Trench composting

[Tylianna]

Anyone here do their composting in a trench? I am currently beginning to start a compost bin for my leaves, grass and kitchen scraps, but I was wondering about at the end of my season when I have all the leftover veggie plants, if I could just trench them? Maybe dig a one foot trench every five or ten feet depending on how much material I have and burying it. Would this compost by the time my garden is tilled in the spring? Or would I have to wait a year before that garden is useable? Would I still have to add the browns, like fall leaves to get it started?

Just curious if anyone else uses this method. Last year was my first attempt at a garden, and I'm sure the grass that was tilled under was great organic matter, but I'm concerned that I won't keep having new organic matter put in. I don't think I can make enough compost to supply both of my garden plots unless I have a HUGE area to devote to composting! The garden I had last year was 400 sqft, and I had another plot tilled out in fall that is 700 sq ft. I'm not really worried about the new garden, yet.

Although I did leave my bean plants in the garden last year and those have broken down pretty nicely. I also left some corn stalks, but those haven't broken down as well, even though I turned some under last fall.

Sorry so long, and thanks in advance!!!

PS. I live in northern Indiana and my frost free days are May 5 - Sept 10, if that helps at all

 

[boggybranch]

The allotment gardeners in the UK use the trench method where they plan to plant their broad beans....course, believe it would work anywhere, for anything, but it would probably be best to do it after the "season" so it could completely breakdown during the winter.

 

[digitS']

I do trench composting using fresh plant material after the growing season or rough compost in the spring. Some beds get organic material in the spring, some in the fall.

Here's is About.com talking about it. I get a kick (sort of ) out of her saying that, "almost no work on your part" is required! Well, isn't that something? Look, lady - did you ever dig 12" of soil out of 100 square feet of ground? You are telling me that there's no work to moving 100 cubic feet of dirt, first out and then back in?!?

Anyway . . . I don't usually go that deep, but close. At least 8 inches of soil is removed from the bed and a good layer of "compostables" are tossed in and covered with that 8+ inches of soil.

A complete fertilizer is added to the surface soil and tilled in before the bed is planted again.

This is what the soil might look like after digging in October. I haven't cleaned it out to any depth so that you can see what is left of the zinnias (and other stuff) that I put in there 12 months earlier:

I was out this afternoon getting a bed ready. The material I put in was well rotted leaves, grass clippings, and pine needles. This material is at least 18 months old. A good 10" of soil went on top and I'll work some fertilizer in and plant lettuce and other greens in a couple of weeks.

Steve

 

[Tylianna]

Thanks to both of you!

Boggy, is there a reason why they usually do that for the broad beans rather than other veggies?

Thanks for your picture, digit! Now you say 18 months that the material has been there. Does that mean that you have to let the soil rest for at least a year for the composting?

Thanks!

 

[digitS']

Tylianna, I sometimes plant in the bed within a matter of days. There will be some settling so it isn't a good idea to do that with small seeds.

If the trench is filled at the end of the growing season, it has all winter to settle. There isn't much decomposition going on here during the winter, however. I've dug down in the spring and plants that have been buried for 5 months are still green!!

No, I was saying that when I make compost in a bin - that compost is always 18 months old by the time it is used in the garden.

Steve

edited to say: In the photo, what you can see fairly clearly is what is left of the zinnias after being in the soil for 12 months. That bed was used for planting during that time, however. After a season of growing, zinnias are heavy and quite coarse plants. I've used sunflowers before and they aren't a good choice -- imagine burying logs in your garden . . .

 

[Tylianna]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me! I guess it's better to reuse all the green material, rather than burn it, right? I just don't have enough space and browns to use up all the green in my compost bin.