Trench composting

[fran]

Morning all. Does anyone do this? Sounds like quite a good idea to me.

[rustylady]

Oh yes, especially for beans

[zazen999]

I sort of.......

I drown all sorts of perennials in all sorts of holding containers; and when they are completely drowned and yukky; I dig a hole; fork out all the yukkiness and bury it in the hole. I then plant on top - which means the newly planted out seedlings have a good wet base to get their feet into.

And I use the water from the gunk to water them in. Honks a bit for the first few days then the smell goes!

[weekendwellies]

I have an area at the bottom of my garden which gets very damp and I leave pretty much to its own devices and as a bit of a 'natural' area. I did, when we first moved in to the house try to bank it up a bit so that it would be higher above the water table. This has left a trench which is extra wet, which I intend to start filling in with partly rotted compost from my tardis. I would be a bit dubious about putting the fresh materials directly into it though especially as my dog is a bit of a vacuum cleaner with stuff left or dropped at floor level.
But on the whole I do think it is a good idea.

[rana]

I thought trench composting was digging a trench, throwing in fresh compost material then burying it with soil prior to planting
I didn't know it had anything to do with rotting stuff in a very wet trench - I would have expected it to go anaerobic rather than rotting down.............

[Snadger]

I made a trench along the centre of the runner bean bed very early in the year. Kept chucking waste material in it until about a fortnight before planting, then heaped the soil back over.
The idea is to retain moisture rather than fertilise as runners need a lot of water because of the transpiration from there large leaf area when in full growth.

The ammount of rain we've had this year though...........I don't think I need have bothered!

[PAULW]

I made a trench along the centre of the runner bean bed very early in the year. Kept chucking waste material in it until about a fortnight before planting, then heaped the soil back over.
The idea is to retain moisture rather than fertilise as runners need a lot of water because of the transpiration from there large leaf area when in full growth.

DITTO my ground is very sandy with veins of gravel running through it so last autumn I have dug out trenches the width of the plot a spit deep, filled with guinea pig bedding and composted leaves up to the top of the trench and then back filled left over winter to settle down.

[weekendwellies]

I thought trench composting was digging a trench, throwing in fresh compost material then burying it with soil prior to planting
I didn't know it had anything to do with rotting stuff in a very wet trench - I would have expected it to go anaerobic rather than rotting down.............

It is. I was just commenting on the fact that I have such an area, which I was planning to use for trench compost system.

[flowerofshona]

Always do trenches for the beans, fill through the winter with veggie peelings, guinea pig manure and top off with soil about a month before planting, boy does this make some great soil ! best soil on the plot when you dig it out the following year !

[Hans Mum]

Always do trenches for the beans, fill through the winter with veggie peelings, guinea pig manure and top off with soil about a month before planting, boy does this make some great soil ! best soil on the plot when you dig it out the following year !

i do this too (no guinea pigs here but use chooks waste) its really good soil now

[bobleponge]

I tried to do this a couple of years ago, but just got infested with mice, rats and voles.
Is this not a problem for everyone else?

Maybe not a problem if its a lottie but my veggies grow in my garden.

[Hans Mum]

we have mice on the lottie but the local cat population seems to keep them in check (although they still get the peas/beans if you dont protect them)

[zazen999]

That's one of the reasons I decided to drown mine first Boble; after finding a little critter in the compost heap last autumn and having shedloads of perennial weeds to get rid of.