Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Compost, seeds, and pets
I have a few random questions:
1) We just bought our house in November. There was a compost bin in the backyard, and honestly I've just ignored it all winter. I looked in it today, and discovered that it doesn't look like anything but grass clippings, 90% of which haven't broken down really. Can I still use this at all in gardening? I have no experience whatsoever with composting, and therefore don't know what it's supposed to look like or anything, but now that I have a bin and a backyard I would like to start.
2) If I buy a pack of seeds now, then end up not using it for some reason, could I use the seeds next year instead? They say for use in 2010, but I just thought I would check. I know they're not really expensive, but I think I've already gone overboard and bought enough seeds to grow vegetables for an entire village 
and I don't know if I'll actually use them all. If not, what do you suggest I do with ones I don't use?
3) I was planning to only plant one long thin raised bed for vegetables. Maybe 2' x 12' or so, so I could get to it from all sides without having to worry about aisles. However, we have a feisty puppy who eats anything put in front of him and has just recently learned the fun of digging since the ground is thawing. I was going to put a fence around it, then realized I couldn't get to anything that way. Would it be easier just to make the bed 6' long and have an aisle down the middle of two rows with a fence around the outside? Any other advice? Advice about digging dogs in general? He's still young and we hadn't had to worry about it until now, so while we're taking him to obedience classes soon, do you guys have any tips on teaching dogs not to dig? Or at least not to dig up flowers and veggies?
Thanks and sorry for the novel!
Re: Compost, seeds, and pets
I don't know about your first two questions but I might be able to help with your third. I have a pup who likes to dig. I purchased some fence type stuff (like this) that's only about 12-18 inches tall. It cost $4/10 feet and all you have to do is push it into the ground. Since it's so short you can work over it. It provides a boundary that I've been able to teach my dog not to cross. She could easily jump over it but knows she's not supposed to. All I really had to do was stand outside with her and correct her when she would try to get over it.
That keeps her out of the flower beds but it doesn't keep her from digging. I did two things to stop her from digging. The first thing I did was I made her a sand box. It's a place where she is allowed to dig because it doesn't mess anything up. I happen to have a little raised area (that may have been used for gardening at one point but I'm not sure) that I was able to convert for her. You could use a small kiddie pool or build your own enclosure. I buried some bones and other treats in there and encouraged her to dig in that area.
The other thing I did was pick up her fresh poop and put it where she would dig in the yard. Most dogs don't want to mess around with their poop so she would lose interest in that location. Of course, every time I caught her digging I would tell her no and take her to her sandbox. She would much rather dig in her sandbox than get in trouble or be around her poop. I hope that helps!
1. I'm not sure about the compost, but I know that the compost I bought was not completely broken down. It should be fine, I think.
2. According to the Square Foot Gardening book I bought, the seeds don't go bad very quickly. Seeds are produced by plants to sprout when conditions are ideal. That may be more than a year or two in nature.
3. Check out the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew (sp?) and/or www.squarefootgardening.com. It's supposed to be a really efficient way to garden, and you don't waste space with aisles. We got ours put together yesterday, we just have to plant, which will probably be within the next couple of weeks. The other thing about it is that you can stagger your growing so you aren't harvesting all of your tomatoes or squash or whatever at the same time. That also allows you to see if your seeds are ok without wasting a bunch of time or effort planting a whole row of it. You can probably check the book out at your local library, if you don't want to buy it.
Married
Planning
1. Google compost and greens and browns. You need both and it seems like ti is out of balance and not breaking down. I'd continue to add to it and use it next year. Or use it around particularly demanding plants, like tomatoes.
2. You can save seeds much longer than they say, just less will come up. If the seeds are not F1, or hyrbids, then when the veggies/flowers bloom you can save your own seeds. (Plus it is cometimes fun to let one or two plants bloom, as some are quite pretty)There are some things like chives or basil, for example, which you only ever need to buy seeds once, then you have endless seeds if you let one or two plants bloom.
Ditto. I'd just add some browns and keep stirring it. It will start to break down quickly when it gets hot.
Married
Planning