Waiting for Compost As-You-Go

[veg4681]

One of my main reason for growing vegetable was borne out of a deperate need to empty my compost bin that had been pilling up for 10 years.

Now that I've got a veggie patch, you feel like you're racing against time to produce usable, crumbly compost like the ones you buy. Am I losing the plot here? They say it takes about a year before compost is ready yet I'm beginning to realise that my 'compost as you go' isn't quite the same as the method whereby you gather ALL your recommended well balanced composting ingredients in one go and leave the big pile to compost for a year.

Provided that I have readily access to animal manure (or even leaves) that I could store separately (since I hear you only need to wait for 3-6 months before it's usable for the garden), could I not just forget about my main kitchen waste compost...to the point that I should feel I'm in no hurry and that it's main purpose is solely for dumping kitchen waste and that it will take as long as it takes to fill up in its own sweet time. Part of me doesn't want the bin to fill up too quickly, then I'd have to empty them, find a home etc.

My veggie patch can only take so much compost and unless compost/soil shrink, I'm not keen on making compost too quickly = more stress for me. So what other ways are there for enriching soil other than adding more newer compost?

[wormlady]

Hiya
What about green manures? I dont know a great deal about them but have sown mustard on several beds this year and the idea is you leave them over the winter and dig them in come springtime. They all add organic material to the soil.
Also wormeries produce usable compost faster than regular compost heaps but this isnt the best time of year to start one and they do need a bit of looking after especially at first.

[veg4681]

Yes it's true that green manure can alleviate the pressure to make compost in a hurry but it also mean that I won't be able to grow veggies through the winter, especially in my case as I have only one bed! I'm looking into acquiring more beds for next year so green mature is still an option, thanks.

As for Wormery, think I'll kill them with my neglect . Besides don't really like the idea of handling/seeing too much worms.

[lainey lou]

How about Bokashi? got mine cheep from council, chuck EVERYTHING in, cooked and uncooked food, meat and fish scraps etc, let it "pickle" in the bokashi bran for a couple of weeks, draining the juice from the bottom every few days ( can be used dilluted as plant food or chucked down the sink to combat any smells) after approx 2 weeks either chuck in compost bin, put in regular bin or bury in the garden, will break down in approx 8 weeks - perfect for bean trenches etc! Easy peasey!!

[Peter]

......and unless compost/soil shrink, .....

When flat or virign ground is first dug the portion that is turned over will increase in volume by about one third, this is due to you breaking up the compacted layer of soil into lumps and crumbs with air inbetween.

Compost when added to dug soil will continue to break down into finer and finer particles. These will be eaten by worms, insects, bacteria and fungi.

If you add it and dig it in, especially with a rotovator, the compost turns the soil into something more closely resembling potting compost. If you layer thickly it on top and allow nature to mix it in it will take alot longer, but after the initial gravitational fall into holes and crevices the worms will take over and pull it down into the soil.

Your job as a gardener is to continually replenish this organic material.

If you reckon you have too much compost, then use both methods, rotovate a load in and add a four inch mulch now. By spring you can plant pot grown plants straight in, or re-rotovate for seed sowing.

[NOG]

If you keep using the same bit of ground over time the level will drop.

So you will need to keep adding to the soil. You can add stuff like Blood,Fish, Bone or Grow more but you will still need to replace the matter lost when a plant grows.

[veg4681]

How about Bokashi? got mine cheep from council, chuck EVERYTHING in

after approx 2 weeks either chuck in compost bin, put in regular bin or bury in the garden, will break down in approx 8 weeks - perfect for bean trenches etc! Easy peasey!!

Hi Lainey,
I did look into Bokashi and although I don't mind investing in the units (special kitchen bin), I was a bit put off by the 'ongoing cost' of the Bokashi bran. Bearing in mind that I also have good access to loads of seaweed which I heard act as good compost activators.

When flat or virign ground is first dug the portion that is turned over will increase in volume by about one third,

Compost when added to dug soil will continue to break down into finer and finer particles.

If you add it and dig it in, especially with a rotovator, the compost turns the soil into something more closely resembling potting compost. If you layer thickly it on top and allow nature to mix it in it will take alot longer, but after the initial gravitational fall into holes and crevices the worms will take over and pull it down into the soil.

Thanks Peter for the insightful discussions on soil. Yep, you do tend to INHERIT more soil when you dig up a new ground! So even if you add compost to your veggie patch, the soil will still drop in level over time...and this is actually convenient as you'll need to get compost used up as they pile up in your garden.

If you keep using the same bit of ground over time the level will drop.

So you will need to keep adding to the soil. You can add stuff like Blood, Fish,Bone or Grow more but you will still need to replace the matter lost when a plant grows.

Thanks NOG for confirming to me know that soil would shrink over time.

Overall here's what I think I could do on managing my soil/compost needs:

- make a big pile of leaf mould in one go to break down for 1 year

- make a big pile of animal manure in one go to break down for 4-6 months

- set aside crumbly homemade compost (not in veggie patch yet) to which I could add used-up compost from pots, rotting or finely chopped fresh kitchen waste veg, bits of animal manure.

- use compost bin only/mostly for kitchen waste to take as long as it will take saving me the hassle of emptying it too frequently...as my compost bin as no opening door at the bottom. Truth is, I ordered one with door from the council (who then gets a middleman agent to sort out the delivery) but they never arrive, third year chasing them actually!

This way I can call up on 3 sources of nutrients for my veggie patch, putting no pressure on kitchen waste compost bin.

[Two_Sheds]

To be honest, I think of my compost heap mostly as a means to avoid sending stuff to landfill. It is large, 5 foot by 5 foot, and it consumes everything... shredded newspapers as well as plant and kitchen debris. Any usable compost is a bonus.
If you are short of space, why not dig a "compost pit" over winter? Dig a hole or trench and fill it with kitchen waste over winter. Cover with soil before planting into it as normal in spring

[Peter]

NOG's post reminded me to say that a prime cause of "shrinkage" is weeding and harvesting, especially on clay.

Them roots hold a powerful amount of soil when you pull or dig stuff up, so weed based compost can contain quite a bit of soil already.

[NOG]

When I got my 1st plot it hadn't been worked for years so I burned it all off then rotovated it.

Then covered it in 4" of Leaves qnd then rotovated them in. Just to open it up.

If you rotovate clay the first drop of rain and it will set like Mr Coen's Supermarket carpark.

If you havenet got time to wait for it to rot bun it in and let it rot in the ground,

[bluemoon]

We have five plastic compost bins and fill one gradually over the course of three months with kitchen and plant waste. We also add bunny poo which is a great activator and comes with it's own supply of wood-shavings which we add in layers, alternating it with the green material. When the three months are up we move to the next bin. After a year of running this system you have a constant supply of well rotted, crumbly compost which is usually full of worms. The only drawback is that vermin can dig their way underneath and into the bin, we combat this by laying a piece of small gauge chicken wire on the soil underneath; the worms can still get in, any fluids from the rotting veg can run out, but the mice (or worse!) can't gain access. The bins have a quick stir now and then - you can buy a special tool for this - but otherwise they are left to get on with it. I have to say though that we do have an allotment and this may not be the ideal solution for a garden as it takes up space, and black plastic bins aren't particularly attractive either. Having said that if it's at all possible I can highly recommend it. We follow a four year crop-rotation and sow a green manure in one bed each year and that, the compost, and a bit of comfrey tea is all the fertilizer we use. It's very productive, - and very cheap.

[carlseawolf]

i also use the stuff that comes from rabbits but the wet bedding / wet poo goes on the compost heap and the little dryed pellets of poo get used as fertilizer pellets on the veg.
I separate them when i clean them out by having a chicken wire mesh over a tub and pull all the litter onto the mesh and the pellets drop through with a little shake and what's on top goes for compost and in the tub is fertilizer pellets to use straight away on your plot.
the pellets can be used straight away as they have been recyled properly by the rabbit so you get no burning of your crops as with other manures and has a higher nitrogen content than chicken poo and they love to recycle weeds.
we have two bunnies and two guines and they produce about half a builder bucket of pellets a week , here's the info on rabbit poo ;
www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm