Composting turf

Eddy_woodward · January 2019

Hi all

Apologies if not in the right category.

New gardener here. Towards the end of last year I returfed my garden. I was left with a few rolls of spare turf which I have covered in hopes to make some form of compost I can use.

In the summer I plan to put some large rectangle planters around a patio area, and was hoping to use some of this composted turf to fill them up.

Now I'm fully aware that it takes 1 or 2 years to make proper compost, but I can't wait that long (garden is small and it is currently sitting in a place where I need to do some more work this year). Can anyone see any problems with the following:

I am hoping that by summer, the grass will have died. Whilst not fully composted, could I still use this to fill the bottom half of the planters? I would then fill the top half with bought compost and then plant plants. Given grass has died, I wouldn't expect shoots, and it can continue to compost? Whilst it might be a bit fibrous, would plants have any issue with this?

Thanks

treehugger80 · January 2019

grass only lives for about 6-8 weeks without light, so the grass will be dead already, what you need to do is break down the roots, i would give the stack a good soak, this will encourage fungi and worms (if its sat on soil) to enter the stack and start breaking it down into lovely loam.

fidgetbones · January 2019

Using a sod of turf in the bottom of a pot is an old gardeners trick. It should be fine. Otherwise, stack the turf upside down in a heap, water well and cover with black plastic if you can.A small amount can go in an old compost sack. A Year will give you a source of lovely loam for potting things up in.

Lizzie27 · January 2019

They'll be fine lining the bottom of your planters as long as you put them in upside down and then cover them with soil/more compost.

Composting turf

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