Making & Using Organic Compost

Alan and Joan Gould garden two acres at Woodrising in North Lincolnshire. In this FAQ Alan outlines their compost method.

I'll begin with some terms as I use them in practising and describing organic gardening. I will keep them as short as possible. They all have other meanings, hotly disputed at times by people who have more time for semantics than for spadework.

• Organic: Gardening as closely to nature as feasible.
• Natural: Occurring without human help.
• Compost: Soil like compound/s prepared for particular gardening uses.
• Compost Box: Receptacle or container in which compost is made.
• Compost Heap: Material collected for making compost.
• Soil / Earth: The main garden ingredient in which plants grow.
• Ground: Where we stand things, make growing areas, paths, buildings etc.
• Manure: Stable or farmyard dung, urine and bedding.
• Mould: Soil composted from leaves or other natural materials.
• Liquid Feed:  Infusion of nettles and/or comfrey etc. with rainwater.
• Nutrients: Liquid substances in the soil ingested as feed by plants.
• Weed: A plant growing where the gardener did not intend it to.
• Natural Plants: A plant growing of its own accord. Wildflowers etc.
• Cultivated Plant: A plant growing by the actions of the gardener.
• Fertiliser: Manufactured concentrated and/or processed plant nutrients.

The Composting System

We operate a three heap system: one making; one maturing; one using. Heaps progress through the three stages concurrently. The length of time taken for maturing is the time from making a heap until it is opened after maturing, which is when we have used up the previous heap. It time varies according to the size of the heaps and the rate of use of compost. In our system, maturation is around 12-24 months. Sometimes maturing material is moved from one heap to another, or extra new material may be added to a maturing heap.

The Boxes

Our compost boxes are constructed from railway sleepers. The sleepers are placed in a square on edge, one sleeper to each side, which makes the base 10 ft. x 10 ft. inside. The sides are built 6-8 sleepers (5-7 ft.) high, and are supported on the outside by wooden battens or metal poles driven into the ground. The sleepers are also fixed to each other at the corners by 6" nails or battens because maturing compost can create a lot of outward pressure, especially at the bottom of the heap. Three sides are built to full height, but the front is not begun until the material building up in the box requires to be kept in place. The front is built up as the heap rises until it is the same height as the sides.

Compost boxes can be of any size or construction providing they will hold up in use. Wooden palettes are often used, and a compost heap can be built adjacent to a wall or fence. Heaps can be any size and can be made without boxes if it suits the gardener, but smaller and free standing heaps do not heat up or stay heated as long a the larger ones.

Building & Managing The Heap

As soon as material is applied to a heap it should begin to heat up (work). Heating up is essential to begin the process of maturing and to kill out any weeds parts or diseases which may have entered the heap. If it does not heat up it may be because it is too dry, and needs to be moistened. If material still has not satisfactorily worked, it should be turned as well as moistened. We seldom need to turn our heaps and we never use accelerators or additives in our system. Moistening is often helped by rain, but nutrients in a heap can be leached out if it is left open to too much rain. We cover finished heaps with a tarpaulin unless they need more moisture. As the heap is built, it rises with the addition of new material, but sinks again as heating occurs and softens the contents. We continue adding to the heap until it is either too high to reach the top with a hay pike, (9-10ft.) or it is flowing over the edges.

Maturing

When a heap is finally as high as we can take it, we cover it with a tarpaulin. That accelerates the working process until the tarpaulin is too hot to put a hand onto. A maturing heap should remain covered most of the time unless it needs moisture or additional making material on it. Within six months, the height will have dropped to 4-5 ft and the box can take extra material if that seems appropriate depending on the progress of the other heaps.

What Goes Into Compost Heaps

When we start a new compost heap, we like to start with a good thick base of strawy material. That acts as a buffer between the heap and the ground on which it stands. We have an ongoing supply of stable manure delivered, containing bedding straw which I put to one side for use as compost bases. The base absorbs any leaching nutrients and becomes compost like the rest of the heap, One of our organic principles is that what comes out of the soil should be returned to it as far as possible. Thus we use all our grown plant material apart from actual harvested crops. We compost raw vegetable trimmings from the kitchen. The shortfall of natural resources caused by taking crops is made up in our case by using delivered horse manure, the only imported thing which goes into our soil. All grass clippings, weed strimmings and softer prunings go on our compost, deeper rooting plants like nettles and comfrey being especially useful. Stronger plant material like rhubarb leaves should be applied sparingly. We put on the contents of plant plugs, pots, tubs, trays, troughs, planters, hanging baskets etc. and any material from a finished heap which is not matured. Soil from exhausted flower and vegetable beds recuperates in the heap. We add fire ash, bonfire ash and soot in moderate quantities, spreading it well around, or diluting it with soil. If a layer of green material has become very thick on the heap, usually in summertime, I will apply a mulch of horse manure to balance the contents. We do not possess a shredder but the use of one can mash down coarser material for quicker composting.

What We Do Not Use

Because we have plenty of matter to put on our compost heaps, we can be a little more selective than some gardeners. We do not put any cooked kitchen waste on, or leftover purchased foodstuffs. (Moorhens on the island of our pond have no scruples about eating up our kitchen waste!) Any diseased plant material should not be used, especially blighted potato or tomato haulms. Nor do we use any foodstuff, soil or plant material which might contain herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, manufactured chemicals, antibiotics or GMOs. We have spent a lot of effort eradicating couch grass from several growing areas of our garden so we do not compost the roots or tops of that. Human or other carnivorous animal excrement should not be used on compost heaps, neither

Bookmark with:

• Delicious
• Digg
• reddit
• StumbleUpon

Don’t know what this is?

Read the 50connect Guide To Social Bookmarking.