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Post by gianna on Apr 2, 2022 21:02:52 GMT -5
Last fall, I put up a quick 'emergency' compost pile in the back. It was just a holding area for a lot of weeds, leaves, clippings that I just didn;'t want to throw away. And it sat there for maybe 6 months cold composting. Today I finally got around to moving it, and adding many more soft clippings, etc to it. I was pleasantly surprised by how much actual decomposition had occurred at the very bottom, even through many months of drought.
So going forward this year, I'm going to be constructing and filling another pile. The old stuff was the start of the new pile. I use a length of heavy wire fencing, covered with either plastic or landscape fabric. Water is our limiting factor. It's about 3 by 5 feet, and 2 to 3+ feet high. The piles I construct are usually hot piles, but I'm not sure this new one will be. I've collected 3 trash cans of debris that now can go into the new pile. And more weeds to pull, trimmings to trim, etc. I don't follow any ratios of greens or browns. I do like to add ground city mulch to it just so I end up with more compost, but at the moment, I don't have any. Soon.
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 3, 2022 1:45:55 GMT -5
I let volunteer tomatoes and pumpkins take over my pile last year and unfortunately it didn't break down so good. Since I used shredded chestnut burrs in the bottom layers, it will need to compost for another year so I can avoid the "ouchies" in my fingers. My plans for this year are to utilize some ancient rusty roofing tin and t-posts to create a few bins. It will be ugly but at no cost to me other than time to construct. Lots of pruning to do this year so hopefully the chipper will cooperate this year and I can produce lots of compost.
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Post by gardendmpls on Apr 3, 2022 7:01:00 GMT -5
Originally had two bins out of cinderblocks. A few tears ago I made a double out of five pallets held together with T, L and staight braces and screws. Had two more to go across the front, but never got around to putting them on as it works just fine without them. Finding pallets was easy. Just checked their code numbers for MB, methyl bromide, a chemical that fights mold. Recently read that MB dissipates right after it is sprayed on the wood, much like carbon monoxide, and so isn't really a problem. Just one of those things that spread from article to article.
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 26, 2022 7:48:19 GMT -5
Finished the temporary bin. Plans were to use some salvaged roofing tin and t-posts but the roofing tin was much worse than I thought and one of our customers spotted it and asked hubby about it. I said to give it away but he insisted we take $50. So plan B involved sheets of lightweight metal that came from one of those flimsy outbuildings that the wind destroyed at MIL's. The good thing it that most of the holes were already predrilled and the edges (except for the very ends that make up the corner) are turned under, so little risk of cutting myself adding to the pile. It measures approximately 5'x 5' is surprisingly very sturdy. I plan to use it for a year or two until I can are a more permanent structure.
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Post by gardendmpls on Apr 26, 2022 9:35:30 GMT -5
plan B involved sheets of lightweight metal Do you have holes drilled to allow for aeration or a center pipe with holes or?
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 26, 2022 12:30:58 GMT -5
gardendmpls, there's some holes already, but I need to locate a bigger drill bit and make more. The front section will likely involve some wire fencing as well as well.
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Post by gardendmpls on Apr 26, 2022 13:02:38 GMT -5
I leave all of the ones I've made open in the front. The latest is made of wood pallets. Plenty of aeration there.
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 26, 2022 17:32:08 GMT -5
I make mine with pallets, too. It has containment and aeration. And they ae free! Have posted before , but here is one on them
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 26, 2022 18:10:07 GMT -5
If I only had a truck, I'd have pallets out the wazoo. I could get one or two in the SUV if I folded the back seat down, but then I'd have to take out kiddo's car seat and it's a b$tch to reinstall and tighten up. So I'm making due with what I have for now. desertwoman, that looks like a pretty sturdy bin. Love your path too!
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Post by Wheelgarden on Apr 26, 2022 20:42:29 GMT -5
I had three 5' x 5' pallet bins for a few years, and they were great. Got those things going hot and good, but Dr. Access and Dr. Wheelbody eventually steered me into open-pile cold composting. With patience it works out the same, we've got a nice little mountain of good rich black gold. I do miss the hot bins, and the steam rising from them in the morning --- that stuff could be ready to serve, weed-free, in three weeks. Composting is great and essential, no matter how you do it, and it sure has turned my garden and yard around. It could turn the whole world around, and I mean it.
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Post by gianna on Aug 6, 2022 11:14:22 GMT -5
It's been trimming season, and I'm still adding to my compost heap after not doing that regularly. But of late I've been building it up again, watering it, adding layers of city mulch to it.. and it's been decomposing. Today I added another layer of wire 'wall' so I can keep going higher. I"ve still got lots of debris to add. It keeps sinking of course, but I'm going to get as close to 3 - 4 feet high as I can.
I usually turn my compost, but since I don't need it till spring, I'll let it set for another couple months or so, and then turn it in the cooler fall, and go from there.
I just love composting, and this year I did not have enough.
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Post by pondgardener on Aug 6, 2022 12:53:47 GMT -5
I've been building mine up as well. I pulled out a full wheelbarrow of water hyacinth from the pond, added some green bean plants, chopped them up with a machete, opened up another bag of shredded leaves and spread them on top. Finished off with some alfalfa pellets and some kitchen scraps. Watered it down and covered with some compost from last year, filled with small earthworms. I'll let it sit as well until Fall.
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Post by datgirl on Aug 6, 2022 12:58:17 GMT -5
We took our big compost pile apart a few years ago when hubby was given a big old compost tumbler from a neighbor. I don't like it so I just made two little wire bins in the garden proper where I dump egg shells, scraps, coffee grounds etc. Well a few weeks ago I notice something sprouting in one of them. Looks like either cucumbers or cantaloupe,thinking back on what scraps I would have thrown in there. Now I don't want to throw anything in that one bin till I can see whats growing.
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 6, 2022 15:15:14 GMT -5
datgirl, I find that it's usually cantaloupe which never amounts to anything.
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Post by datgirl on Aug 6, 2022 15:19:17 GMT -5
Mumsey,I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I know it will never produce. Too late in the season.
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