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As you probably know, I don't have a compost bin - I chuck all the soft vegetation into the chicken runs and let them play with it - but, what do I do with the rest of it - the brambles, couch grass, nettle roots, branches, dock roots, ivy and all the other unwanted stuff that nobody wants in their compost bin?
I make heaps on bare ground - might be the side of a path, or a weedy bit of a bed. The key thing is that the heap is built wherever I've been weeding - no piling it into a wheelbarrow and barrowing some distance away for me.
I let the heaps sit for a few weeks; the leaves shrivel and drop through the heap. The rain falls on it and soft stuff starts to decompose. The twigs dry out and become snappable.
After a few weeks, I walk on it, crushing the twigs and squashing the softer stuff. Then I rake/drag it away to another place a few feet away, turning it over as I do. This prevents any roots from regrowing.
The ground it leaves behind is damp, the bugs are near the surface and anything that was growing there is yellow and starved of light.
Then I bring in the Clearance Chicken Squad. They peck over the ground, eating the bugs, scratching the surface and preparing it for sowing.
As the heaps are dragged around they get smaller and merge with other heaps. Gradually, all the heaps become one and they are dumped in a corner for final decomposition.
I'd be the first to agree that this system isn't pretty and just the thought of it will give the tidy gardener nightmares. Not me though, I sleep peacefully in my untidy bed.
I make heaps on bare ground - might be the side of a path, or a weedy bit of a bed. The key thing is that the heap is built wherever I've been weeding - no piling it into a wheelbarrow and barrowing some distance away for me.
I let the heaps sit for a few weeks; the leaves shrivel and drop through the heap. The rain falls on it and soft stuff starts to decompose. The twigs dry out and become snappable.
After a few weeks, I walk on it, crushing the twigs and squashing the softer stuff. Then I rake/drag it away to another place a few feet away, turning it over as I do. This prevents any roots from regrowing.
The ground it leaves behind is damp, the bugs are near the surface and anything that was growing there is yellow and starved of light.
Then I bring in the Clearance Chicken Squad. They peck over the ground, eating the bugs, scratching the surface and preparing it for sowing.
As the heaps are dragged around they get smaller and merge with other heaps. Gradually, all the heaps become one and they are dumped in a corner for final decomposition.
I'd be the first to agree that this system isn't pretty and just the thought of it will give the tidy gardener nightmares. Not me though, I sleep peacefully in my untidy bed.
I do similar on my plot (without the chooks) Those little heaps help keep the weeds down.
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