit was very sweet and juicy. I find that if your plants get sunlight for most of the day you get a better quality of crop.
Composting is a must if you are gardening, not only you can feed your plants with great fertilizer but it will keep your gardening space neet and clean.
I've created a three bin system that is working nicely for me, I use a combination of a rotating barrel and two standing composters. To starting the process takes two seasons to get nice rich compost.
I start by placing my garden and kitchen materials in the standing barrels. By fall I take the materials that are in the first standing barrel and transfer it to the rotating composter.
When springtime comes I have the compost in the rotating barrel ready to go into the garden soil. At the same time I place the content that there is in the second standing barrel into the rotating composter.
This is works for me as I get a good amount of compost to side dress and feed my soil. The standing composters will start the process and the rotating tumbler with finish the materials much faster.
The key for fast compost is to have your bins out in the sun, they will heat up fast and build your compost in no time.
One more product that will help your plants grow and have better crops is by using compost tea, it is very simple to make:
In a 5 gallon bucket fill half way with your finished compost , then fill pail with water, let this mixture sit for two to three days in sunlight.
Drain mixture through a fine mesh and water your plants daily with this tea. It wont harm your plants and you'll see the difference.