I have a compost heap tucked away in the back corner of the yard, a heap & just has a tarp covering it
It airs like that & it breaks down better without that pungent smell it gets when it's locked in a bin
Shovel by the compost so when the food scraps go on it gets soil over the top
Wet paper works a treat for bringing worms in
That just keeps building all year until spring then it gets dug through beds, sometimes with manure & then gypsum if soil is poor - if the soil is poor once that is added I usually water it & turn it over every day for a week so it all gets mixed through really well and gets the right structure then mulch over the top and leave it for a week or two before planting. The fruit trees just get the compost poured around them & fresh mulch.
I have a almond tree but haven't got almonds for years - really nice looking tree when it flowers but it's big, old & too hard to net - one day a year though is a treat - it get's around 50+ Adelaide Rosella's all bright & colourful come and strip the tree singing their deafening tune - it's a beautiful site for the few hours it lasts - disappointing when you miss it or come home to find two or three stragglers left behind trying to find the crumbs.
I have fond memories as a kid of my grandfathers house he had an almond tree & used to sit in his grand old chair in the sun with his beer, his pipe, his bucket of almonds & a nut cracker
I tried growing sweetcorn years ago in another house - it all got diseased so haven't tried again - seemed to take up a lot of space for not a lot of reward.
I planted a nectarine tree last year it's still very small but I counted 24 small pieces of fruit starting out yesterday.
