One of our experiments at C&C Gardens this year has been composting. We have read about it and talked about O it for many years but only began implementing it early this year. My husband and partner, Chris, ran across The Berkley Method that fit our needs and is ready to go to the gardens quickly. Each compost pile takes about 3-4 weeks to break down before it is ready to move into a garden bed. It is mixed equally w i t h Greens, Browns, and Manure (Cow/Horse), kept moist and covered with a tarp. Every other day, Chris has to flip the piles and add some water to them. As soon as the temperature of the pile cools down, he will then spread it out or mix it into our existing soil in different areas of our gardens.
Our first garden beds to try our compost in was our vegetable beds. We decided to plant every vegetable in the ground with his compost either added in or top dressed. We
completely skipped the bucket planting like we have done in the past. I have personally never seen vegetable plants grow like his vegetables are growing this year. It is utterly amazing to me and has amazed everyone else that comes to visit our gardens. Every tomato plant is covered in perfect green and red tomatoes. The cucumbers have hundreds of little green cucumbers trailing through their vines. The zucchini is growing to unbelievable sizes (20” +) within a few days. The kidney beans are plentiful and perfect off the vine. The corn stalks are days away from harvesting. Everything is growing beyond what we ever imagined, and we owe all our thanks to whoever shared The Berkley method via YouTube.
Besides this wonderful abundant fruit growing from our plants, we have realized some other amazing benefits composting has provided us as well. We have not fertilized our vegetables a single time this season. We are only watering once a week where the compost was used. And garden pests have been unusually mild in the vegetable gardens. I don’t usually give my husband enough credit for his projects but this time, he got it so right. The proof is in the results.
Charla Ingram is a plant, nature, and golfing enthusiast who, along with her husband Chris, owns and operates C&C Gardens in the small town of Bessie, Oklahoma.