I couldn't help myself. Been really down lately because I haven't been making any progress, and I had to get something done.
So I went out and started a new bed.
This side of the yard gets a lot more sun than the other side. It's the south end of the back yard, so it gets constant sun about six hours a day, while the other side gets only about four hours. Things are much more lush on the south side.
We picked this spot for a few reasons:
- It's in the sun a lot
- It's at a low spot near the end of the old dog path where I planted clover. It'll get plenty of water here and make for easy access.
- It's close to the squash bed.
- It's in a really highly grown part of the yard. Now I don't have to mow this small patch. Call me lazy, I don't care.
We cut open the compost, and right off I was in love. The dirt smell was so clean. The bottom of the box was already rotted out. Most of the contents were the weeds from the area in the north end where we cleared out for the existing beds. There's a bit of coffee grounds, some expired produce, a bit of charcoal and ashes, and a bunch of eggshells. Sam and I kept it watered pretty well by peeing on it.
The boys helped me out a lot. They brought tools and helped pull loads. Not that it was super heavy work, but they were helping. There was two loads in each wagon from that pile. The pile of pollen thingies from our oak trees was about half that. We added it on to make more. I really like this stuff, and look forward to using it more each spring. The leaves in the fall may be a bit much, I'll have to find a use for them because there will be absolute tons of them. Too much for a practically useful compost pile. 
Next we used some of our moving boxes and covered the area. Everything I've read recommended overlapping the pieces by at least 6 inches, so we did. There's two layers, and they cover the area a little more than where we spread the compost. Less mowing, more growing. I held it down with t posts for now since we don't have wood chips yet. I'm gonna put an ad on the local craigslist and Facebook pages and maybe some trimmers will have a load or two to donate to us.
I'm not sure what to plant there, and I think we'll leave it unplanted a while to give it all a chance to compost real good. After I mow (our mower is out of commission currently), I'll use the clippings for more compost and we'll be able to add to the bed. Not sure yet how well do it; guess I need to make a plan...
Any ideas? Input? Discussion?
Stay relevant y'all
Nate