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Re: Compost!

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

XCyn -- hearty congratulations on your compost! I know the feeling of
*accomplishment* at creating some of that wonderful black stuff generates. 

The first time I did (which is so far the only time so far, alas), I was
just positive that I wouldn't be able to tell when it was *done.*  The book
said it will smell earthy, be all black and crumbly. Sure, I thought.
Imagine my surprise when it actually WAS!! I couldn't beleive it.

Anyway, I also wanted to mention that it's usually strongly suggested NOT to
use dog poop (little technical term there) -- because it could contain
parasites harmful to humans. Happily, with your endless supply of horse
manure, you won't need that anymore anyhow.

Patricia





>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>In a message dated 9/10/99 2:53:28 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
>kevinh@thesocket.com writes:
>
>>  I hate the
>>  thought of throwing all of that potential soil away.
>
>Me, too.  that and lousy soil are what convinced me to develop a compost 
>obsession.  
>
>>  Cyn, If you don't mind, would you review the fast cook method.
>>  I am very interested.  Where do you keep your compost pile?
>>  How big is it?  What "container" do you keep it in?  How do you start from
>>  scratch.  Hmmm I know, I should read the book, I remember seeing a section
>>  on composting.
>Well, it's pretty straightforward.  Wet the ground to encourage crawly 
>things.  Build a little layer of branches and twigs.  Layer brown (leaves, 
>for me) and green (horsemanure from the guy across the street -- actually, 
>the horses across the street --, but also includes weeds and such) in the 
>right proportions which were -- dang.  I forget. 2 green to 1 brown, was it?  
>And I'm not sure if this tough ice-planty sort of groundcover -- but not ice 
>plant -- is a green or a brown.  Then I'd dig small holes in it daily and 
>toss my food scraps in.  One web site recommends turning a fast cooker every 
>two days.   Since mine didn't start cooking, i.e. getting hot, the pros here 
>recommended nitrogen.  I used up the rest of the regular lawn fertilizer and 
>added some dog poop.  Water again, mix it up a bit.  I was despairing of 
>doing anything with this groundcover stuff so for the new pile, I put it in 
>the lower third and piled everything up on top of it.  Lo and behold, it WILL 
>rot.
>I've got two heaps, one a couple weeks older than the other.  A circle of 
>small hole wire fencing around, about three feet in diameter.  The second 
>heap for killing the prickly groundcover stuff is longer than it is wide and 
>isn't enclosed.  I stuck a couple of metal poles in to hold up the wire 
>circle, and most of my food scraps are going in that one.  An attempt to keep 
>rats out.  
>I haven't turned regularly for the last two weeks, but yesterday I dug into 
>it to see how it was doing.  I was canning, too, and had lots of fruit 
>leavings.  WOW!  Nice black stuff.
>That's how I've been doing it and it seems to be working.  Got lots of leaves 
>and an endless supply of horse manure for now.
>The piles are about 20' away from the house.  I check the moisture regularly, 
>since it's still hot here in Southern California.
>It's magic.  I know it is.
>Cyn
>
>
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