COMPOST

Comment

Comment by Letti on December 10, 2009 at 6:25pm

I am lucky to have a tree in my back yard that supplies me with a bunch of leaves, and I collect vegetable scraps from a nearby vegetable stand. I have not had to buy compost. I agree with both of you..........Homemade is the best.

Comment by Gillian on December 9, 2009 at 10:17pm

Thanks Letti for the info, and yes Glen, I agree with you. I worried that I was not getting enough worms and so went out and bought a bag of cow manure and made up one of those little worm pipes that I have half submersed in the vegetables garden. I think shredded newspaper attracted just as many.... Maybe I am just trying to hurry nature along. This soil has not had any goodness added for thirty years, so I am really not doing too badly after one year. The only thing I have added from outside is muncipal mulch - but it had been aged for a couple of years, so is more like compost. We recently purchased a leaf blower/mulcher and I am amazed how much quicker my compost heats up now that the leaves are mulched. Homemade compost really is like black gold!

Comment by Glenn Fletcher on December 8, 2009 at 7:57am

Hi Letti
Thanks for the info about the contaminated manure. I have not bought manure now for several years in the UK. This was since we had the foot & mouth and BSE scares.
I think that municipal compost is your best bet, if you need to say bulk up some deep beds. Even then you can,t guarantee it won,t have any problems. The only way to ensure trouble free compost is to make it yourself from things that you are sure won,t have any problems, and supplement that with homemade liquid fertilizer.

Comment by Letti on December 7, 2009 at 9:11pm

Thought you might want to read this

http://www.homegrownevolution.com/

Comment by Desi Powell on October 31, 2009 at 7:25am

Mary, I hope you got a good snap of the cats playing football with your cherry tomatoes. At least you can then look back on it and have a good chuckle!

Though I must admit, I felt a bit like that this morning when my little Yorkie bit the top off my one pigeon pea that I have been nurturing. I ordered some seeds from an organic nursery and have had a problem with germination so tried starting some seeds on damp cotton wool. One germinated and the other 5 just went rotten. Now that one which was doing so well in the little pot into which I planted it, has had it's growing tip bitten off, so I doubt it will make it.

Comment by Mary Heaner on October 31, 2009 at 5:52am

I just harvested my last, lovely cherry tomatoes. I had to nurse them through the last rain by putting plastic over them but, they ripened finally and were sweet and perfect. Last night they sat on the kitchen counter like jewels - one last taste of summer.
This morning when I got up, the tomatoes were on the floor all over the house and the cats were merrily playing football with them.
Here's my question:
Can cats be composted?

Comment by Joel LeGrand on September 20, 2009 at 2:44am

Hi everyone,
Have you seen amna mufti's photo "CHAFFING".
I could use some of that in my garden now, it would be compost by spring.

Comment by Mamaka on August 13, 2009 at 7:23am

Hi Folks!
I am new to this site and am so glad to have found y'all!

COMPOST! Oh Yeah!

I am a happy passionate composter; folks sometimes call me Compost Kathy.

I've been enjoying a dance with the micro/macro organisms for as long as I can remember! They're the real gardening pros out here and I figure if I can learn the dance we can have have a great time:-)

I am a humanure composter and a vermiculturist and love all my little buddies. The land here is thick clay and it has been wonderful to set up the conditions for building soil and see it improve.

I am also the steward of a 65 acre sustainable tree and woodland product farm. The natural processes of decomposition are very important out here since the land was cleared about 50 yrs ago and over the years of pasturing the soil has become very depleted; especially along the upper levels near the ridgeline. Start with clay and then go further to deplete it...not a good idea.

But, the naturally returning successional forest is doing well and helping to rebuild the soil is a part of my decision making processes, i.e. instead of harvesting downed trees I let them decay for habitat and the composting processes.

Anyways, I am greatly looking forward to reading all of your posts but must get to my chores. I'll be back but in the meantime you are welcome to check out my photos on Transition Ohio, including the soil amendment album.

Thanks for being here and for all you do...I dream of everyone having kitchen gardens...like the victory garden movement!

Mamaka

Comment by Joel LeGrand on July 12, 2009 at 2:39am

Hi everyone, it been said I can be a know it all , so i will keep his short. "Comment by Kay. make a list. on 4/20/09 ." Organic Gardening / Make Compost In 14 Day. Brown: Brown Garden debris,Hedge prunings, Leaves,Pine needles, Straw. Greens:Algae,Chicken manure, Dead houseplants,Fresh grass clippings,Green garden debris, Horse manure. The so so list: Office paper, Cardboard, Natural-fiber cloth,Sawdust,Woodash. The NO-NO List; Black walnut leaves, bark, & chips. Diseased plants,Dog,cat,pig & reptile manure, Gypsum board, Meats, dairy products. O.G. said straw is like wheat & other grains straw not hay, because hay often contains weed & grass seeds . I have not had a problem with seeds & I have used hay that had over 40% weed twigs. I use sawdust from wood that has no man made coating & I turned it under on my garden plot so it would break down faster. If you are going to buy compost ingredients: cottonseed meal,soybean meal are good. I sheet compost sawdust, leaves, peanut& pecan shell. I have been getting coffee bean chaff this year ,it is ground up, wet & going though a heat. I have gotten about 4000 lbs. this year , I also use burlap bags to keep down weeds after spreading chaff around my plants . Got go, bet you are glad I keep it short.

Comment by Nancy H on July 9, 2009 at 7:46am

Apparently I cold compost because I have tomato plants growing everywhere!!!!

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