Barb and Barley,
First off, I want to say, I love composting
but I am a rotten teacher, so anything you have questions on that I may not have explained right, didn't sound right, or just can't figure out,
DO NOT HESITATE TO RE~ASK!!!!
*I was born a composter not a teacher/explainer..
*I'm rotten at typing too!!!
First Barb,
You wrote,
but am I understanding you to mean that you can start a compost pile where you intend to plant something for the next year? So, if I want to improve the soil before I plant there, I could just make a pile on the ground and add to it?
This depends on you and your style of gardening...
I am a very poor and patient gardener right now..... (Young children and a mother at home, so I go no where's, I have all day to compost, and I figured I'm here for many springs, with mother/kids so, if I want to garden my whole yard someday, or work new area's eventually, that's exactly what I do, but I also have many bins to do this process.) You may not have that option...
And even I wish the process was speedier, but it's not, it's a slow process for "ground bins"
I have to look where you are from, ah, my area/zone, you're in the same boat as I with a short time to do it in too... Winter slows the composting process down to NIL, when it freezes...
(now for Barley's area, she can compost year round I'm assuming, no real freezing temp's or looonnnnnnnnnnng period of temp's like this way..)
I also start my bins in Fall, when I'm cutting grass and the falling leaves, *the BEST~TIME TO START* let the grass grow abit for at least half the tree falling down, the grass is tall and the leaves are plentiful, and you're doing two things at once, cutting the grass *which is green* and chopping the leaves *which is brown* you chop those again and drive over again, fill your bin, add a layer of say old dirt from a potted plant from summer, layer more grass/leaves, throw in some kitchen scrap's, dried stems from hosta flowers, and dried lillie stalks, etc... another layer of grass/leaves, whatever you have.....
You'll be surprised in a days time you'll come out to a steaming compost, it'll be cooking, I'd leave it for a handful of days, to a week, go get a pitch fork or something you can turn it with, just sorta get the part of the bottom up to the top, and the top to the bottom, all this may sound funny, I am not a writer, nor a good story teller, it's hard to discribe sometimes when you read up enough on composting, BUT you need to get the feel for it, I was not an instant composter, I was frustrated a bit in the beginning, I live in town and with neighbors you can't have smelly composts.....*now if you want those neighbors NOT to say anything, start handing them some, and they shut right up....*I have enough of it to do that though too*
So, like the next year when I started my bins I put several sized branches, sticks, twigs into the bottom of the bin, let's air under it if I pack it too tight, you can't really get down into that when you reach your pitch fork in, and when the pile in those bins gets to the top, you can not get to the bottom to turn, just too much stuff in there, but between the good bugs from the bottom, worms, sow bugs, oh, there's so many, but they are eating and pooping away dirt and decaying matter and the brown and green all work hand in hand....
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But back to what I quoted you saying about being able to plant there, where you had the bin, ok....
I start them in the fall, they get alot of cooking in before they freeze, but then freeze for the whole winter, Dec~April??? Depends on winter's really. Once spring hits, and it starts to thaw, it'll start cooking again, and you can add the whole summer into that bin, make sure you have brown, *don't throw every last leaf you have in the fall in to the bins, I keep a good amount off to the side, because if you use table scrap's into your bin, which is your green, you will be starving for brown to put in between the layers....When you clean up the rest of your garden in the spring, that's brown too, I will start another pile too, (each gardener has his/her own style of
gardening too, some clean the entire garden in the fall, some leave it for spring, I do half an half..... I leave somethings up like I leave the stalks on the hosta's everything right where it layed in the fall/winter, some times you have no choice, it's a long fall and then snow falls and it's all over until spring...
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But back to the bins and planting under neath them, see how bad I am at teaching?
but I keep that bin going all summer long, and come fall I start another bin...... let the original one sit, then come spring of the following year, when I am planting veggies, I empty that first bin by sifting it...
*Have I told you about the sifting part???????/
Right about now you may be throwing your hands in the air going, I could buy a bag of compost cheaper, probably could but it's the love of recycling, making useless items, to rich, black gold......
Alright, you have to find some kind of sieve or sifter (*oh for gosh sakes, not the kind you'd strain spaghetti with or flour for a cake mix*), Mine is metal, with a wooden frame, stapled to the sides. I load it up on top of my wheelbarrow, or Ames garden cart, I'll see if I can hunt you up a picture of this or drawings on how to make one...
(I am having my father~in~law make me something someday, so it's larger...) but, then just sift as needed, or do one wheelbarrow at a time......
I do it both ways, it does take a long time to do this.... I used to have access to really old horse manure and rabbit poop and mixed that, I didn't feel like dragging that stuff down from the hill. but I suppose you can buy bags of manure to mix in if you didn't already mix it in as you went with the composting. (manure is considered a "green" source)
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Anyhow, back to the part about growing underneath it, (sleepy yet?
I hope not, its soooooooo worth it, when you are all done adding, turning, turning, adding, turning, waiting, sifting, sifting, and you
have this huge cart full of black, bodacious black gold in your hands you'll say to yourself, this is the exact reason I do all this, no better feeling in the world, oh, alright, there may be a few but I can't get into that because this is a gardening site........
I"m going to stop and give your eyeballs a rest..
and I have to start dinner, but I want to come back to Barley's post too!!!!
Weezie