Reply To: New field -compost expense

[Talia]

Bluebell:
2 cubic meters must have given you a very thin dressing – are you starting with a new allotment covered in grass or just top dressing?
My land is a field covered in grass so in my calculations I suggested I needed about 13 cm (and that is light as it should be 15 cm ultimately) of compost dressing according to no-dig to kill the grass and so I can plant in it straight away. This equals 41 million cubic cm and 41 cubic m. It sounds like a lot – because it is a lot! Unfortunately i cannot get a loose load as the compost lorry would have to drive down the field and so far I can’t find a company willing to do that. I will be taking Charles’s advice and doing half the field with 15cm depth and I have found a company to deliver 20 tonne bags.

Peter: as you have rotovated perhaps you don’t need as much compost as I am getting?I am not rotovating or ploughing but my field is not very compacted luckily for me. good luck with the horse manure and the cardboard! It has taken me such a long time just to get enough cardboard for 10m sq!