How much compost?

[Venomous_1]

OK. I've been reading on here how to make compost, why I should, benefits, etc., but I haven't heard anyone talk about requirements.

I have a 40'x50' (2000sf) veggie garden, a 24sf raised strawberry bed, and some landscape plants (about 10-12 around the yard).

How much compost do I need to make to support all that??? Ballpark figure???

I'm finally ready to jump in and begin making compost, but I'm just not sure how many bins or size bin/bins that I need.

Thanks...Richard in TN

[cynthia_h]

As I've written somewhere else, there's not ONE aspect of compost that can't be made into a raging controversy, including how much to use... *sigh*

I'm caught between John Jeavons (How to Grow More Vegetables...) and Mel Bartholomew (Square Foot Gardening) on this question.

Jeavons' advice is to add NO MORE THAN 1/4 INCH of compost to your plot and then to dig it in. Of course, he's been building up the soil at Bountiful Gardens in Willits for 20 years or so...

Bartholomew ("Mel") first recommends using compost for about 1/3 of the initial mix in a SFG, then, as plants mature and are removed, simply planting new plants/seeds with compost. So you never have to buy peat or vermiculite again; just add the compost you've been making.

Mel also uses 100% compost in the SFGs abroad, in countries where peat and vermiculite are unavailable and/or too costly for the people to purchase. And he says that the crops do quite well.

We did both last year: 1/3 compost in the SFGs, and 1/4" out by the street, where we planted wheat and onions. (I had to plant something the school kids wouldn't want to pick on their way to/from school. Wheat and onions seem to have confused them; no pilferage at ALL!)

The wheat, onions, and SFG veggies all did very well.

So...it looks from here like you can add as much as you can generate, so long as it's at least 1/4 inch deep.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[2cents]

venomous,

Here is some math: a square foot, 1 inch deep; 12 x 12 = 144 cubic inches.
A cubic foot; 12 x 12 x 12 = 1,728 cubic inches(12 SF one inch thick).
A cubic yard(3 foot cube) is 27 cubic feet; 1,728 x 27 = 46,656 cubic inches.

Suppose you want a one inch cover of compost on your 2,000 SF garden, 2,000 x 144 = 288,000 cubic inches.(288,000/46,656=6.17Cubic Yards) You would need a little more than 6 cubic yards of finished compost.
The best estimates I've read say a well mixed(varied material for hot compost) compost pile will decompose down to a third or fourth its original size in 3-6 months hot compost, or 12-24 months cold compost.

So, you'll want three six yard bins.

This looks reasonable to me, anyone else have a suggestion.

[cynthia_h]

The calculations look supportable from here! The equivalent of three 6-yard bins to start with...the equivalent of one of them in finished compost.

Enough to cover 2,000 sq. ft. with 1 inch of finished compost.

cynthia

[The Helpful Gardener]

It's just about impossible to use too much, but even that quarter inch will innoculate the soil with tremendous benefit to both soils and plants...

No solid data because there are a lot of ways to get it done, but most importantly, do it. Plants have biology that helps them out like mycorhizal fungus, that acts as microroots, and mycorhizal helper bacterias, that help the plant and fungus interface, or phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, the ONLY way to release mineralized phosphorus from soil...long story short, you can garden with Mother or without her, and compost is the key to supply AND maintain the natural systems plants require to grow. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides destroy these organisms, making the plant entirely reliant on inefficient, unsustainable chemicals. With her or against her is more like it...

HG

[smokensqueal]

My thinking is you never can have to much compost. I like to keep my gardening simple. I make as much as possible and use it first to mix when I start seeds be it indoors or directly in the garden. Then if I have enough I'll use it a a bit of a mulch in the vegetable garden. Then from there I go to the flower garden, mulch around the trees, and if I still have enough I like to sprinkle it on the yard. If for some reason you still have to much I'm sure you could bag it up and sell it on craig's list or give it to a community garden or something like that.

[Venomous_1]

Thanks to all, but especially 2cents. That's what I was looking for, a calculated estimate of what I needed. I believe I will begin work on (3) six yard bins. That works out good too, because I can rotate the and have a constant supply.

Thanks again...V

[rot]

..
I can't add much to the moderators comments.

I see composting as remediating organics into something that feeds the soil. Feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants.

Compost never stops breaking down until it is absorbed by a plant somewhere. The plant later dies and the process begins again. You can't use compost as fill. I've tried it and it doesn't work. It just keeps reducing.

Bottom line: the more the merrier. As the original applications get absorbed by the ground and then by the plants, you'll need to feed the hungry soil again and again.

two cents
..

[Gary350]

Unless you have a very large amount of organic material to make compose with you just can't hope to do your whole garden. The compose process uses up all the nitrogen in the soil so if you till in a lot of organic material into the soil then plant our garden the plants will all suffer from lack of nitrogen.

In the past I have mulched my leaves with the lawn mower then tilled them into 1 row of the garden with wood ash and urea then I shovel it all into 30 gallon trash cans with lids. I use the tiller like a large mixer. After 30 days in the hot Murfreesboro TN summer sun and it turns into what looks like potting soil. A full 30 gallon trash can of compose turns into 5 gallons of potting soil. Seems like a lot of work for such a small amount, it is part of the hobby, you have to like gardening. It works great to dig a hole, put in some compose, then plant the seeds. It works good for squash, tomatoes, peppers.

The city of Murfreesboro has those large vaccum cleaner trucks that drive around town in the fall and suck up all the tree leaves that people rake and pile on the street. I use to get 4 garbage truck loads of those compacted leaves every fall. I dumped 2 bags of Urea on each pile and by spring the leaves had turned into about 12 inches of potting soil a very nice compose material. After raking it evenly across my garden I had a coverage of about 4" of compose to the entire garden. After it was tilled in it was had to tell it was there but the plant knew it was there. I did that every year for about 6 or 7 years. Murfreesboro TN soil really SUCKS the compose helped a bunch.

There are a lot of people that cut their grass and pile the clipping on the street some in bags. I was considering collecting all the grass clipping in the bags but almost everyone around here sprays poison on their yard to kill weeds. I don't want any grass clipping that contain poison.

This year I am trying new things. I hauled 2 tons of sand and put it on my garden. I hauled in 1 ton of crushed lime stone and put it on 2/3 of my garden. I don't want any lime stone near my potato patch. I have made raised beds for my onion, carrots, garlin, potatoes.

I tried mulching my garden one year it nealy killed the garden the mulch composed and used up all the nitrogen in the soil the plant turned yellow and almost died. I saved the garden by watering all the plants with Uren water. I would like to till in about 6 truck loads of mulch from Old Time Pottery into my garden this year but so far I have not figured out how to do it without effecting my plants. I might be able to do that in the fall.

[The Helpful Gardener]

I'm hearing a lot of tilling Gary; keep in mind that tilling destroys fungal hyphae and fractures soil particles, so you should keep tilling to a minimum. I till once, when I am first estblishing a bed, and then never again. Healthy organic soil remains friable on its own because of fungal hyphae and bacterial polysaccharide deposition. Repeated tilling damages all that, and powders the existing parent material...

HG

[milifestyle]

If you don't have enough material, contact a local gardener (professional) in your area. They would be pleased to give you lawn clippings etc (look for an Organic gardener where possible).

If you have too much give it to your neighbours friends etc or sell it at the local market. When getting rid of excess always heat treat (solarize) where possible to eliminate weed seeds... no sense spreading the pesky critters