So, I am a newbie to gardening. I read a lot about, composting. Basically it appears to suggest.Stacking up waste vegetation, garden scraps and also kitchen waste. So spot in the garden is selected to be the base. Here we go. The top vegetaion of our veg patch is chopped off and added to the compost heap. Kitchen waste is likewise added. In recent years various types of industrial waste has also been added. Now to the heap. The pile or mound of, phew! whata pong. Garden commentators have given many terms to the the decomposing mass. OK. Picking from the writings of the mass. Suggestions that the pile/heap should be built up in layers. Spaces provided by branches etc so as to allow airflow. Then all mannerof tips and so so often futile suggestions. Please join me. Back in the late sixties. I worked for the LCC/Greater London Parks. My base was. The ancient woodlands. Castlewood, Jackwood etc in the south east of london. Now I must introduce some kind of division and also a relative curjoining of the two. Composing. To the masses. This simply denotes a saving of garden and vegetive waste. This is stacked/heaped and left to rot. The rotting prces produces a liquid waste. The final resultant mass, is called compost. Firstly. The rotting process produces liquids. Sadly these liquids are lost due to sepedge into the soil. Were they to be saved, you would have so much liquid mnanure/fertilzer. The residue remains of compost. Compost is nothing but a bulking agent. The drained off residue of some plants, can be used as insectacides etc. Look around. Common privet. How many pests invade it? great pesticide. Seriously. Think about what nature offers you.
I expect a lot more from it than a smelly pile Mike If it smells then you're getting anaerobic decomposition instead of aerobic. No good just throwing all the stuff together and hoping it'll sort it's self out. It will over time but much better to stack it properly in the first place, don't have big clumps of the same material, especially grass cuttings. If you've got too much green stuff at once (which is often the way) then mix it up with dried/brown stuff or failing the availability of that, torn up bits of cardboard in with the green stuff works well. Don't add cooked stuff or kitchen waste in large amounts, if you have a lot of that put it in the council bin or make a separate digester (this will smell) where you fill a large bin full of water and then cram it all into that. (I did this last winter when the rats were pulling the heap apart for the veg waste) This will rot down without air and you draw off the liquid for use as a dilutable fertiliser. Some folk use nettles or comfrey to make the same liquid as a feed. Above all, turn your compost heap to let the air in and mix up the different materials in it. This should get you a sweet smelling compost which is rich in nutrients, not just a glorified bulking agent
Mike, it is an interesting thread. I have been gardening for years, and have learned a lot during this time, however I had zero clue when it came to composting, and could never get it right, so I gave up in the end. I have only just started to learn about it. I did find out about comfrey however. We put some in water to make a most valuable fertiliser, but it stank so badly I told Zigs he wasn't allowed to make it any more
Truly the stinkiest bin we have is the catch all coffee can next to the sink wherein the kitchen compostables reside. Onions, bananas and egg shells can make the very air turn brown, I swear.
I'm fortunate to have an area of woods behind my garden. The compost heap goes there. Mostly I pile up weeds and let them decompose for a year or two. I also have a compost tumbler for kitchen waste, coffee grounds, etc.
So Zigs...this is very interesting to me. I aquire a lot of cardboard. And I get a LOT of lawn clippings that get hot, moldy, deep and rot. I turn them over but it is a chore. I kind of avoided the cardboard as it didn't seem logical to me. glue....etc. and glue Yet I see it again and again. You found it worked okay? This might really save my compost in the summer. I have so much green and no brown.
This is what I used to do in my old place - Do I have to buy a compost bin? (gardenstew.com) Tower of grass clippings (gardenstew.com) Now because of space limitation and limited supply of material, I placed them in a pile and turn them over every 2 to 3 weeks. Like Melody said Yes it is a chore but a good work out
I save the larger cardboard boxes roll them out and place over the layered plastic under rocks on all the walk ways in the garden.By the end of spring the cardboard has pretty much broke down and lots of worms and no weeds growing in the rock paths. Any small boxes goes into the garbage. My compost pile is usually to hot to use with horse manure. It sits until temps in summer help it reach high enough to kill all the weed seeds. I made the mistake of not heating the compost pile long enough once and the garden bed was covered in weeds… I use the bucket on the tractor to turn the piles. Way to heavy by hand.. i can’t put any food in the compost pile . Way to many raccoons and coyotes around. I have cats and raccoons are always pickin on the cats vs who’s territory is who’s. Since no food scraps are out I have very few run ins with raccoons and no coyotes.
Really that’s great! I guess you get a lot of boxes too. and no grass clippings here., I use compost blades that’s two blades on my mower and recycle clippings every time the small lawns are mowed. Same with leaves.
I use cardboard quite regularly in the compost, it's usually available when I need it as I keep a pile of it to start bonfires. Our Centre for Alternative Technology did some trials with it a few years back, they couldn't find a trace of the printing inks in the end result
