As I've been both using and building heaps this weekend, I thought I'd write something on compost making.I have a fairly strict 'recipe' but one which does produce very fast-maturing heaps of good friable compost. It does require lots of straw saturated with manure which I don't suppose all gardeners have. I keep my poultry on what is known as the 'Balfour Method', which is a semi-intensive system using a yard covered which straw, plus access to free range.
The straw absorbs manure, but also gets saturated with moisture (from rain and duck bath), which greatly helps the composting process. Dry straw will not rot. If you don't have poultry, then using saturated straw with added manure or anything else which has a high nitrogen content might be a good alternative.
In between the damp poultry straw are thin layers of lawn clippings. On their own, they would be too slimy and acidic to make good compost, but they are a wonderful activator. Having been pulverised by the mowing process, they have many surfaces that the microbes that break down cellulose can get to work on, and they speed up the rate of activity phenomenally.
Other layers of kitchen refuse, cardboard etc are added on top, and anything that might attract vermin (e.g. pepper tops, mouldy tomatoes etc) covered over with a couple of handfuls of straw.
As for using it, most of it goes as a mulch on empty beds over winter. By spring, the soil underneath will be very friable and ready to sow. This idea comes from 'no dig' gardening, which appeals greatly when digging can harm so many toads. I find I can't give up digging entirely (possibly because I simply can't make enough compost for all my beds) but it has helped a lot, and made life easier on my back too.
No comments:
Post a Comment