September 16, 2023
THE MOSS GARDEN
You may have read my post about starting a moss garden. Despite the summer heat much of the moss has been thriving in it's new garden. Weeds have also been thriving. Here is a picture of the garden a week ago. Riddled with tiny weeds. You can see that the moss has taken hold but oh my, so many tiny weeds.
At this point I should share with you the fact that Elizabeth and I used my homegrown compost in the new beds. As I started to pull the tiny offending weedsI noticed that there were many tiny Nettles pricking my fingers as I went along. It did not take long to understand that the Nettles had come from the crop of Nettles that had flourished upon the compost pile last year.
Before
After
So, this Old Gardener has learned the it is wise to sterilize homemade compost and she will be doing this from now on. It is very easy to do.
Just put a roasting pan of damp compost into the oven at 200 degrees with a meat thermometer in the deepest part of the soil. Then wait for the internal temperature reach 200 degrees and let cool. Hopefully, from now on my compost will be Nettle free and free from other weeds also.
You are welcome!