From the Compost Heap header. A pencil style illustration of a compost heap with flowers and plants growing around it. A bee buzzes by and a white rabbit hops by.

  • Three of these beauties visited today.

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  • Chaos garden is chaos-ing.

    Tithonia is thriving on neglect.

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  • Trying out a new smaller compost heap. We still have the big slow heap made of wooden pallets. But I’m hoping this one will decompose a bit faster.

    Compost heap with apples, cardboard and a white PVC pipes with holes in it set up vetyically in thr cnterz

    It’s a metal crate lined with cardboard and the PVC pipe with holes is for oxygen since I can’t turn the heap due to my back. I do have a tall wooden stake I use to stir it around a bit – which since this is smaller is much easier to do now!

    The same compost heap filled with beautiful red leaves.
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  • Fuzzy yellowish caterpillar on a leaf

    I’m no expert, but I believe this is a Yellow Wooly Bear Moth caterpillar.

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  • Purple hyacinth beans, moon flowers & morning glories.

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  • Monarchs living their best life.

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  • Dusky photo of a purple hyacinth bean vine flowering with the compost heap in the background
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  • Birdhouse gourds growing up gazebo of green pipes (a greenhouse without the plastic cover added) and a white metal house planter I thrifted beyond with morning glory leaves twining through

    Our first birdhouse gourds!

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  • The self seeded sunflowers between overgrown garden beds are thriving. Grass overgrows the beds.
    Baby birdhouse gourd perhaps an inch and a half long.

    Self seeded sunflowers (from the bird feeder) and our first baby birdhouse gourd!

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  • Our chaos garden has turned feral.

    After being gone for a week and sick for another here’s a look at how it’s going. And it’s going to stay this overgrown for a while.

    One of my chronic illnesses causes heat intolerance so it is what it is at this point. (I can do a bit in evenings, but can’t keep pace with the grass.)

    The perennials that hold space against the grass are key. I keep adding more of them, but we can only afford to do so much at once. 🤷

    I show this to not idealize the chaos gardening approach. It works better in some seasons than others. Between the heat and the rain the witch grass is currently winning. My main point is that you don’t have to be a perfect gardener to enjoy gardening.

    Brick house with an undulating garden bed overrun with grass. A black armillary sphere and purple russian sage pierce the weeds.
    Garden bed along fence completely overrun with grass. A tall butterfly bush towers to the left.
    The self seeded sunflowers between overgrown garden beds.

    The self seeded sunflowers are a bright light. They’ve attracted goldfinch which we don’t often see.

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