15 Aug '06 2:29 am As it is raining out there, I am doing some computer gardening (it is much easier on my lilywhite hands) When my family was younger I tried to produce as many vegetables as possible for reasons of economy and quality -- now I have only ornamental plants plus 2 gooseberry bushes. One of my success stories concerned courgette (zucinni / squash) growing and I will share my secret with you. I helped a friend out by removing all those unsightly horse droppings from her paddock -- kindness is my middle name. I covered a part of my vegetable garden with a 4 inch layer of this good deed and then covered it with a thick plastic sheet (old silage bag) and then buried the outside edges of the plastic to prevent it blowing away. A cross was cut in the plastic and the seedling courgette planted down in the whole. I had superb results which were achieved without weed competition and a need of a lot of water. The double whammy came in subsequent years when my layer of good deed had become the most beautiful compost. TRY IT.
Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Growing in compost
15 Aug '06 6:59 pm Excellent idea, Gerry! Because of the scale of my garden (around 10ha or 25 acres - much of it water or wild forest/grassland/scrub) we bring in cattle manure by the truckload every year around this time. It is then combined with the huge quantity of grass and other material from cutting down the wilder areas of the garden like my meadow, and all the compostable material gathered over the year. It is left to stand in huge heaps about 2 x 3 m by 1.5m high for a year. In this our staff grow a certain gourd of which they eat the leaves, not the fruit. So we have 'pumpkins' growing all over the farm! We have another source of excellent acid compost for our acid-lovers: 25ha of pine plantation!
PS: Because we have an 8-month growing season and an immense development of biomass in that time, and we don't run any grazers on the farm, we have much composting material; downside - we have to import our poo.
