We have a lot of plant matter (e.g. weed stalks, stems and roots) from soil improving activities, kitchen waste and a kilogram of coffee grounds at our disposal every day. To immediately use this biowaste with the least planning effort we tried making a
simple compost heap and growing pumpkins and zucchinis on it.
Varieties of pumpkins, gourds and squash are famous for their sprouting in the compost pile in spite of your intention as you happily toss their flesh (along with seeds) on the pile, so we were very hopeful that our intended pumpkins and zucchinis would thrive.
The pile has not released any bad smell as it was anticipated, and watching the fruits growing bigger by the hour is more than satisfying.
 |
| Pumpkin and zucchini vines rambled all over the heap and ground. Rather than trim away unwanted vines to stimulate the faster growth of fruits, we decided to let free and see how far these plants can develop in one Estonian summer and in such a nutritional condition we provide. |
|
 |
| Dozens of blossoms appeared underneath the huge leaves. A few had become pollinated and started to grow. |
|
We gathered the waste (most of which was grass stem, leaves and roots) into a pile, dampened and capped it with a thin layer of soil. After that the young plants were located at 4 corners. We left spacious spaces between them for they would soon grow very big. Then we finished it off by covering the top of the heap with a black plastic sheet (this prevents the weeds from growing and speeds the rotting time).
From time to time we kept adding new layers as we plucked the weeds. That's it!
 |
| In the second "fieldwork party", we were preparing the soil for potatoes. A lot of weeds were removed. |
|
 |
| P was separating soil from plucked weed roots. |
|
 |
| At the end of the "fieldwork" day we gathered the weed stalks and roots into a heap. It turn out already a huge heap from Day 1. B was dampening it thoroughly. |
|
 |
| Then we capped the heap with a thin layer of soil for it to supply the necessary microbes and later to hold the plants in place. |
|
 |
Distributing the plants :D . We started kind of late in the season for growing pumpkins and zucchinis from seeds (i.e. at the end of May) so we took the baby plants from Tartu open farmers' market.
Day 1: June-02 |
|
 |
| After securing the plants to the heap, we covered the rest of surface with black plastic. Most of the roots and stems we collected that day were still "alive" and could send up new growth. Black plastic would kill the grass off effectively by blocking the sunlight so that it could not charge its photosynthesis. |
|
 |
Zucchinis after 8 days
Day 9: June-10 |
|
 |
A strong wind blew away part of the cover the other day and broke a zucchini plant. We had to adjust the heap slope to ensure that the other plants were better supported.
June-23 |
|
 |
| More weeds were uprooted from the ground. June-12 |
|
 |
| As we got rid of the weeds, we kept adding new layers to the heap. There is now a new heap just next to that existing one :D |
|
 |
| Zucchini leaves after 3 weeks |
|
 |
| ...and pumpkin. June-23 |
|
 |
| In the shadow already appeared many many baby zucchinis. |
|
 |
| They grew fast. We were especially happy since we did not expect any fruit this year at all, due to our agricultural ignorance. It is even amazing considering the "diet" we offered - a very humble layer of soil on top of weed roots, everyday water and Estonian summer sunshine. July-01 |
|
 |
Proud to present the first achievement of our labour ^^
Day 39: July-10 |
|
 |
See how intensively they continued growing within the next 3 days. The bigger one actually suppressed its sibling and thus deserved being harvested immediately. But we let them be for 2 more weeks waiting until B's Mother's birthday party. An impression is guaranteed! :D
Day 42: July-13: Ready to harvest. |
|
P.S.: Waiting. There is a small chance that these zucchinis will explode and next year we will have a hectare of zucchinis.