One Person, Garden Compost

[flowerbug]

I have been composting for years now. I have 2 bins, one that is "cooking" while the other is being filled. I've studied about the 50/50 greens and browns and even took a composting class! Needless to say my compost is always cold and the leaves never really break down all the way the way they are supposed to. There are worms in it and I do add my chicken poop daily from 4 hens.

Every fall I gather about 4 bags of leaves to add one bag a quarter to the bin. In the past I've added leaves to my garden beds but they get blown away by the wind and if it rains they get really matted down. I don't have a chipper or lawn mower to mulch them down.

I have started thinking about getting rid of my 2 bins. It would free up some much needed space and things would also look neater by the side of the house where they are. I figured I could add all my compost stuff to the city"s green compost bin. Our local non profit nursery is also now offering free compost via the city so I could always get some from there. Even if the program doesn't last long I wouldn't mind getting 1/4 yard of compost once a year from a local place.

Mary

can't you just bury stuff in a garden someplace and let the worms figure it out? for some things a worm composting bucket is useful and that doesn't need to look bad. also, i don't think you really get super cold winters so the worms may even survive in your gardens all season?

 

[digitS']

For my well-drained soil and semi-arid climate, semi-subterrainian compost bins under something works well (and uses up my allotment of hyphens in a post).

. Before a second such bin was added, and while I had composting going on at a distant garden, I would bury 1 or 2 quarts of kitchen material at a time using a posthole digger. That worked okay.

Burying material is preferred and can work nicely with succession crops. It's a reason for growing early potato varieties where digging can begin in July and Fall greens can be planted as soon as the soil settles some, over the compostables.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

can't you just bury stuff in a garden someplace and let the worms figure it out? for some things a worm composting bucket is useful and that doesn't need to look bad. also, i don't think you really get super cold winters so the worms may even survive in your gardens all season?

It's too much trouble burying stuff all the time lol.

Mary

 

[Jane23]

It's too much trouble burying stuff all the time lol.

Mary

Very true. I just buddy the easiest stuff like beans. I was going to bury my peas plants, but mildew took some of them, so out they come.

I am guessing my wild temperatures did it. 70 degrees during the day and 35 at night for the last like two weeks. They were fine before that.

 

[ducks4you]

It's too much trouble burying stuff all the time lol.

Mary

Agreed, that it Can be a lot trouble, but if you have depressions it can be a great way to restore them to gardening beds. I have this west side of my garage, and I am dumping tomato skins and recent sweet pepper parts and seeds there to cover them up and next year I will try growing something there.

 

[digitS']

I wasn't able to dig out 50% of any of my garden beds each year until I stopped carrying garden wastes off to compost in distant gardens and made use of it here at home. One out of 3 was the best that I could do with all of the ground that was previously cultivated.

That fell to 0 out of 3 at the one distant garden when DW invited the tractor guy to till that garden. With the neighbor no longer using the ground beside the big veggie garden, that may change since it was a package deal with the tractor guy on both pieces of ground.

We will see how things work out but 3 beds of frost killed plants like squash & broccoli in one dugout bed can be quite a bunch! I used to grow quite a few sunflowers, also. Okay, it is dug down about 8" and that soil went on top. Oh Boy ... by Spring, it might still be something of a mess. Not to worry, I learned to plant squash on those beds . The large seeds and robust vines had no problem germinating and growing, making use of the nutrients. By the 2nd year, the ground was well settled and more genteel crops could be planted. One more thing that I liked about digging out beds in a previous Fall was that cultivation meant there was no need to do more that rake the surface in the Spring.

Steve

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I wasn't able to dig out 50% of any of my garden beds each year until I stopped carrying garden wastes off to compost in distant gardens and made use of it here at home. One out of 3 was the best that I could do with all of the ground that was previously cultivated.

That fell to 0 out of 3 at the one distant garden when DW invited the tractor guy to till that garden. With the neighbor no longer using the ground beside the big veggie garden, that may change since it was a package deal with the tractor guy on both pieces of ground.

We will see how things work out but 3 beds of frost killed plants like squash & broccoli in one dugout bed can be quite a bunch! I used to grow quite a few sunflowers, also. Okay, it is dug down about 8" and that soil went on top. Oh Boy ... by Spring, it might still be something of a mess. Not to worry, I learned to plant squash on those beds . The large seeds and robust vines had no problem germinating and growing, making use of the nutrients. By the 2nd year, the ground was well settled and more genteel crops could be planted. One more thing that I liked about digging out beds in a previous Fall was that cultivation meant there was no need to do more that rake the surface in the Spring.

Steve

So correct. Fall is a cool time for sweaty work as well.

 

[flowerbug]

So correct. Fall is a cool time for sweaty work as well.

if the weather cooperates i can get gardens mostly cleaned up and ready for spring and that also usually makes spring go easier. this year i'm a ways behind but most of the gardens are in ok condition since i weeded as i was picking beans.

 

[digitS']

I can remember only a few times, showing up in a distant garden in November.

That isn't counting the backyard beds where the soil surface freezing and my bucket of compostables freezing occurs about the same time.

That brings the digging to an end but I have high hopes that some compost can come from the stealth compost bins and be replaced by thawed compostables as soon as that is possible. Seasonal Shifts .

Steve, who needs a different word for "pit" which suggests "in the pits" and "bin" implies basin or something ...

 

[Jane23]

I can remember only a few times, showing up in a distant garden in November.

That isn't counting the backyard beds where the soil surface freezing and my bucket of compostables freezing occurs about the same time.

That brings the digging to an end but I have high hopes that some compost can come from the stealth compost bins and be replaced by thawed compostables as soon as that is possible. Seasonal Shifts .

Steve, who needs a different word for "pit" which suggests "in the pits" and "bin" implies basin or something ...

I buried some of the healthier plants like the bean plants, yesterday. I want to plant more next year, though I am aiming for healthier soil next year. I read about pine needs being a good way to hold moisture and add nutrients as they break down. I added a lot of pine needles to the beds for winter protection and coverage.

I am hoping at least some of it will be broken down into the soil come spring as they look quite a mess right now between bits of plants sticking up that are compositing, horse poop, and pine needless.