RIP Cucumbers!

I should have listened to the farmer's advice of waiting until the last week of May to plant. I didn't. We had a few cold spurts here and there and most of my cucumber plants are gone. Some of my squash plants are gone too - but some are growing big and strong! Boo. I suck. Oh well. I take it as a lesson learned. My tomato plants are doing fine and all have sprouted those nice little yellow flower thingies on them. I think in a week or two I'll grab some cucumber plants and whatnot from a nursery to plant into my mounds. Oh well.

My father came up for a visit. I told him originally there were some sticks and stuff in my compost pile. Since he's Mr. Connecticut farmer, he had to check out my stuff. He told me I wasn't too stupid for planting so early. It's just hit or miss this time of year. I told him next year I'll hold off until Memorial Day time. He looked at my compost pile and told me I had way too many sticks and TREE BRANCHES in there to be effective. Oops. So I took an old garbage can, drilled holes in it with my husband's drill and will just dump my food scraps in there. I started it with some of my compost already, some newspaper, some more food scraps and water. As long as I turn it once a week and keep it moist, it should do much better.

Here's my garbage can turned compost bin. Exciting, huh?

See the holes I drilled in it? Fascinating!

It's really surprising how much food waste we have. Now if you know me or follow my blog, you know that we really don't eat a lot of fresh vegetables or fruit - but between our coffee grounds, egg shells, and produce waste, I still have a lot to put in there. I could only imagine how awesome a compost bin/pile would be for people who actually eat a lot of fresh produce.