Amy in the Garden

Happy Birthday to ME! Husband gifted me with a Compost Aerator from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

This fabulous tool is to composting what the whisk is to sous-chefs, an indispensable tool for lifting and gently mixing. I will post, soon, about the glories of composting, but first wanted to share photos of my newest weapon in the Sustainable Agriculture Arsenal:

The Compost Aerator in foreground, and the Compost Bin, from Gardener's Supply, in the modest background.

Notice the thoughtfully-clad handles in black ribbed rubber, giving a good grip — a grip that can be assembled for either right- or left-handed gardeners.

Notice the two sets of phalanges at the bottom of the tool, at 90-degree angles. The idea is that you position the tip of the tool on top of the compost heap and push down, like so:

Poised to plunge....

Once the aerator is well-down into the heap, you use your two hands-on-the-handles to turn the tool 90- or 180-degrees (depending on how enthusiastic you are feeling) and lift up.

This photo illustrates a Novice's 90-degree turn.

Then you lift up. As you lift, the phalanges flair (Alliteration is an ailment for Amy), and fluff the compost. And, ta da!, the compost is aerated! Hence, the name of the tool….

Look at the beautiful stuff on the wings of this tool!

And repeat until done. Or, until mixed to your satisfaction.

Air = optimum environment for microbes. And when the microbes are happy, composting occurs. And when THAT happens, Amy the Gardener is really really happy.

WORDS FROM OTHERS

“Some gardeners avoid laborious turning by finding clever ways to introduce air into static piles.”

— “The Rodale Book of Composting,” Deborah L. Martin and Grace Gershuny, Editors