I Used to have Big Bins!

[digitS']

Now, I just bury the compostables.

I think there was a recent year when I had no compost at all! Everything was deteriorating underground with 8 to 10 inches of soil on top. Garden plants were grown over that material.

Soil has been an important component in my compost for a long time. This is an arid part of the country. The clouds failed to give us an inch of rain this summer (just past ). Soil inoculates the compost with appropriate microbes and by digging that soil out of the ground where I intend to build a compost pile - that trench helps hold moisture so that the material doesn't just lie on the surface like a 100 year-old buffalo chip . . .

Compost is good for mulching and I needed some at the end of June. It was a good thing that I had a little and as I dug it out, I refilled the trench with compostables and covered that with compost & soil. I have started digging that material out now. After 3 months, I can't recognize anything other than a couple of sticks and some perlite from potting soil, apparently:

I refilled this part of the trench with compostables much like what I threw in there back in June:

If I dig it out about the 1st of April, some of this material will still be green! It will not have decomposed really AT ALL thru our cold winter months! By the end of June, it will be - for all intents and purposes - compost. And, here is what it looks like today:

I have to dig more of this trench out this morning - I've only dug abut 20% thru it. That nice dark compost there in the back will be in my way and I'll have to move it. Luckily, I know of a bed that will benefit . And, I'll have more after digging out another 20% of my compost trench.

Oh, and why didn't I just put a deeper layer of soil on this trench filled with compostables and treat it just as I do with my other garden beds? Well, I could have but it is quite shaded (as you can tell) and I don't do a real good job getting water to this spot. Besides, I have use for some compost!

Steve

 

[momofdrew]

do you reuse the trench year after year or do you dig a different trench every few years??? I have though of doing that but I dont have enough room unless I plant on top of the trench and hope for the best...

 

[digitS']

Pam, where I simply bury the compostables, I bury them right in a garden bed and plant on top.

This location is difficult for me to use for growing most plants so I have used it to make compost.

The trench would be about 5' by 10' and 10" deep if it was all dug out at once. I've never grown anything on that ground; it has been just for compost in recent years.

Steve

 

[retiredwith4acres]

I like this idea! Have to consider how it might work for me.

 

[digitS']

It could be that my rocky garden soil gives me some advantages. Standing water in the garden is almost impossible. What little falls on this ground, drains easily.

Because of the rocks, at least in my imagination, there is adequate oxygen available for the microbes so that all the decomposition is not anaerobic. I'm not completely sure how much difference it makes anyway. There is plenty of oxygen for the worms, however. Night crawlers and other earthworms seem quite happy under 8 or 10 inches of soil in all that decaying plant material.

Have you ever wondered about the "ammonia smell" of compost? What is that all about? It can be quite strong after a few days of building a pile and/or if it is just being turned for the 1st few time. It is ammonia, so - what is ammonia?

Wikipedia tells us, "Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3." So, the smell is loss of nitrogen from the material composting. That can't be desirable since nitrogen is an important nutrient for plant growth. I feel that the nitrogen has a good deal less chance of just moving into the air.

Not much manure is generated by my little flock of backyard hens so nearly all of the material that goes into a bed or the pit is just plant wastes. I'm happy to grow lots more plants than what is needed so that material is available . I put more into the pit than would go into a bed. There may be as much as 10" in there before I mound soil over the top but usually not that much. And, the "soil" is partly compost so I'm kind of just burying compostables in the compost. That generates lots of activity from the microbes and, if temperature conditions are favorable, results in rapid decompostion.

Steve

 

[digitS']

"Burying wastes at least 8 deep is one of the simplest methods of composting." Cornell, Choosing a Compost System

Steve

 

[momofdrew]

I think I want to try it... if it works I can get rid of the big ugly compost bins in the back of the garden... and no need for sifting!!!

 

[vfem]

I honestly would do this if I had the right tools. Lately I've been trying to work without a good shovel, and I have no pitch fork anymore either. Things got stolen and totally messed me up!

Maybe one day I will take this route as I am a terrible composter!!! :happy_flower

 

[so lucky]

I honestly would do this if I had the right tools. Lately I've been trying to work without a good shovel, and I have no pitch fork anymore either. Things got stolen and totally messed me up! Maybe one day I will take this route as I am a terrible composter!!! :happy_flower

vfem, I think you should buy yourself a good shovel for Christmas and paint the handle bright pink. Might make it harder to steal.

 

[Kassaundra]

I honestly would do this if I had the right tools. Lately I've been trying to work without a good shovel, and I have no pitch fork anymore either. Things got stolen and totally messed me up!

Maybe one day I will take this route as I am a terrible composter!!! :happy_flower

I'm glad I'm not the only one. My compost in never hot like everyone describes. I always have a compost mound, but it usually takes much longer then described to compost (probably b/c mine isn't hot).

I put chicken poop, kitchen scraps that the chickens don't eat, grass cuttings, garden waste, yard waste (chipped wood from pruned or fallen branches leaves etc..) and recently this week, now have a source for free wood chips mixed w/ pig poo from a local 4H that I am way excited about. Which means this year I should have a gargantuan compost pile

DigitS, I like your composting idea, we get plenty of rain here (usually not counting this past summer) and our winters aren't as long or severe as you deal with. I sure see why it would work well for your conditions.