Choosing the best

[Oddish]

Hello I'm Oddish.

Ive just dug up a nice little plot out the front of my house. And plan on putting some flowers in. The main reason ive chosen this place; I eat alot of fruits you see, most of which is Mandarins. And lazy me, I cast the peels over the front porch on to this spot.

So, my queastion is. . . .

What would be the best kind of flowers to put in a spot that has these kind of scraps including mandarin peels. (Also banana peels)

It gets around 80% sunshine throughout the day, and 50% of it is softly shaded. (So the light still gets through but its not full sunshine)

[applestar]

To start with, from the information provided, I'd say you want something shrubbery rather than herbaceous (too weak to take having banana and orange peels thrown at), and tall enough to hide the peels on the ground.

On the other hand, you probably don't want anything woody that would catch and entangle the peels in the branches.

I suspect that clumping ornamental grasses might be more suited, or if you want flowers, something with similar growth habits like Daylilies (Hemerocallis). If you plant them with somewhat open area in the middle, that might be perfect, though I'm not positive they would completely hide your cast offs.

A thought occurred to me that mass of orange peels and banana peels will result in acid, potassium, and manganese build up so that might be something to keep in mind. Ideally, you would pile/mix dry leaves with the fruit peelings at some point to create a more balanced compost.

[ronbre]

I have an area out back that I toss a lot of household scraps onto , in a sort of sheet mulch. The soil is beautiful there..the plants eventually cover up the rotting scraps and I allow them to self mulch.

have you ever read Gaia's garden (book by Toby Hemenway)..he suggests in his book that all your scraps go on your plots without tilling..thus building up beautiful soil..near my house that is how I've alays done it but farther back, getting enough mulch has been a real battle.

you can plant anything that will fit the conditions there..you might even put in some fruit trees with your flowers.

[Oddish]

Thank you for the information. Its only a small plot so I only want to put flowers in.

Can I also put eggshells onto the soil?
What might be some other regular household scrap suggestions?

I cant wait to see my flowers grow. Oh and something I forgot to mention. . . Its winter here (Australia) will that inhibit how my flowers grow? What might be some other winter suggestions.

Thank you so much for the replys.

[ronbre]

you can bury pretty much any household scraps except for meat and fat..fish scraps are ok..but they might get dug up by neighborhood animals