Planting into my ready compost on purpose?

I beleive my compost is ready. It does have a little soil in it. Its dark and only a few soft twiggs. But I'd like to plant a squash plant in some. It seems like good material. I've run out of regular potting soil.Any reason this wouldn't work for me? I'd like to plant a watermelon in some also. Its past the cooking stage.

Are you planting in a container or in the ground? Compost doesn't make the best potting mix for containers because it collapses too much and then the roots will have trouble getting enough air. You'd be better off going and getting some potting mix.

You will know that your compost is ready when it shrunk to about one-third of it's original size. Actually you will find no soil on organic compost because its made up of organic material, such as farmyard manure, poultry litter, spent mushroom compost, spent hops, sewage sludge, seaweed and more.

How ever here are a few good technique to achieve good compost material.

1. Begin the compost pile on bare garden soil to allow excess water to drain away freely. Spread the first layer about 1 ft. (30cm) deep and about 5x5 ft. (1.5 x 1.5 m ) wide.

2. Press down the garden waste and soak it with water. Sprinkle ammonium sulfate ( which is available commercial on garden stores) at the rate of 2 1/2 teaspoon per sq yd/m to speed up the decomposition, then cover with a 2 in (5 - cm layer of soil).

3. As you build up the pile, contain it within wire netting secured on wooden stakes. if your soil is acid, add a little lime to every alternate layer. Keep the top covered with plastic or burlap. (you can email me at jiivan_dave@hotmail.com to know more about the acidity and alkalinity of your soil)

4. As garden waste becomes available ( not only garden waste also bio-degradable material such as, bone and fish meal left overs, rotten fruits and more) continue building the pile in 9 - 12 inches (23 to 30 cm) layers up to a height of about 4 ft. (1.2m). Sprinkle each layer with complete organic fertilizer. (which is also available in your local agricultural store, it comprises an equal part of nitrogen, phosphorus and pottasium.

5. Cover with a final layer of garden soil. in dry areas, moisten the pile with water every two weeks. Heat will build up in the pile quite rapidly at first, but will cool down as it decomposes.

6. After several weeks the pile will shrunk almost 1/3 of the original size. At this stage, turn the pile so that the outer material, which is slower to rot, can be placed on the inside.

Good luck and have a nice day!

I have a square plastic container with no bottom. I was going to put it on the ground and throw the compost in it and then plant the plants. So as the compost
decomposes further....its air pockets flatten out? I get it. So this will happen even with some soil in it? Not much soil. I had a great tomatoe plant come out of
my compost pile once and a pumpkin also another time. I just thought since they grew then, maybe I could do it on purpose this time.

With what you're describing since the pot doesn't have a bottom that's equivalent to planting it in the ground, in which case you should be fine doing what you're suggesting. When you talked about running out of potting soil I thought maybe you were doing it in a regular container (one with a bottom) and for that it wouldn't be the best choice.

You see I made my own compost already. I was going to put this plastic square frame(actually its part of my compost bin) its about 12 inches high, on the ground, mound up the compost in the middle (like a hill) then plant my 6 inch seedlings in it. So the roots wouldn't even touch the ground. But I hadn't thought it through.....about the compost collapsing on the roots. I do have a bag of sand (playground) I could add to the mix.

I should of told you at the begining....these are squash plants.!

If you mix in some garden soil with your compost then you should be fine.

I plant things in my compost pile all the time. Squash, cucumbers(not together), potatoes one year. It's kind of a temporary garden extension at times. Especially if I want cucumbers and squash...the garden is too small for them both so one goes in the compost pile.

I grow Mellons and other things of that type direct into the compost heap, however, there is no bottom in the container as these plants all need lots of water, to have a container with no drainage holes is definitely not a good idea as you will drown the roots, these plants also need all the rich nourishment the home made compost gives and helps make the roots warm for growing outdoors, if you want to restrict the root/growing area for your plants, then dig a hole a couple of inches deep, then cut the bottom off your container and sink it into the hole, refill the container with your home made compost and then plant your squash seedlings into this, add some earth to the mix to allow air to get through the rich compost and this will also help with drainage, make sure you leave a space at the top of the soil and the container so that as you water the plants the water cant flow over the top and not get into the roots as they are greedy plants where water is concerned. if your squash runs way over the top of the container it makes it easy to either support the fruit or to add straw around the outer soil to keep the fruit off the soil and cause blemishes on the skins of the fruit but watch out for slugs/snails etc. good luck. WeeNel.