# How to compost?



## smaj100

Hey folks, we have a 100' x 100' garden plot. This year we only turned it over with a 3pt tiller as deep as I could get it. We are NW TN with some rocky and clay type soil. We added fertilizer to our rows and planted the garden. We knew we would need to add amendments to the soil. I have sand from the inside of the chicken coop loaded with poo. A huge pile of mulch that has been composting for 2 years with scraps from the garden and lawn clippings added to it. I've turned and watered the pile every few months and most of the pile is black gold. 

My question is do I borrow a plow and turn the garden with a plow, add the amendments and then till it all in again or do I simply add the compost materials and till it all in?

Thanks


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## oldasrocks

I just add compost right before I plant and till in shallow with a hoe so it can be used by the plants.

Our soil here in Mo is fine for making pottery not gardens. I hauled in 7 truckloads of old horse manure that looks like black dirt. Horse manure is lacking in nitrogen and micro nutrients. 

We also pile our leaves every year to make soil. I use a mulch trailer and end up with 20 plus loads or a pile 10 ft or more high. It takes about 3 yrs to rot down into soil which is acidic due to being oak leaves. I sprinkle pure nitrogen on it from the ag fertilizer place and a sack or two of lime.

I envy your chicken manure.


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## goshengirl

What has worked best for me (in my very little experience) was when we tilled in the fall, laid out stuff on top of the soil and left it there over winter (no soil exposed), and lightly tilled it under in the spring. I have no idea if that's the right thing to do - I just know it worked pretty well.


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## HomegrownGal

I'm also in East Tennessee. What's worked best for me is a lasagna style garden. Since it has already been tilled and it is fall, spread out your amendments over the soil and leave all winter. Use wood mulch as your last layer to prevent erosion. Instead of tilling in the spring, you could tarp (although not necessary). There are billions of beneficial living organisms in your soil. Tilling can disrupt that ecosystem. When time to plant, you can hoe back the mulch in a row to plant seed. It is also wise to layer cardboard or newspaper under the mulch in your predetermined walking paths to prevent weeds. I used in my layers: composed horse manure, muckings from my goat stalls (manure/hay mix), guinea coop (pine chips/manure), raked leaves, spoiled hay, kitchen scraps, ... My top amendment layer was about four inches of mulch from the tree trimmers. A friend even provided mushroom spores that were mixed with medium that had "spoiled". Haha, so this year I had mushrooms start growing in my mulch! I did not weed my garden at all this past year!! )


Sent from my iPhone using Survival Forum


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## IlliniWarrior

if I had clay type soil I'd be adding sand and more sand ....

get a truckload of masonry sand and plow that in .... then do your compost tilling .... soil conditioning doesn't stop at a few inches down .... you want decent draining of that garden plot ....


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## weedygarden

IlliniWarrior said:


> if I had clay type soil I'd be adding sand and more sand ....
> 
> get a truckload of masonry sand and plow that in .... then do your compost tilling .... soil conditioning doesn't stop at a few inches down .... you want decent draining of that garden plot ....


Yes, sand works to loosen the soil, but it also needs nutrients.

I compost and in the fall, I gather leaves in my neighborhood from people who think they should put them in the dumpsters. I have visited with them and have gotten bagged leaves and even had one neighbor who piled them in the garden area.

I have tilled leaves in, in the fall. I have piled leaves in the garden area in the fall, and I have added layers of leaves to my compost bin. No matter what, it is all good!

I have gotten aged horse manure and added that to my yard many times as well.

We have clay soil here and if we do not amend it, we might as well not even start. In the places where I had not amended, nothing grew well.

I also build a garden strainer with 2 x 4s and 1/2 inch hardware cloth (wire). From a 3 x 30 area, I filled up 2 five gallon buckets of rock, years after I had been picking out buckets of rock every time I tilled. I have one area that is now virtually rock free. I know that farmers pile rock from their fields in the corners of their fields, and in some areas, build fences and terraces using the rock they sort out. That is certainly lots of work, but Scott and Helen Nearing spent some time every day building rock walls from rock they took from their land from two separate homesteads in New England.


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## IlliniWarrior

weedygarden said:


> Yes, sand works to loosen the soil, but it also needs nutrients.
> 
> I compost and in the fall, I gather leaves in my neighborhood from people who think they should put them in the dumpsters. I have visited with them and have gotten bagged leaves and even had one neighbor who piled them in the garden area.
> 
> I have tilled leaves in, in the fall. I have piled leaves in the garden area in the fall, and I have added layers of leaves to my compost bin. No matter what, it is all good!
> 
> I have gotten aged horse manure and added that to my yard many times as well.
> 
> We have clay soil here and if we do not amend it, we might as well not even start. In the places where I had not amended, nothing grew well.
> 
> I also build a garden strainer with 2 x 4s and 1/2 inch hardware cloth (wire). From a 3 x 30 area, I filled up 2 five gallon buckets of rock, years after I had been picking out buckets of rock every time I tilled. I have one area that is now virtually rock free. I know that farmers pile rock from their fields in the corners of their fields, and in some areas, build fences and terraces using the rock they sort out. That is certainly lots of work, but Scott and Helen Nearing spent some time every day building rock walls from rock they took from their land from two separate homesteads in New England.


didn't say NOT to compost ....


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## weedygarden

IlliniWarrior said:


> didn't say NOT to compost ....


LOL! I didn't say you did!


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## tamitik

I have found that the leaves dont compost unless they are chopped up.. basically they shed water off my compost pile.. I even tried them inside the chicken coop. figgered.. free bedding.. didnt work.. the chickens didnt scratch them up so it stayed a layer.. 

THEN.. after watching backtoeden.. I put all the leaves in the chicken run.. 

bingo..

the chickens scratched and broke up the leaves and turned it into valuable compost.


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## weedygarden

tamitik said:


> THEN.. after watching backtoeden.. I put all the leaves in the chicken run..
> 
> bingo..
> 
> the chickens scratched and broke up the leaves and turned it into valuable compost.


What is "backtoeden"? Can you put up a link?


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## tamitik

weedygarden said:


> What is "backtoeden"? Can you put up a link?


backtoeden.com has a vid that was/is free to view online.

I ended up buying the vid after watching it a cpl times.

sry .. forgot to mention.. backtoeden is one man's journey to gardening via spirituality and nature.

with the help of some chickens.


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## LincTex

Back to Eden Film

1 hour, 43 minutes

http://vimeo.com/28055108


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## weedygarden

LincTex said:


> Back to Eden Film
> 
> 1 hour, 43 minutes


Thanks, LincTex, for filling in the gaps!


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## LincTex

I have still never finished watching the whole thing.

here is the link... you just have to get rid of "a l l t h e s p a c e s"

http : / / vimeo . com / 28055108


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## tamitik

ty for posting that.. I really enjoy that film.. 

hydro was brushing along my road cpl yrs back and I asked for the truck to dump at my place.

I now have several truckloads of well rotted wood chips and they will go into the chicken run to have a few additions.

i get all of my compost from the chicken run.

many landscaping and arborists are always looking for FREE places to dump their wood chips.

call around. most will be happy to drop them off and save tipping fees at landfills.


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## weedygarden

> The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.




Easily irritated today!


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## LincTex

Weedygarden, I will clarify this for you:



> Thank You, LincTex - for posting the link to that video.... I really enjoy that film.
> 
> "Hydro" (the local power company), was clearing brush under the power lines along my road a couple years back, and I asked for the truck to dump the load at my place.
> 
> I now have several truckloads of well-rotted wood chips, and they will go into the "chicken run" to have a few manure additions made to them.
> 
> I get all of my compost from the chicken run.
> 
> Many landscaping companies and arborists are always looking for FREE places to dump their wood chips.
> 
> Please call around; most companies will be happy to drop the chippings off at your place and save "tipping fees" at landfills.


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## VoorTrekker

My third method of composting:

A large 30 gallon trash can. Two rows of holes near the top, 1 inch holes two inches apart and the row below holes in between as in alternating.

I placed leaves and grass clippings, coffee grounds and kitchen waste into the can. I sprayed it with water to keep it moist, not wet. 

Everyday I either roll the can for a few minutes, or lay it on one side and then the other in a shaking motion about ten times. I also add egg shells, when dried I crush them in my hands and add to the mix. Keep it moist. 

After a few weeks I added a handful of pulverized wood charcoal. Kept adding coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells and kitchen scraps.

After it has become composted I added some earth worms from the bait shop. If the mix gets wet from a hard rain, I add some dried leaves and grass. I lay the heavy can on its side and scoop out the mix with a pitch fork, place the dried matter on the bottom to a few inches thick and stand up the can with the soaking mix (which smells like sewage.)

Keep shaking daily and composted matter in two months for planting vegetables. For a 30 gallon can, a dry quart of powdered charcoal is needed once a year.

Use the charcoal for any wood products as these are high in (anti-nitrogens) and is recommended over gypsum powder. 

I add half of soil to half of compost for my buckets planters every year.


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## weedygarden

LincTex said:


> Weedygarden, I will clarify this for you:


Thank you for that, and for your understanding!

When I was teaching, I could understand having to read a first graders writing about 6 times before it made sense. Not feeling like doing that today.


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## VoorTrekker

My second method in Silicon Valley:

Grass, leaves, kitchen scraps, chicken manure, sea weeds and beach flotsam. 
Tilled with a pitchfork weekly until my until my landlord tossed out the "garbage under the fruit tree!"


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## Cotton

Spreading leaves out on the old garden today. Maple in this case. I haul and spread them out using the front end loader on the tractor. Afterward Ill use the gang disk to plow them into the soil. (disk harrow).


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## crabapple

Oldasrocks,goshengirl,cotton are all talking about "Sheet Composting", not Lasagna gardening, that is a fairly new fad in gardening, sheet composting has been around as long as gardener/farmers has had a way to carry waste to a plot & turn it under.
Turning is the fastest way to rot leaves, manure, grass clippings for garden soil.
I use it for 40 years, turning will kill 90% of over wintering harmful insects also.
I just love to work the earth & feel it in my hands. 
The micros are not harmed by tilling, only a fungus garden is harmed by tilling.
Micros are in the compost pile every time you turn it.
I culture the micros with as much organic matter as I have time to spread.
I have coffee chaff & leaves by the truck loads, some animal waste too.
All my mulch is turned in the season end, so I can replant the next seasons garden.


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## LincTex

crabapple said:


> Micros are in the compost pile every time you turn it. I culture the micros with as much organic matter as I have time to spread. I have coffee, chaff, & leaves by the truck loads, some animal waste too. All my mulch is turned in the season end, so I can replant the next seasons garden.


This sounds like some pretty rich soil


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## offgridcooker

I used an old tarp to compost this summer. I tumbled the leaves, grass clippings and rabbit pills, food scrap by pulling one corner of the tarp.
Worked great.
After the raised bed garden was done I added this falls leaves and tumbled the summers compost on top of the leaves. I wet it down real good and covered it with the tarp.
I will mix it after the leaves get wet and and start to loose volume.


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## Plainsman

I have 6 compost bins, 3 made out of wood pallets and 3 made out of concrete blocks. They vary in size from 4ft X 4ft X 4ft to 4ft X 8ft X 4ft.

I layer ash, maple, oak and hackberry leaves with grass clippings. If I think it needs more nitrogen I had commercial rabbit feed pellets. Of course all my kitchen scraps and coffee grounds go in too. Oh yeah, I chop up the dry leaves by picking them up with the riding mower or if they're hand raked, I put them through the wood chipper.

Also I add my own body's nitrogen. If one puts aside the issue of public perception and merely considers the enrichment of the soil, human urine makes a dandy addition to compost.

I minimize tillage of the soil and add compost only to the top of the soil....hence mimicking mother nature's method of soil building and not disrupting the below ground populations of fungi, bacteria and the host of other flora and fauna down there.

To sow my crops I clear away a path wide enough for my walk behind planter. One obvious result of top addition of composting is a multitude of earthworms! Many, many earthworms!

Oh yeah, a guy I know has some saddle horses and sells me a pickup load of composted horse manure for $10.00 a load, every spring. Depending on how much enthusiasm I have I spread a few loads of that on my food garden too.

Nothing has ever really reduced the weeds though.......


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