Of course there will be nutrients in your compost if you add manure, as Punkdoc said, if you want nutrients you have to add manure.
I thought this thread was about making compost, using plant matter, grass, shrubby twigs and whatever garden waste you have to hand.
I don’t think there will be many on here who have the option of nipping down the local farm or equestrian centre and coming back with a wheelbarrow full of dung. so back to home made compost, it’s a soil improver, don’t rely on it to give your plants all they need in the first few years.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Of course there will be nutrients in your compost if you add manure, as Punkdoc said, if you want nutrients you have to add manure.
There will be nutrients in your compost even if you don't add manure - the levels depending on what you made it with. Why does everything have to be all or nothing?
@MikeOxgreen has done his best to create a helpful thread here, and other composters have added their wisdom, but unfortunately there seems to be a determined effort to belittle what he says.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
You are in charge of the time, method and ingredients so make it to suit whatever final use it has. Potting compost, general use or whatever.
Ingredients.
You need somewhere around equal amounts of 'brown' & 'Green' waste.
All kitchen veg scraps, nothing else (no meat, dairy etc) are green.
All your waste cardboard and paper are brown. Throw it in whole, unless it's a book or too big to go in there is no need to shred. In fact, the more air pockets in there the better. If your cardboard has tape on it then either pull it off or put it in as it is, the cardboard will rot away and you can pull the tape out of the compost later. I tip our whole wastepaper bins in the compost, it's better for the environment and it's better for security, no-one can read our personal details.
Lawn clippings are green
Leaves, twigs and chipped twigs, bark etc are brown.
Tea leaves, coffee grounds can go in too. I've found T bags don't rot down so well, so tear them open and just compost the tea leaves.
You can put eggshells in, but i'm not a fan as they don't break down. Same goes for Avocado and peach/plum stones
Manure and bedding from horses, cows, alpacas, chickens, rabbits. Basically anything which eats grass and green stuff.
Lots of people do add manure to their compost heaps. I don't suppose there's the need to consider whether it's 'Strictly vegetable matter derived compost' or ' Compost with a bit/lot of manure' or ' Manure with added bits, including eggshells, banana skins. May contain nuts'. Mine has shredded paper and ashes from the woodburner but at the end of the day it's home made compost. For richer or for poorer! 🙂 I'm all for promoting it, and trying to make it known how good it is, so everyone who wants to will feel encouraged to have a go.
@Chris-P-Bacon I follow Charles Dowding too, I'm not a disciple though and aren't completely tied to his no dig religion 😂. I find his trial beds very interesting, all are the same size, all grow the same veg each year, each autumn 1 bed is dug over incorporating compost, 1 bed has really well rotted cow manure added to the surface without digging and the 3rd has compost (without manure) spread on the surface without digging in. Since year 2 the composted bed has been the top performer for weighed produce and little work effort.
I don't add lots of manure to my bins in terms of volume to what I produce, I don't add any fertilizer to my veg beds and have had excellent crops. No idea about nutrition of the compost and to be honest I'm not hung up about it, as long as the veggies are happy all is good.
Anyway on a happy note I snook out today and defied the environment agency, I decided that until the pen pusher sends me a letter saying I must stop then I shall continue. Oh aren't I wild 😜😜
Anyway on a happy note I snook out today and defied the environment agency, I decided that until the pen pusher sends me a letter saying I must stop then I shall continue. Oh aren't I wild 😜😜
The winds been atrocious here ( and it's getting worse!) I reckon you've mowed up my leaves over there! 😡
@Woodgreen I certainly got plenty of leaves and grass and nettles so it makes a great mix. The wind didn't start till later else there wouldn't have been any leaves for me.
Flippin nora I feel righteous today. Yesterday I really didn't feel like going out and chopping beech leaves with the mower and cutting the grass at the same time. And I chopped them a second time. I raked up a full wheelie bin, pushed down hard, of leaves and grass that I'll leave as long as it takes to make wonderful 'stuff'.
Today it's lagged it down all day and a howling wind. I reckon I've got it all to do again on Friday.
So a morning temperature 🌡️ update Just need to figure a way to get the heat up a pipe that's 90 mts long to heat the house
Put the heap next to the house. There is a book you can buy on the topic and some bits and pieces on YT, this guy is considered to be the discoverer or inventor of putting hot composting to good use: Jean Pain, inventor of the Brushwood compost (jean-pain.com)
Posts
I thought this thread was about making compost, using plant matter, grass, shrubby twigs and whatever garden waste you have to hand.
I don’t think there will be many on here who have the option of nipping down the local farm or equestrian centre and coming back with a wheelbarrow full of dung.
so back to home made compost, it’s a soil improver, don’t rely on it to give your plants all they need in the first few years.
There will be nutrients in your compost even if you don't add manure - the levels depending on what you made it with. Why does everything have to be all or nothing?
@MikeOxgreen has done his best to create a helpful thread here, and other composters have added their wisdom, but unfortunately there seems to be a determined effort to belittle what he says.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
It clearly says in the first post:
You are in charge of the time, method and ingredients so make it to suit whatever final use it has. Potting compost, general use or whatever.
Manure and bedding from horses, cows, alpacas, chickens, rabbits. Basically anything which eats grass and green stuff.
I don't suppose there's the need to consider whether it's 'Strictly vegetable matter derived compost' or ' Compost with a bit/lot of manure' or ' Manure with added bits, including eggshells, banana skins. May contain nuts'. Mine has shredded paper and ashes from the woodburner but at the end of the day it's home made compost.
For richer or for poorer! 🙂
I'm all for promoting it, and trying to make it known how good it is, so everyone who wants to will feel encouraged to have a go.
I don't add lots of manure to my bins in terms of volume to what I produce, I don't add any fertilizer to my veg beds and have had excellent crops. No idea about nutrition of the compost and to be honest I'm not hung up about it, as long as the veggies are happy all is good.
Anyway on a happy note I snook out today and defied the environment agency, I decided that until the pen pusher sends me a letter saying I must stop then I shall continue. Oh aren't I wild 😜😜
I reckon you've mowed up my leaves over there! 😡
Today it's lagged it down all day and a howling wind. I reckon I've got it all to do again on Friday.
Just need to figure a way to get the heat up a pipe that's 90 mts long to heat the house