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Re: compost alternative

On 20 Apr 98 , DAR-15 wrote:

> I don't have a compost pile yet , what is the best material I can put in my
> garden, to rejuvenate it?    Composted cow manure, peat moss?
> 

Adding organic material is always a difficult problem.  There is 
never enough.  So one usually uses the  alternative that is cheap and 
plentiful.  Compost normally fits the bill for cheap, just never 
plentiful.  

Now compost is not only a good source of organic material, it is also 
an OK fertilizer.  That can't always be said for other sources of 
organic matter.

Peat (at least in Southern Ontario) is a cheap source of organic 
matter.  Not much in the way of nutrients.  So ammend it with blood 
meal and blood meal.

Composted manure is a better source of nutrients, especially 
nitrogen.  However, I wouldn't use it if I were planting tomatoes 
because of the high nitrogen content.  I also find it harder to lug 
the bags of manure around the garden.

Start your compost pile, yesterday is better than today.   If you are 
getting premade bins, they are never big enough.  We have 2 and still 
have piles of spring cleanings looking for a home.

Last fall I even started a leaf mold pile.  We don't seem to have 
much in the way of leaves and what leaves we have we let lie.  Those 
on the lawn get mulched by the mower.  So we had a leaf thief in the 
neigbourhood.  Two 3 foot diameter columns of chicken wire held up by 
shrub prunings have been compressed to one over the winter.  I'm 
planning on using them in the spring of 1999.   Start another couple 
of piles this fall (please don't warn the neighbours).

Lorraine Young, Southern Ontario
lyoung@npiec.on.ca
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