Mixing a basic all purpose organic soil; feedback wanted/welcome

[TimeTraveler]

Well, everything's sprouted. My worries about planting so close to the last freeze were unfounded. Unfortunately I've had to switch to a brand new problem, as the wasps are already nesting nearby. In all my years before I grew anything I never once even SAW a wasp outside, then last year I was destroying a fledgling nest every week! I figured I'd have until everything was a bit bigger and in bloom before I'd see them this year, but the other day I found a yellowjacket queen starting a nest under the eaves. Did I mention I hate wasps, especially aggressive territorial devil spawn like yellow jackets? Because I do. A lot. Enough to break out the very non-organic poison that kills them on contact (while spraying away from my precious plants, of course).

Anyway, I hung up a wasp trap shortly thereafter, but the rest seem to have gotten the message. About 20 yards from my garden a nest is being built but they're keeping their distance and I haven't found any bodies in the trap. I don't mind them coming to visit (since they'll likely leave me alone if they're just hunting instead of defending the nest), but they'd better be polite. Also, good news on the bee front: there's a tree just over the fence from me that is blooming and she's being visited by a number of bees; there must be a hive in the area, which bodes well for me given the flowers I've planted.

Most of the plants are sadly still tiny little baby seedlings (yet another reason I'll start germing indoors in the late winter next year), but a few are going strong already. Here's a few pics of them:

The Cucumbers:

The Tomatoes:

The Corn:

I've been pulling up the vegetable seedlings to limit the number of plants per planter once a few seedlings reach a decent size. I'm going to leave the herbs and flowers to their own devices for the moment, sort of let nature take its course on those. I'm super excited about the corn: I love how good farm fresh corn is, and the shoots are clearly hardy and thriving so I am eager to see what I get from them!

 

[TimeTraveler]

Going out for a little hike today to forage dandelions for my rabbits. I'll also be gathering some dead leaves and wild grass; I've decided to start a small compost bucket to compost my kitchen scraps, rabbit feces, and bird droppings. In the interests of keeping it simple, I'll be doing a quick and dirty mix:

-Rabbit pellets
-Bird droppings and feathers
-Hay scraps
-Shredded Newspaper
-Dead leaves
-Kitchen scraps (whatever I have on hand)
-Leftover dirt from my super soil bin
-Wild grass and dandelion stems
-A shot of biological inoculate

I couldn't find any compost activator at my local home and garden stores or the organic/hydro shop, so I'll be going with a simple recipe I found online. It calls for beer, ammonia, corn syrup, and water, and after you mix it up you dump it over the heap to get the decomposition jump started.

Here's hoping that as the summer goes by I'll be left with a nice, rich bucket of composted feces and humus to really improve my soil in the fall.

 

[Jraven]

Good deal, you shoud be well-rewarded for the effort.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Latest sprout pics from the garden; there's slow but steady progress! The okra has failed to thrive, only one sprout and it's withered. I'll just go with my gut instinct and put in a pepper plant.

Here's the veggies:

Broccoli

Cauliflower:

Corn:

Heirloom Tomatoes (technically a fruit, innit?):

Cucumbers:

Radishes:

The herbs are sprouting nicely...the basil and thyme are really taking their time to do...anything, actually. The parsley, chives, and cilantro are doing quite well though.

Here's the herbs (the planter has the parsley, thyme, chives, and cilantro; the bucket has the basil):

The flowers are baby sprouts, but here's hoping they grow up quick. I need them to be in bloom with the veggies to lure the bees in.

Pic heavy update I know, but it's looking great so far I think!