When I moved to my current apartment I had windows along the south wall perfect for a winter garden , but no patio or chiliad in which to put my compost . The solution ? A compost column make from two recycled two - liter plastic feeding bottle , an estimation from the University of Wisconsin ’s Bottle Biology Resources web .
Look carefully at the drawing . The two bottles are trim down differently . The first bottle has the bottom pried off and the top skip off . The enceinte portion of this bottle becomes the top bedroom of the editorial ,
The second bottle has only the bottom cut off . The bottom then becomes the base of the column and is a dish into which supererogatory piddle can dribble , keeping your kitchen counter or window prohibitionist as you fill the column with compost . The top of the first bottle can be used as the lid , or you could apply either of the bottoms . you’re able to recycle the parts of the bottle that you do n’t use .
I put the chromatography column along the east side of my kitchen window , where it is handy for me to contrive in scrap from myvegetables and fruitswhich are cleaned in the sink immediately below . I also hold in an occasional eggshell . I can also sprinkle water into the top , and thesun furnish some additional heatto keep the compost work out .
I ’m not allow a cat-o'-nine-tails or a frank in the apartment , and I would not use their droppings in this compost fossa if I did . I do throw in a little manure buy at the localgarden fund , however .
The result : Last year my tomatoes originate and acquire throughout the wintertime . With the welfare of a little additional fluorescent fixture Inner Light , they grew all around my swallow hole . This yr I allow the kitchen window and the florescent lights for my miniature rose . I moved my tomatoes to a board in the living orbit where they have more room . Theresult has been great until this last hebdomad when one of the love apple began to growa small spindly . I ’ve harvested about eighttomatoes , have eight tomato presently on my three plant , and there are many blooms , suggesting I ’ll continue to have a good crop for some months .
The tomato take a lot of water in this heated apartment , but my apartmentcompost reduces the amount I have to give each industrial plant . I also am certain towater my plantstwice , with a opening of about twenty minutes between each watering , so the plant pledge as much of the water supply as potential . small weewee is macerate , and I ’m reminded each time I water , of the benefits of give birth a good apartment compost column .
by Max Dalrymple
If Leeks could Kill: Vichyssoise to Die for
Vichyssoise ( white potato - leek soup )
hack up and cook potato , Allium sativum , onion , and Allium porrum in butter in saucepan . Put cream in blender and add 2/3 cooked vegetables . merge til smooth . Return to saucepan and heat . right served hot or cool down . Garnish with false pick and chop herbs . Drop all in slowly .
Phil Heiplehas been gardening since the mid - 1970s . Recipes for all the material he grow : www.rain.org/~philfear/garden.htm
