Compost nearly ready
Stephanie newish gardener
Posts: 516
One of our compost bins hasn't been properly emptied for years and it wasn't filled with any proper thought about making decent compost.
Even though the contents have been there forever, the compost doesn't really look like it is ready to use as it is too lumpy for planting things in. We have only turned it properly once, and we have put some accelerator on it but I think really it may never quite make lovely crumbly compost because of its constituent parts.
The question is, could I use it as a mulch? I have just put a bit more accelerator on it and watered it in so I don't know if I would need to wait a bit for that to work or whether it wouldn't be a problem if only used as mulch. This is what it looks like
My OH put some of the compost in our raised veg bed to improve the consistency of the soil but I don't think it looks ok to plant into because it is so lumpy. The coriander was already there before the compost was added
The other question is about the situation of the heap and the one next to it. You will see in the pics that the almost-ready compost bin is on the left and it has a 'roof' plus the heap gets covered by the blue tarpaulin and some carpet. Even so, the edges get very dry, and we do water it if it seems dry.
The newer bin on the right seems to be doing ok. I turned it the other week and it was warm enough to steam - not bad for Aberdeenshire in March. We are trying to build it in layers with the right proportions of brown and green and we tend to keep it covered but I wonder whether we should leave the cover off occasionally.
Any tips welcome!
Posts
Yes, ypu can use that compost as a mulch for plants, particularly if it has decomposed woody bits. Most conventional compost bins are designed to heat up to allow the compost to decompose quicker. Using a carpet to keep the compost dry is ok as excess water will be detrimental to your compost. Good homemade compost is all about a fine balance of brown and green, air and water. Turning your compost will speed up the decompising process as well
It does look rather lumpy but its probably good enough for a mulch, but the best thing to do is leave it to break down more if you think its not good enough. I chop my material up to speed it up, and open the top when it looks a bit dry.
We're getting better at doing the compost thing properly now. This heap was a mix of lawn clippings and some kitchen waste but not put on in any proper fashion, mainly because we weren't living in the house full time and visitors or the gardener (lawn mower) were the only ones putting things in it
We now have a shredder and a much better idea of proportions of brown and green plus turning, water and so on so hopefully things will be better at the end of this year