Composter

PC, THAT was ghastly and grisly... now I know why I don't follow the news. Ugh.

Hey gang ... frost on everything this morning, but the pile was still warm. I'll be adding more this weekend ... I should just pile it on top, right?

OHHHH I get it. Thanks, folks. (((((compost thread)))))) Reminds me of Hannibal Lecter - the third book. He has a few more years of child support left. (Not Hannibal Lecter, the XH)

x, Carrie

Just don't let it affect your love of sausage, lol!

If you have a good heated pile going, MJ, I'd just pile it on top until the heat begins to subside - see if you can get it hot again. Someone might have a better suggestion, but that's my guess.

In a Compostumbler, how do I get it hot? It may be too late for this year. x, C

michaeljo, just keep adding to the pile and it'll keep on workin :) We just turned both our bins yesterday evening, I've got some nice looking coarse on the bottom. I want to pull some and put on my roses and perennials. Papa is suppose to pick up some more pallets this weekend, as I want one more bin. I'm not so patiently waiting for the city to post leaf pickup times, so I can go scrounge up some great leaves. Going to change the garden location this spring and I want them not only for compost, but I want to use the bags to kill out the grass and weeds. I already laid out the bed locations with paint and am driving the next door neighbor nuts trying to figure out what we're doing now. Since he's not what I would call a great neighbor, I think well leave that chapter out and make it a mystery. LOL

doccat, have you looked into lasagne gardening? It is a great way too kill off the grass and even easier than using plastic bags. Just type it into your search engine or see ViolaAnns post here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/759398/ She is showing her new hosta garden but shows how she laid down the lasagne bed. Check it out!!

Nothing like "givin' 'em something to talk about", lol. Have Papa lie down in one of the beds and paint his outline... that'll *really* get him thinking!

She did a very good job of providing a visual so folks can see the progression.
I doubt it would be "offensive" looking in a neighbourhood setting remaining as unplanted space, until next spring.
Well, maybe for real fussy neighbours!

I put a lasagne bed down for a butterfly garden in the spring. While my sister and I were busy layering newspaper, peat, and a few other things, my neighbor came out and asked what we were doing. The bed buts right up against her fence! When I told her she got a huge smile on her face and said she would be happy to share the butterflies. Not at all offended by the newspapers and such!

Yay - You have a considerate & nice neighbour!
I have heard some pretty awful stories about folks that live in neighbourhoods with lots of rules, committees & just plain annoying/demanding people. Scary stuff...

My neighbors never complain. I have built several lasagna beds, but I also have milk jugs full of soil and seeds sitting around all winter and spring for my wintersowing. When neighbors see me out there starting some projects they generally just laugh and shake their heads. "WHAT are you doing NOW???"

Karen

sjweld, I'm using lasanga gardening to update and refresh my rose garden, started a new herb garden, as well as the new area I'm planning to use for a veggie garden in the spring. Works great for me. We've down sized a bit since I primarily want to use the this garden for table use. We have 2 Troybilts, but since their both Horse size they don't always fit well in some of the spaces. The lasanga works wonderfully and you can't beat free for the ingredients! LOL We are blessed, as a neighbor has cow manure, one of our friends delivers newspapers, I'm in love with the local Starbucks manager who gives me used coffee grounds. And leaf pick up is coming up soon. WOOHOO!! What more could a gardener want? Besides I'll be completing the Master Gardener program this month. It's all good! LOL

wow doccat5, congrats on the master gardener, I know that isn't easy.

Hubby and I have spent the morning layering goodies in my new raised bed. I think he likes the idea now that all the leaves are going in there instead of bagging and dragging to the curb.

One question: Right now it is heaped up higher than the sides, and I don't think we should add more today. This will compress down and we can add more layers as fall continues, right?

Thanks for all help!

cathy: Yes, the material you have used so far will shrink more than you can imagine. It happens more slowly in lasagna than in a bin because it generally is too shallow to really heat up so it's a slower process. You can add materials later as they are available or heap it all on at once. If wind is a problem, covering with a natural, breathable fabric works well to hold all in place. I've used burlap and also a cotton mattress cover on different beds in the past and both worked well.

Karen

Thanks Karen, the bed is about 2 feet deep so it should hold a whole lot and the location is usually where all the leaves blow to, so it should be okay for wind.
We put cardboard at the bottom, a bale of hay, newspapers, grass, newspaper and chopped leaves and then topped it with a bit of fresher leaves (hubby wanted to watch footbal game, haha). I watered it good after each layer went on, and we are supposed to have rain this week. I'm sure I'll be out there every morning checking it like I check my compost. I really feel like we did something special today.

I also drilled all my bins for winter sowing, woohoo, I sure hope it works because I've got this nice bed that will be waiting! If I can get worms going in the spring, I'll be the bomb of a gardener!

You go girl! I'm starting a small bed tomorrow ... newspaper, peat moss, manure and leaves. Just want to test it out. Planning a larger bed in the spring.

We can have radical winds in this area - I lay wire fencing over the top - mine is rusted (well-used!) so it blends in with the leaves, and cannot be seen. Keeps my dogs out of the lasagna beds, too.

cathy: Good for you, preparing already for wintersowing. You're obviously much more efficient and organized than I am. It's great fun and seeing those babies peek out of their milk jugs at you in spring makes it all worthwhile. Great winter gardening. This will be my 3rd year at it.

Karen

haha Karen, I'm not organized, I just don't have anywhere in the house to store things. It was a pretty day and I had some containers that needed to go out. DH is going to have to give up a bit of shed space next spring.

Katye, that is a really good idea, thank you for sharing.

" I'm using lasagne gardening to update and refresh my rose garden"

Dogcat5, I'd like to do this too with my raised-bed rose garden. I've done a bit of lasagne gardening when creating new beds, but never tried it with established garden beds.

When layering, do you carefully keep the materials away from the stem, and then in the Spring, when everything has compressed down to a relatively thin layer of GOOD STUFF do you scratch this in?

Hope this is still on-topic for this thread. To me, lasagne gardening is a version of composting.

Sounds great, Cathy. If it doesn't start to "cook" like you'd like spread a 10 lb bag of high protein dog food on the bed and another layer of newspaper etc and water. I'm highly allergic to alfalfa and found the dog food substitute in an old Mother Earth magazine. Cheapest high protein dog food you can find, the protein acts as "starter" and since there's a lot of corn in most of those that helps kick it up a notch.
Thank you for the lovely compliment, but I am absolutely loving the MG program. Learning lots with a great bunch of guys and gals. The extension agent teaching the class is just super too.
Just planted 4 new butterfly bushes yesterday and plan on resowing additional daikon radishes, lettuce, spinach and some chard as soon as I can get back into my little spot. I'm long and strong on veggies, but perennials are a new thing for me, so I'm going slowly with those.
We laid about 2 inches of coarse compost under my biggest magnolia yesterday. It got hit by lightening about a year ago and is still looks like it doesn't feel so good. I applied regular applications of foliar fertilizer to it over the spring and summer and that seems to have helped. The extension agent seems to think that that will help over time. I really want to try and help it recover as it's a magnolia grandiflora and over 80 ft tall, Beautiful tree and I'm going to try propagating the seeds again this year. Now I know what I was doing wrong! LOL

Hello - Two questions for you kind folk. First off, for any of you more experienced composters - Is there any specific way that a person is to apply the alfalfa pellets to the compost? or is it just dump it in?

My husband also told me to ask you folks if he should or shouldn't put "wire grass" (invasive weed) that he is pulling in to the compost or is that asking for trouble in terms of it re-rooting and taking over the compost pile?

Thanks for any advice.

Ruby

Hot compost should kill undesirable seeds. If your compost isn't hot enough, the seeds can survive. You might want to avoid using any invasive seeds, but it's up to you. For things that I absolutely don't want to spread in my yard, I trash seeds and compost the rest of the plant.

Ususally if something actually sprouts in the compost it is easily removed from the loose mixture. I grow an occasional tomato plant in there, but mostly oak trees. I use my neighbor's oak leaves, but with them come the acorns. Not a problem for me, though, since they're so easily removed.

I get more concerned with things like weed seeds which might not sprout until after I spread the finished compost. So if it has already gone to seeds, I try to trash those.

Karen

Thanks Karen. I suppose the best way to go is to listen to adage - Better safe, thank sorry.

Thanks for your input.

Ruby

Ruby -- I was doing some reading about compost this morning (couldn't sleep). Everything I read about starters (like alfalfa pellets) suggested just layer them in like you would any other green. Also read to weeds are ok if you remove the roots and seeds.

CapeCodGardener, I layer right up to the bud graft on my roses. I've actually to add more layers since July in spite of the heat and drought, as it has started breaking down nicely. I just got my order for fall garlic, so I'm going to try interplanting in the rose bed. At least some of the garlic. I was "pokeing" around in the layers the other day, the soil is still fairly moist, black and loaded with worms. Their still blooming a bit, nothing spectacular, but enough I can occasionally have a lovely rose in the kitchen window.

No, you don't scratch nothin. The layers seem to melt right down on the bed like butter. I'm going to be very interested to see what I get in the spring. The canes appear to be "perking up". I'm doing this little experiment with 3 tea roses and a rugosa and they are all around 20+ years old and well established, the bases are around 5-6" across. I've always gotten good bloom, but after reading about this method thought it would be interesting to see what would happen. We have a very shallow well, so I have to be really "creative" about conserving moisture and this looked like it would fit the bill.

Thanks so very much!!! Looks like I need to get in yard and find a layer of something to go on top of the pellets. Hmmm......just thinking, might start with a layer of shredded paper and wait until afternoon when it is warmer to go out and rustle up some leaves or plant stalks.

Sorry that you couldn't sleep, but glad that you had the answer for me. Thanks again Michaeljo.

Thanks, dogcat5, for the helpful explanation of how you make a lasagne bed in your rose garden. I'm going to try it!
Really appreciate the good advice on this thread. I have brought home some alfalfa meal (couldn't find pellets: hope this is good enough!) and am going to layer it in my compost bins this afternoon.

CCG, I would think that the meal would be just fine. Can I ask where you got it and what use it is marketed for? Specifically, is it sold for horse (and other livestock) feed? If so, can you give me an idea on the price/lb?

Hi Wrightie, sorry it took me a while to respond. I bought a 50-pound sack of alfalfa meal at our local Agway. I just assumed it was sold as a nitrogen amendment for soil--but I have also read that alfalfa pellets are sold as rabbit food. The meal was not expensive but I am embarrassed that I can't remember what I paid for the big sack. I've been throwing it into my three compost bins, and also into several heavy-duty black plastic trash bags where I stash the overflow from my fall garden clean-up. I let those just sit until Spring, mainly because there's not room in m bins for everything.

I bought some alfalfa pellets last summer to make alfalfa tea - never got around to it, but the mice found the pellets. I think it's too cold now to make "tea" - should i just dump them in the Compostumbler?

Sure, why not? Add them like any other green I would suppose.

Yes, as psychw2 says--add the pellets to your compost, in layers if you like. They are a good source of nitrogen and will heat up the pile.

I was gonna save them to make tea next summer. Who knows when I'll go to a pet store again.

Ah, but what about those mice? They may be gone by next summer. I would toss them in the compost where you know you will get some good out of them.

Just picked up a pickup load of bagged leaves! WOOHOO! doing the happy dance. Going to get hubby to add some alfalfa to those that we add to the bins. I'm highly allergic to alfalfa so DH is gonna have to do the dirty deed. Both bins are breaking down nicely, but the extra leaves may slow down the process.

Highly allergic? You don't HAVE to use alfalfa. I'm worried about you handling it later. Who knows when it will be chemically broken down to be safe for you?

The park manager actually stopped my husband yesterday asked him to tell me he has some mulched leaves bagged for me!!! SCORE, I'm excited!!! I've been a little nervous since I started pulling up rock and doing some "sheet composing" that he would start ragging on me again since it is going thru the ugly stage of garden prepartion and it's the area RIGHT next to the drive thru the park.

Psychw2, I'm so happy he's getting with your plans, that will make things easier for you. I can't wait for pictures next spring when you get to start planting!