Compost brands, the good, the bad and absolute ****

[Electric_Andy]

Ive become quite a womble as regards to collecting anything compostable i walk my local beach most days and gather seaweed, when the council workers cut the grass i rake it up and layer it between the seaweed also leaves in autumn, mainly from cherry trees. My 'garden' was a gravel desert and now its thriving with fruit trees and bushes, roses, shrubs and flowers.

That sounds good. Is manure good for composting? Sadly I don't live on a farm anymore but I'm thinking of throwing the dog poo in ours!

 

[annedonnelly]

I had a wormery but I've lost the worms over the winter. Not sure if they got too cold or I cut back on the feeding too much. I need to get it set up again.

I use bokashi composting for food waste - you can include cooked food but I rarely have any cooked waste so it's mainly ends of veg, fruit peel, tea leaves, etc. It sort of pickles the waste and then it goes into the compost bin.

 

[siadwell]

That sounds good. Is manure good for composting? Sadly I don't live on a farm anymore but I'm thinking of throwing the dog poo in ours!

I think dog and cat poo are best avoided as it can contain eggs and larvae of parasites that are nasty for humans. Also, I've noticed that my dog's poos tend to sort of fossilize rather than decompose if they are inadvertently left on the borders.

 

[Chief Broom]

That sounds good. Is manure good for composting? Sadly I don't live on a farm anymore but I'm thinking of throwing the dog poo in ours!

Definitely no to dog pooh! Manure is very good especially when mixed with leaves/grass etc Well rotted horse manure is best imo, find a local supplier and if its fresh make sure its gets nice and hot when composting to kill any weed seeds. Roses especially like a mulch of well rotted manure.

 

[MichaelW2]

Miracle Grow apparently kills off soil bacteria.

 

[Jameshow]

Definitely no to dog pooh! Manure is very good especially when mixed with leaves/grass etc Well rotted horse manure is best imo, find a local supplier and if its fresh make sure its gets nice and hot when composting to kill any weed seeds. Roses especially like a mulch of well rotted manure.

Any stables will readily give you some...

 

[tom73]

I had a wormery but I've lost the worms over the winter. Not sure if they got too cold or I cut back on the feeding too much. I need to get it set up again.

I use bokashi composting for food waste - you can include cooked food but I rarely have any cooked waste so it's mainly ends of veg, fruit peel, tea leaves, etc. It sort of pickles the waste and then it goes into the compost bin.

Worms are great composters they eat though waste like mad, the more waste you add they will breed.
Boksahi composting is pretty good and so easy to do. The liquid diluted can be use as plant feed. Or neat it's a great natural drain cleaner

 

[Emanresu]

Miracle Grow apparently kills off soil bacteria.

I volunteer at a horticultural charity. They do things differently.

The first approach is no-dig gardening in that you try not to disturb the soil structure so put new lawyers of compost over old. Cardboard is used as weed suppression. The second issue is no chemicals as they try to encourage natural predators through plant choice. They also look for pollinating plants alongside fruit trees such as crab apples (which was something that I hadn't considered). They also pay well over the odds for compost compensating for the boost that chemicals can give - but fade after a while. They get good results but it takes years to get the soil right.

 

[MichaelW2]

I volunteer at a horticultural charity. They do things differently.

The first approach is no-dig gardening in that you try not to disturb the soil structure so put new lawyers of compost over old. Cardboard is used as weed suppression. The second issue is no chemicals as they try to encourage natural predators through plant choice. They also look for pollinating plants alongside fruit trees such as crab apples (which was something that I hadn't considered). They also pay well over the odds for compost compensating for the boost that chemicals can give - but fade after a while. They get good results but it takes years to get the soil right.

My old lawn soil was like concrete. I dug it over and raked it and before I was finished, worms were colonising the broken up ground.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I also have a seperate food compost bin.

I just put everything in the same heap

My wife does buy potting compost from the garden centre but maybe a bag a year

I made lovely potting compost by sifting leaves (vintage 2020!), my homemade compost, sifted too, and some perlite.
Seems to work, it's nice and fluffy, doesn't dry up too fast.

I'm thinking of throwing the dog poo in ours!

Meat eating animal's poo is a nono, but you can use chicken, gerbils, hamster's poo.

The first approach is no-dig gardening in that you try not to disturb the soil structure so put new lawyers of compost over old. Cardboard is used as weed suppression.

I did the Charles Dowding's no dig method during lockdown, when I tackled the communal back garden, that was just weeds and grass - council style!
It worked a treat, still now there are not many weeds if I keep on top of them, most brambles are gone, even though the gardens at either side are full of them.
Heavy work shoveling all that compost and woodchips, I have 3 sets of steps from point of delivery to back garden.
For 2 seasons I raided all the cardboard from the local shop plus every Amazon box I could find in the neighborhood
For a strange reason, the non dig method didn't work on my front garden: the earth is very nice now, it was clay before, but the weeds are still taking over if I don't act fast.