11 replies to this topic

[Shortpoet-GTD]

For the novice-

Do you have a pile or a tumbler?
What materials do you typically add?
What's your "turn into black gold" rate?

Some info here.



http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

[Besoeker]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 01 July 2013 - 04:16 AM, said:

For the novice-

Do you have a pile or a tumbler?
What materials do you typically add?
What's your "turn into black gold" rate?

Some info here.

Our gardens, both front and rear, are laid with decorative bricks so we don't grow much except in pots, planters, and hanging baskets so don't have much to use compost for.

However, we do compost a fair bit. We have a 240 litre (about 66 US gallon)  "green" bin that gets leaves, vegetable peelings, hedge trimmings, discarded  pot plants, weeds -yes, the pernicious things grow between the bricks despite my best attempts to discourage them . The green bin part of our local council refuse collection service and it gets emptied every other week. So somebody gets the benefit of what we collect for compost. If I knew who it was, I might ask for payment.........

[eds]

I have always favored this type of, 9 foot circular garden,
. . . with a 3 foot diameter, compost pile in the middle, inclosed in a chicken wire fence,
. . . climbing plants on the outside of the fence,
. . . vegetables close planted, to help keep down the weeds, and
. . . marigolds on the outside to repel insects.
You can reach everything, within 3 feet to the fence,
. . . you need to weed at first, until the vegetables push out the weeds,
. . . water the compost periodically, it will take a year before the nutrients  
. . . begin to feed the garden.

Source:  No work Garden

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[Shortpoet-GTD]

The ole' back can't take that-I got a tumbler a few years back. Add scraps, grass;  moisten, turn a few times-done.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I posted this thread to see what kind of a response would come; and it's as expected.

Composting, I think, is a dying "art".
Homeowners, younger people are not into it anymore; and renters, even if they wanted to, cannot.

Their "weapon of choice" to help the Earth is social media. Actually improving our soils through composting
is forgotten or never learned, in the first place.

[Besoeker]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 02 July 2013 - 03:40 AM, said:

I posted this thread to see what kind of a response would come; and it's as expected.

Composting, I think, is a dying "art".
Homeowners, younger people are not into it anymore; and renters, even if they wanted to, cannot.

Their "weapon of choice" to help the Earth is social media. Actually improving our soils through composting
is forgotten or never learned, in the first place.

I'm inclined to agree with you..
But it often isn't an option for many.
When I first moved to England I lived in a flat in what you'd call an apartment building. No land. And neither the means nor the opportunity for composting. For most people living in big cities, and many do, that situation pertains.
If you lived in The Bronx, Tower Hamlets in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai....
You wouldn't really expect them to know about or learn about composting.

Moving back a few decades, I grew up on a farm. Mixed arable, cattle, and sheep.
We didn't compost. But we did look after the soil. You do when your livelihood depends on it.
One of the things was dung. We had cattle kept indoors in winter. Their bedding was straw from the grain harvest. This they "fertilised to make manure. Dung spreading was a dirty smelly business. Now I think silage is used.

Sorry to wander off topic a bit.

[E3 wise]

We love our compost tumbler,  we use it year round and it feeds our garden soil naturally.  The problem is that today people are no longer connected to their own food production, that lack of involment means people waste.

[SheforACT]

Yes, a tumbling composter has changed my life. Using a compost tumbler is easy. Load it to capacity, add inoculant — something to jumpstart the process with the needed microbes such as a spadeful of garden soil, manure, a commercial activator or already finished compost — and turn it every couple days. But for best results, a little care is required.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

SheforACT, on 08 December 2016 - 03:24 AM, said:

Yes, a tumbling composter has changed my life. Using a compost tumbler is easy. Load it to capacity, add inoculant — something to jumpstart the process with the needed microbes such as a spadeful of garden soil, manure, a commercial activator or already finished compost — and turn it every couple days. But for best results, a little care is required.

My only issue is ants.
Can't use sprays to eliminate ants; taints compost. ARGH

[SheforACT]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 10 December 2016 - 08:08 PM, said:

My only issue is ants.
Can't use sprays to eliminate ants; taints compost. ARGH

I hear you. :)

[Shortpoet-GTD]

My issue is winter.
I keep a small container in my kitchen for veggie scraps and when it's 8 million below zero outside; I tend to get
lazy about taking it out to my tumbler.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

http://agverra.com/blog/soil-types/