hello again!
I have some questions about compost processing.
The combost products of my kitchen (peel fruits and vegetables) but also some leaves I throw them directly to the soil (clay). However, I learn the most of the combost producers they have combost bin or keep a corner for combost at the garden. What I mean is that the most gather the combost in a particular place.
Does affect the combost quality that I throw the product directly to the soil ?
The citrus peel are suitable for combost? Somebody told me that affects the combost but it seems to me only a myth... is it?
dim
Some folks have elaborate bins, some use large canisters that rotate for mixing, and others, like me, just pile it on the ground in a corner of the yard.
I'll get a pickup full of stable waste from a horse stable near me, add leaves, all vegetable matter from the house, coffee grounds, egg shells, any yard waste and plant material from the garden. The only things I don't put in are meat products and squash that had vine borers in them.
I keep it moist and turn it a few times a week. I'll let the one I now have just sit there till I get ready for my spring garden since I already added enough composted material in for the fall. By then, it will be a great addition to my soil.
I recently came upon a mother load of well decomposed stable waste that had been on the ground for at least a year or more. That stuff is black gold, and is what I added to my garden a few weeks ago.
I'll get a pickup full of stable waste from a horse stable near me, add leaves, all vegetable matter from the house, coffee grounds, egg shells, any yard waste and plant material from the garden. The only things I don't put in are meat products and squash that had vine borers in them.
I keep it moist and turn it a few times a week. I'll let the one I now have just sit there till I get ready for my spring garden since I already added enough composted material in for the fall. By then, it will be a great addition to my soil.
I recently came upon a mother load of well decomposed stable waste that had been on the ground for at least a year or more. That stuff is black gold, and is what I added to my garden a few weeks ago.
- rainbowgardener
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Agree with above, mostly.
You obviously can compost things directly in the soil, because you have been doing it.
However, ideally composting is an aerobic process. Being buried makes it difficult for you to aerate your materials while they are composting. And composting works better and gives you a more complete and balanced finished product if you keep a good balance of green/soft/moist and brown/hard/dry ingredients. I think burying them makes it harder to do that.
And as noted if you are using a veggie bed as your compost pile, then you can't be using it to grow veggies.
Finally for me, if I buried kitchen scraps, unless I could bury them at least 3 ft deep, maybe more, they would just be unburied by morning by the raccoons, groundhogs etc.
For me my simple wire grid bin to contain my compost pile works better.
You obviously can compost things directly in the soil, because you have been doing it.
However, ideally composting is an aerobic process. Being buried makes it difficult for you to aerate your materials while they are composting. And composting works better and gives you a more complete and balanced finished product if you keep a good balance of green/soft/moist and brown/hard/dry ingredients. I think burying them makes it harder to do that.
And as noted if you are using a veggie bed as your compost pile, then you can't be using it to grow veggies.
Finally for me, if I buried kitchen scraps, unless I could bury them at least 3 ft deep, maybe more, they would just be unburied by morning by the raccoons, groundhogs etc.
For me my simple wire grid bin to contain my compost pile works better.
thanks all for the interest
This is true, the main disadvantage of directly composting to the soil is the surface is charged by the scraps.
Marlingardener you say
1) ''add dirt once in a while'' ?
2) '' to be 6'' or so deep'' ? Should I bury them 6'' or so deep ?
This is true, the main disadvantage of directly composting to the soil is the surface is charged by the scraps.
Marlingardener you say
I know that mixxing helps the process. What do you mean withJust make sure that whatever you toss on is in relatively small pieces, that you add dirt once in a while, and stir it up if it gets to be 6" or so deep.
1) ''add dirt once in a while'' ?
2) '' to be 6'' or so deep'' ? Should I bury them 6'' or so deep ?
I'd want to point out that burying does not speed the process, it actually changes from one process that is slow to one that is faster.
The slow process gives fungi the advantage, because they can leap out of the soil.
Burying and chopping gives the advantage to bacteria.
It's not the same in the end, so try to decide if you want to favor fungi or bacteria.
The slow process gives fungi the advantage, because they can leap out of the soil.
Burying and chopping gives the advantage to bacteria.
It's not the same in the end, so try to decide if you want to favor fungi or bacteria.
Now I get it Marlingardener, thank you!
By the way the fungi and bacteria are beneficial for the compost
Toil, are you sure for above ? I don't know the difference but it seems to me contradictable.I'd want to point out that burying does not speed the process, it actually changes from one process that is slow to one that is faster.
The slow process gives fungi the advantage, because they can leap out of the soil.
Burying and chopping gives the advantage to bacteria.
By the way the fungi and bacteria are beneficial for the compost