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wellington womble



Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 15 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I put wood chippings on my paths in the last place. Great for a year or two and then rotted down into lovely compost that grew luxurious weeds. I regretted it deeply!

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 15 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

do you want my old toxic compost for the paths ?,4 yrs and still nowt grows on the sorry heap.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 15 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ordered tues arrived this morning via yodel but not expected til next week

i can get on with making frames to climb ,creating fish box beds,finding plants etc etc

NorthernMonkeyGirl



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4584
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 15 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've heard grumblings about Aldi compost this year, FYI.
I think I'll try the B+Q "verve" stuff again. I only need a bit here and there to start seeds off.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 15 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i was looking at online reviews and the most useful one included the information that "brand" and "maker" swap about year by year depending on the price and spec the "brand"requires

so "brand"can be a very different product from year to year especially with the fermented rubbish types

hence i went for "clover"which is made from irish peat cutting and a few extras like a bit of sand and some minerals

i hope that peat has no toxic ingredients so what is lost by moving a bit of landscape is gained in organic local veg for us and the guins

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 15 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

as it came in a polyprop woven sack as well as the trade bag i now have a sack shaped compost heap of part rotted leaves and a 2 week deep littered guinea pig cage (newspaper,hay,pig products),livestock included a couple of types of worms and woodlice that went in with the leaves

so if i do 4 of those next year will use home made compost to top or base the stuff we bought

im not used to composting in a very small space but in sacks seems plausible .i dont think i can get away with a mixture tub .

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 15 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We make our own at the Community Garden. Basically just alternating piles of weeds/overblown plants and sheep poo. Well watered. It breaks down very quickly (about three weeks max) without having to bother turning it about. We have so far filled up two raised beds (about a metre wide and 3 metres long) and things planted in it are doing well.

at home I cheat and drive about 10k out to collect a ute load of commercial compost manufactured locally using fish waste and organic matter - that is a really hot compost (I nearly set fire to the ute because I left the tarp over it), but cools down within a couple of days once it is in the garden.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 15 6:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That sounds interesting compost you buy Cassandra. Is there a fish processing plant near you?

Remember when I was a child Dad used fish meal on the garden; once. It stunk out the whole area.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 15 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

blood fish and bone are great in compost or in mixture

direct to the soil(avoid leaves) can be a bit smelly and/or lead to hounds eating ones soil

Graham Hyde



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 365

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 15 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hi. The basis for all compost and fertilizers is given in detail in Steve Solomans books. The barrel analogy is excellent at putting across the needs of a balanced fertilizer. Quote......

Should any of these vital nutrient substances be in short supply, all biomass and plant growth will decrease to the level permitted by the amount available, even though there is an overabundance of all the rest. The name for this phenomena is the "Law of Limiting Factors." The concept of limits was first formulated by a scientist, Justus von Liebig, in the middle of the last century. Although Liebig's name is not popular with organic gardeners and farmers because misconceptions of his ideas have led to the widespread use of chemical fertilizers, Liebig's theory of limits is still good science.
Liebig suggested imagining a barrel being filled with water as a metaphor for plant growth: the amount of water held in the barrel being the amount of growth. Each stave represents one of the factors or requirements plants need in order to grow such as light, water, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, boron, etc. Lowering any one stave of the barrel, no matter which one, lessens the amount of water that can be held and thus growth is reduced to the level of the most limited growth factor.



Graham Hyde



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 365

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 15 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

suggest a read of Steve Soloman's books/articles. He farms organically, was once an owner of a large seed/plant outlet and his books are available on line and FREE.
Putting blood, fish and bone direct on the soil may be good , may not be good, see barrel analogy, only good if these nutrients are missing, but adding the additional extras also would boost the effect tremendously.

baldybloke



Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 1388
Location: Wiltshire
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 15 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The current issue of Ethical Consumer has some good information about which is best to buy. I usually buy a bag of seed and potting compost to start seeds in each year. The rest I make myself and am currently recovering from emptying and sieving 2 large plastic bins worth this morning. Somewhat achy back at the moment.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 15 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Liebig was quite a wide ranging scientist. He also developed the idea of things like concentrated extract of meat, probably leading to stock cubes and several other things. His idea makes a lot of sense.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 15 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

MR -sorry missed your response. The processing place is about 10 km away (a good thing too as it is a bit pongy). There was originally a plan to establish it in my village, but apparently the odour problem was an issue. Have to say I was quite oblivious to the proposal - should pay more attention to development proposal notices on the Council website I guess!

It is sort of black and granular and moist, tends to develop a bit of a skin when first installed, so I do a lasagne of it with soil - dig the soil to one side, lay in the compost, add a layer of soil and build it up that way, topping it off with some sheep poo to encourage any moisture to stay around long enough to penetrate my waterproof soil. Mind you, between the compost and my recently acquired supply of stable-waste (from an organically fed horse) I am doing fairly well in terms of improving soil condition (at long last!!). Next year's crop should be positively leaping out of the ground if I am lucky and the worms and dung beetles do their jobs properly.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 15 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Odd they process fish near you as you aren't very close to the sea are you?

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