Composting Discussion.

[StringfellowParticipant]

I wondered if forum members could chip in their thoughts and tips on building heaps and making compost of high quality? My first real effort at making compost will be maturing in the next couple of months and it’s looking good, but it was a rather random affair and needed a couple of turns to get to this lovely black consistency.

Some ideas I have had or read which may help others:

#) Collect used coffee grounds from coffee houses.
#) Have a lidded bucket next to the heap containing a dry mix of rockdust, seaweed meal and wood ash. This can then be added in odd scoops between layers of greens and browns etc.
#) If you live near the coast, collect seaweed from the shoreline!
#) Other additions would be kitchen wastes, animal and poultry maures, comfrey herbage, green manure foliage and grass clippings etc.

So, what have I missed?! 🙂 Other thoughts are on gardeners turning frequencies.

Charles, I will be interested to hear about your recent composting course (was it in the US?) and I wonder how your composting toilet is going? I’m reading “Farmers of Forty Centuries” at the mo; the lengths people went to back then are nothing short of remarkable!

[RhysParticipant]

String fellow

My personalised version goes something like this, as we don’t have huge access to kitchen waste and obviously harvesting waste (haulms etc) arrive at certain specific times of year, so I have tried this starting last March with reasonable success:

1. Build a 1 cubic metre heap as quickly as possible using horse manure, cardboard (my local garden centre puts all its waste cardboard in skips which I regularly raid) and the first spring cut of grass, turn after 1 month into a second cubic metre area (after it has shrunk rather a lot) and top it up again with horse manure. Leave this for 2 – 3 months exposed to the elements.
2. At this point, start adding this semi-broken down material into the green bins where you deposit kitchen waste, thereby generating layers, and, when they come along, add comfrey leaves, crop waste, a bit of yarrow, some rock dust etc.
3. Refill to the top about 3 times as the composting progresses, then leave it to mature over the winter.

This gives you pretty good compost for the spring 12 months after you started creating it. The remainder of the cubic metre pile which doesn’t end up in a green bin can be used as a ‘grade II’ compost on beds where the crops are less heavy feeders/less fussy. If it goes down in November, then it has the winter to fully decompose as a surface mulch.

I set up a similar system in late summer, starting again to fill green bins in March/April so that we will have compost ready to put on the garden from late September (for the spring cabbage) through to late November (garlic and broad beans).

I must say that the past 2 years, simply putting horse manure as a surface mulch down in late November has worked brilliantly on the rhubarb patch, on the asparagus bed and where potatoes grow.

[charlesModerator]

Hello Tris, the course was at a farm in Worcs near the M5 and it refreshed my desire to make great compost.
I then put the thought out there about using more local wastes and have already been offered coffee grounds from a busy restaurant and barley mash from Alhampton’s new micro brewery.
The compost loo gives nice rich straw for the compost heap and it will be next winter before I spread the poo pile from 2015, around fruit trees. If I were not selling veg, I would be happy to use it on my veg beds. And yes that book about Chinese farming is impressive, they valued their nightsoil.

[StringfellowParticipant]

Thanks both for your responses. I like the idea of sourcing waste locally (cardboard like Rhys, coffee grounds/ barley mash like Charles etc.) and, time pending, will look into this near my allotment. One great improvement is the completion of a new stables near our allotment site and they can’t get rid of the fresh manure fast enough!

Best for this years composting.

[LeifParticipant]

Breweries sometimes give away hops. They break down slowly.

[KarenParticipant]

Hello Stringfellow,

finally have some hardcore time to sit down and write this too. I am fortunate to have access to lots of coffee grinds and vegetable waste as we have a seasonal restaurant. In addition too, somewhat easy access to horse and cow manure too. Our compost site is fairly big too… a mixture of green bins, metal composters, wooden composters.

Sometimes I am unsure if I should create certain composts only with vegetable wastes and coffee grinds or add and layer with animal manure. Or just create composts purely with animal manure. I do layer the composts with newspapers, grass clippings, toilet rolls and the occasional cardboards. As the compost heaps are supposed to be layered with mixtures of greens and browns.

I have just ordered 2 books from Jeff Lowenfels “Teeming with Microbes” and “Teeming with Nutrients” to perhaps have a better understanding of composts etc.

Am attaching a picture of my highly prized horse and cow manure stash and compost full of brandlings.

The left pile is pretty much well rotted cow manure that is really sticky, while the mid pile isn’t completely rotted down yet as is in the last pile on the right, horse manure with hay.

[KarenParticipant]

Charles, I have created 2 extra beds (former pathways) with the well rotted cow manure covered with a black sheet. I suspect it can´t really be used properly yet as it is soooo sticky and it hardens when it is sitting under direct sun (hence, the black sheet).

I do recall I had the same consistency about 4 years again with horse manure and had a pretty challenging time planting in 1 year old asparagus crowns.

Do you or anyone reckon I should put it back into the compost pile or just let it sit there for a longer period of time under the black sheet? Or add some finished compost on top of this manure so that I could possibly use the 2 beds already?

There are loads of brandlings in them too.

[Don FoleyParticipant]

Hi Karen,

When you say well rotted exactly how old is it?
It is difficult to tell from the photo but has it been trodden on?
Have you tried forking it over lightly to let air in at it?

Don.

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Don,

I honestly have no idea how old they are. We have a cow farm up the road and I got it from them. I have always considered manure and compost as well rotted when the brandlings are present. This batch of “manure” under the black sheet is from the picture of my first picture of my manure stash.

I know for a fact that the cow farm uses them and spreads them easily over the fields with their humongous machines.

Unfortunately it was briefly trodden on by the husband as we were hauling them onto the old pathways. I am not sure if forking them over will help. haha! I am just reluctant as I think I will end up stepping on them even more.

I do suspect that I possibly have to re-compost them and add more brown materials so that they will break down more easily into more “fluffy” compost?

[KarenParticipant]

I took 2 closer pics of the “manure”.

I also believe there are different “grades” of compost or well rotted manure based on their consistency and texture? The “fluffy” kind is possibly the 100% composted kind?

Another interesting topic to discuss about… I suspect… 🙂

And I am ALWAYS on cloud nine when I receive my animal manures, I can never get enough of it.

[charlesModerator]

Karen, your new spreading looks fine. Perhaps when loading the wheelbarrow, separate any less decomposed lumps to use elsewhere or to compost some more, spread only the finest.
Especially in spring when as you say its either sticky, or quickly hard. In winter-spreading it would not be a problem as by spring the weather has made it soft.
In this case I would spread 2-3cm fine compost on top if you have some, should you wish to plant soon. But for summer plantings of leek or courgette it looks ok.
Those brandlings are bountiful, the cow manure especially looks fantastic.

[KarenParticipant]

Ok Charles, thanks for the advice. I will dive into all my compost heaps and try to scrounge for the finer finished compost. Wish me luck! 🙂

I am definitely running out of space and right now in the process of trying to mulch all the former pathways. I am even trying with mulching with thick lawn mowings and then covering them with black sheeting etc. Hopefully some of the grass and weeds will have weakened by late autumn and then we will add the animal manure to breakdown further over winter. It is definitely a daunting and nail-biting task.

[StringfellowParticipant]

Thanks Leif and Karen for additional ideas. Karen, your manure heaps look fantastic and will keep you busy with a barrow 🙂

“Teaming With Microbes” is well worth a read and other composters might find extra help in Mr Flowerdew’s basics book on “Composting” as well as F.C. Kings “Gardening With Compost”; he had triple bins 40 feet long, 7 feet wide…..and obviously an odd moment or two to turn them!

Hope this cold spells vanishes soon; some warmth and sunshine is needed here in North Yorks.

[charlesModerator]

Yes warmth definitely for you Tris by next weekend.
Karen you can use the mulched paths straightaway or soon for plants such as squash, leeks, kale.

[KarenParticipant]

Thanks Stringfellow 🙂 can never get enough of it!

Ok Charles, I will most likely plant my brassicas (e.g. kale, Brussel sprouts and cabbage) and possibly courgettes too once they are ready to be planted. Thanks. Wish me luck!

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