Buy Compost Ingredients?

digitS'

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I don't know why the heck not!

We seem to be caught up in the use of what many people throw away. We salvage neighbors' leaves and rain-spoiled hay.

We may buy fertilizers, mulch and soil amendments. How about if we get them together in the compost bin? Compost is valuable!

I like the idea of "equivalents" and weighing material , starting with those bales of hay. It makes sense. Here's a 12 page handout with the recipe on the first page:

Compost - Michigan State University, College of Ag, PDF

Steve
 

flowerbug

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not if i can help it, but in the end we do need wood chips for mulching... last year we didn't have any leaves brought to us. i'm guessing that this year will be the same so whatever mulch i get will be what we grow in the gardens and whatever i can scrounge from the green manure patch. i try to keep as much that is grown in a garden in that space so what is removed is only the produce and what is returned is via the worm compost of vegetable scraps, etc.

i think there is a price where it makes sense based upon what you can get in return, but i doubt many people actually do that calculation because they also put a value on the materials in terms of how they look. i know Mom does for the wood chips.
 

digitS'

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John Jeavons wrote a book about growing more vegetables.

But, in his writing, he says that 60% of what we grow should be for composting.

I'm very inclined to agree, although I've never allocated anywhere close to that much ground for that purpose. Compostables fall way, way short of adequate every year ... buying fertilizer ain't cheap.

Steve
 

flowerbug

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John Jeavons wrote a book about growing more vegetables.

But, in his writing, he says that 60% of what we grow should be for composting.

I'm very inclined to agree, although I've never allocated anywhere close to that much ground for that purpose. Compostables fall way, way short of adequate every year ... buying fertilizer ain't cheap.

Steve

we get enough rainfall to easily turn any bare ground into fertile sod within a few years, then that can be harvested for green manure/mulch. i'm also quite happy to use chunks of sod.

in the more arid west i think you need to use the arid adapted trees to grow enough fodder that can be harvested. i think chopping at ground level leaves the soil too exposed and those plants can't recover easily enough compared to a deeply rooted tree. some of those trees are legumes so their detritus is great for adding some extra nutrients to a garden.

as it is i have chunks of wood scattered around all over the place and they eventually rot and turn into humus. some i've just put down and they may take ten years to get broken down, but i'm not on any schedule here... i'd rather have the material than have it end up in a landfill someplace.
 

ducks4you

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This is the time of year that we get emails and links from places that we have purchased online. They ALL have an article on composting and they ALL list composting weeds. I want to let those here know...
DON'T COMPOST WEEDS WITH A SEEDHEAD!!!!! :ep:ep:ep
You will be wondering what you did when you spread out your lovely compost and weeks later you have tons of the weeds that you have been fighting in your beds. I don't normally suggest throwing any vegetation into the trash to go to a landfill, BUT, throw away the following:
1) poison ivy or poison sumac
2) weeds with seeds
and
3) rhubarb leaves (if you don't compost at the base of the plant, which you really should do)
They ARE natural and won't hurt the landfill like tiny pieces of plastic, glass and metal that fill them!!!
PLEASE REMEMBER, you will end up in the ER if you burn poison ivy and inhale the smoke!!!!! If you put it in your compost pile, it will still "bite" you when you spread it out.
You don't want to spread the plants that you allergic to and it isn't fun to have to dot your face and neck and arms with calamine lotion!!! Btw, I found a "poison ivy soap" that seems to help. It helps me the best when I pull up dried out burdock and the seeds fall into my shirt. I store it in an old yellow travel soap box and I labeled it with a canning jar label that you peel off the back to stick. It is in my "medicine" drawer in the kitchen, easy to find.
I cannot figure out how to get my horses to clean it up for me, bc they like it and aren't allergic to it. :hit
 

flowerbug

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This is the time of year that we get emails and links from places that we have purchased online. They ALL have an article on composting and they ALL list composting weeds. I want to let those here know...
DON'T COMPOST WEEDS WITH A SEEDHEAD!!!!! :ep:ep:ep
...
3) rhubarb leaves (if you don't compost at the base of the plant, which you really should do)

if you bury the weeds with seed heads down far enough they won't sprout unless you happen to dig down that far again in that spot to disturb them. first make sure the weed roots are completely dried out.

i don't touch poison ivy if i can help it, but since we don't have livestock i'm not worried about any animal eating it after i chop it off. i just leave it out to dry completely and then it eventually is digested by the detritovores.

rhubarb leaves are safe to use as mulch, but i wouldn't feed them to livestock. mostly i leave them right where they grow because i'm using those plants as an edge to block some invasive grasses.
 

seedcorn

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I have read and been told that weed seeds can live in your soil for decades. Somebody digs down and tills them up and then they sprout. I won't even mess with it.
I post the FYI bc I get frustrated with 1/2 truths about gardening.
10 years is doable very easily. In sand/gravel, could be longer.
 

AMKuska

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How our economy is set up has NEVER made sense to me. We go to the store to pay for food so we can keep a piece of grass beautiful instead of growing our own food. We then mow the grass and pay for disposal of the grass.

We then buy that very same grass back 6 months later as compost. To feed our lawn. So we can not use the space for food.
 

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