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Post by lisaann on Jun 13, 2015 12:32:29 GMT -5
Composting is our friend.
We came to this new site without bringing our composting thoughts and knowledge, trials and tribulations along with us!
Holy Cow!
What were we thinking?
So.......................
may we all get together and start a NEW and improved compost CATCH ALL THREAD?
I'll start:
I compost in wire circles (3 foot wide/4 foot tall) I cover with a tarp, like in this pic if it is going to be too rainy. You can set up as many as you can fill. It is easy to mix these wire circles:
Just open them up, dump them and mix them and put it back. You get fast compost.
I only compost mowed up grass and mowed up leaves.
I fill a circle all at one time, to the top, and let it compost. I mix it well to begin with.
I have NO luck making compost in my small yard with my limited space , just adding a little here and there.
I must build a pile All at one time.
So to do that, I have to save mowed up leaves all winter in bags or whatever.............and then when spring comes, I mow the grass and mix with the leaves and put in the circles and compost.
I bury kitchen scraps in the garden directly. Just keep a hole or a couple for this purpose.
I find that if I keep adding to a compost pile or bin, or wire circle.............nothing ever gets done composting. It is better for me to build a pile all at one time.
Now,
I know everyone takes a different approach to composting.
Simply because we all live in different climates that require different tactics.
SO SHARE!
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Post by wheelgarden1 on Jun 13, 2015 13:09:51 GMT -5
I compost in an open pile, about 4' wide and 3' tall. Grass clippings, leaves, undiseased garden waste and kitchen waste. I let the pile accumulate to 3', break down a few days, build back it up again over the course of a couple of months, turning every third day. Then I stop adding to it and keep turning the pile until fully broken down. Meanwhile I start building a new pile.
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Post by Mumsey on Jun 13, 2015 16:07:09 GMT -5
I have one of those compost bin flip things. Works pretty good and I can fill it pretty fast. I am now using the space under the bin (it sits above the ground) to put excess waste. I put all the kitchen scraps in the bin, The Princess would be in to those for sure!
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jun 13, 2015 17:43:58 GMT -5
I pretty much do as wheel garden but I don't have anything ready yet. I have leaves in a pile and am adding the rabbit manure and food scraps to it. I also have the composter bin that am still adding things to for the garlic bed in the fall....same as the pile, adding coffee grounds to that as well. But I will stop adding to the mixi at the end of this month. Then stir and let it steep. This year with the fall crops o will be using that as well.
I do have leaves set in the garden around the base of the plants and add grass clippings as I cut the lawn.
But LAs system may be better. How long do you stir the mix, LA, before you use it?
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Post by desertwoman on Jun 13, 2015 18:56:06 GMT -5
I have a 2 bin set up. In July I will stop adding to one side and let it finish it's thing. At that time I will start throwing things in the other side I am a "lazy" composter. I'm lucky it it gets turned a couple of times during the summer. I go by... compost happens...with or without my help. If we have had a long dry spell (the norm) I'll give it a sprinkle. I toss in seedless yard and garden scraps, kitchen scraps, leaves and grass clippings, some extra coffee grounds. However, I do cut up everything that goes into it- both kitchen and garden stuff- into approx. 1-2" pieces. And I aim for approx 2 parts green to 1 part brown- more or less. All my gardens- veggie and ornamental- are mulched with leaves and I will also add grass clippings or coffee grounds at some point. In the fall I will dig in partially finished compost into the veggie garden beds before mulching them with crushed leaves. This is my set up as of today. The finished compost (what's left of it) is on the left, the new pile for the season is getting started on the right.
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Post by Mumsey on Jun 13, 2015 19:06:42 GMT -5
Nice set-up DW. Mine has to be enclosed due to critters, specifically D-O-G!!
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Post by desertwoman on Jun 13, 2015 21:34:13 GMT -5
ha- occasionally a critter (maybe a raccoon or coyote) will rummage through that pile.
And we've had signs that a black bear has roamed through a couple of time in the almost 6 years we've been here!
Our cat is not interested in the pile.
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Post by kimmsr🕊 on Jun 14, 2015 6:22:52 GMT -5
While grass clippings and leaves are good materials and do contain a wide variety of nutrients the more material added to a compost pile the greater the probability of a wide range of nutrients in the finished compost.
Some people will not put kitchen waste in compost piles because "that will attract unwanted animals" something many of us have not found to be true. If that material is simply plunked on the compost pile, available for any critter to find, it will be an attractant. However, if that same material is buried it will not. Some also object to using kitchen scrapes because they may not be organic, but the reality of today is that much of the food we eat is contaminated, even in our own gardens, by fall out from many sources.
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Post by tbird on Jun 14, 2015 7:08:51 GMT -5
I am a "lazy" composter. I'm lucky it it gets turned a couple of times during the summer. You really need to give up that title! Your bins look professional!!! I'm the lazy composter! I collect in a bag and when it gets smelly - or oozy - or fruit flied, I bury it somewhere..right now, I've tossed the stuff onto the odd end of a bed and while I've been meaning to bury it was some soil and plant some flowers on to - it's been sitting there, unattractively for a week or two. now, that's lazy!
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Post by datgirl on Jun 14, 2015 8:47:06 GMT -5
I tend to be kind of a lazy composter too. My bins are set up pretty similar to lissaan. Everything gets thrown in there but I'm not so good at turning it regularly. The mosquitos get me. Now its so wet from all this rain I won't be able to turn it if I tried.
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Post by lisaann on Jun 14, 2015 9:17:59 GMT -5
Just in case NEW friends stop in to chat, I thought this link seemed super easy to read about composting. eartheasy.com/grow_compost.htmlThere are tons of composting links to read, and most approach the process the same way. Some do seem to make it more complex than it is. And can we add too much compost? That question always interests me, and there is much to be read about that too. blog.mountain-plover.com/2011/01/13/too-much-compost/
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Post by OregonRed on Jun 14, 2015 9:42:11 GMT -5
just this year, I 'burned' a transplant fern, by accidently planting it in straight worm castings....:~\ I re transplanted it and cut it back - it's okay...
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Post by desertwoman on Jun 14, 2015 23:28:36 GMT -5
You really need to give up that title! Your bins look professional!!! lol - the bins may look professional, but what goes in them gets little attention from me! Those bins were made with pallets deemed "safe".
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Post by OregonRed on Jun 15, 2015 11:10:38 GMT -5
I compost directly in the bed.
when I started the CG, I deemed a section as compost, and dumped everything there, including horse manure or whatever I could get. I did not turn it until end of season, when I added 1 cu. yd. of purchased organic topsoil, stirred it, and smoothed it to become another (usually 5') section of bed for next spring.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 16, 2015 11:21:59 GMT -5
I have a big pile at the edge of my garden. I dump kitchen scraps, weeds, grass clippings and chicken manure with straw onto it. When hubby has his tractor with the bucket out, he turns the pile for me so it get turned at least twice a month.
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