Good compost?

[blondiebee181]

Hey all you greenthumbs! I am starting raised beds this year at my new house, finally my own garden! I'm sooo excited! So, I have this composter at my parents' full of compost that I hope is going to be ready for this Spring...I guess my question is, if I use the compost I aready have from there, do I still need to buy any? BTW it is made up of all kinds of kitchen scraps, chicken litter and poo, corn cobs, newspaper and brown bags, egg shells, some lawn trimmings and leaves...does that sound like a good mix? :tools

 

[Smart Red]

Yum! Sounds like good compost.

Welcome to the TEG gang.

Love, Smart Red

 

[Smiles Jr.]

. . . my question is, if I use the compost I aready have from there, do I still need to buy any?

Hi blondiebee181 and welcome to the garden. Your question is a little bit hard to answer since we don't know the size of your raised beds and the amount of compost you will have ready. So just as a guestimate I would say put as much compost as possible in the beds as long as it is totally broken down into a dark crumbly soil-like composition. Within reason, the more compost the better the soil. I have had pretty good luck with some small experimental raised beds in truck tires that were all compost and no soil. Although I do put soil into my compost throughout the season. I believe that putting some of your garden soil in the compost provides good bacteria, nutrients, and nematodes to help the mix to compost well.

If you are going to have a garden this coming season and you plan to compost garden scraps, grass, leaves, and kitchen scraps throughout the season I would not buy any compost now. You can get along just fine without tons of compost for the first season. But that's my opinion only because I try to be as self-sufficient as possible and I try my very best to stay out of places where you have to pay for stuff that you can get free with a little effort.

Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Excellent advice from Smiles on your compost...whatever you've got is helpful, and just keep making more welcome to TEG!

 

[journey11]

Sounds good, Blondie. btw!

You'll want to mix some other stuff in there too...can't really say the exact proportions, but here is what I did in my raised beds..... The majority of your dirt needs to be top soil/plain garden soil, then add some peat moss to help hold moisture (I used 3 bales on a 3x16 bed) and then put in your compost--about 1/3 to 1/4 of the total volume. Then do at least a pH test on it and see how much lime to add. You don't want it all compost because there are other nutrients your plants will need and compost by itself also tends to dry out very quickly in a raised bed. It's more of a soil additive. Too much chicken poo can be very high Nitrogen and make your plants yellow and not thrive. Definitely test your soil mixture before planting for best results.

 

[blondiebee181]

Thanks everyone! I'm getting very excited to start! I have had small gardens in the past and I come from a family of successful gardeners, so I can't go completely wrong right? I will have two 5'X6' beds and one smaller 2 1/4'X4 1/2' bed that was already at the house when I moved here. Thanks!

 

[Mickey328]

If you have really long arms, a 5 foot wide bed is fine. Personally (being rather vertically challenged), I prefer to keep mine no more than 4 feet wide. That way I can reach to the center from each side and never have to actually walk in the garden, which compacts the soil.

As the others have wisely said...use what you have and keep making more Soil amendment is like housework..it's never really "done". One thing I would recommend is to add rabbit poo if you can get your hands on any...it's an awesome fertilizer and doesn't need composting before use. We got quite a lot for free from a local rabbitry last year and have just got our own rabbits, so we'll be "producing" our own from here on out. Wonderful stuff...it's not "hot" and once it's dry, it has very little smell.

We have 2 compost bins at present and have turned our current garden area into one for the winter by the simple expedient of turning our chickens loose in it. They scratch and fertilize all day every day, and of course we toss all our veg and fruit trimmings in there...what they don't eat gets turned under and eventually composted.

 

[blondiebee181]

Yup I am fencing the beds during the growing season, but there will be a gate on one end that I will open to the chickens in the fall. Just loving my chickens! This is my first year with them too

 

[timberlane]

I have had a good size compost pile for some time now and I always hated to turn it. Well after a couple of years my pallets that I wired together to pile my compost in rotted. What a blessing in disquise! My chickens run straight for that pile as soon as I let them out. No more turning. It amazes me what a wonderful job they do.

 

[catjac1975]

When compost is limited you can begin by digging your hole for the plant and mixing in a good shovelful right where the plant will grow. Work on the soil before you do anything else.