[wannabesmallholder]

Hi
I'm quite new to all things growing and gardening etc, so looking for some advice on the most sensible way to use my compost area.

I have 5 largish bays. 2 at the moment are in use (1 full and covered with a tarpaulin - doing its thing and 1 being filled). Once the gardening gets going again properly I would anticipate using 3 of these for garden and kitchen waste. I try to turn them and rotate them when I have time, though am not very systematic about.

The 5th bay at the moment has a large pile of this autumn's leaves in it.
 
So currently bays 3&4 are empty. In front of these two I have a pile of turf, which I'm leaving there in the hope it eventually will become a nice topsoil.

There had previously been horses on our land and there were various piles of well rotted manure piled up around, which I have used for the past 3 years in the garden and veg patch and have used the last of this to mulch 30 newly planted fruit trees this winter. This morning I just spoke to a horsey lady down the road, who is going to start bringing me bags of her manure (mixed with straw) to start creating a rotting pile in one of the bays. I should have had some foresight and asked her to start doing this last year, so I guess I will have to do without manure or buy some in for next year.

So basically, my plan was. Bays 1-3 for garden and kitchen waste, trying to turn them when I get round to it. How often *should* I be turning it ideally? And how long would it take to be in a useable state for compost? Last year I added a lot of sticks and brambles and stuff, which I've now realised don't compost down quickly - won't be doing that again! Can I still just use it as compost with the sticks in it?

Then I thought, bay 4 horse manure and bay 5 leaves. But that doesn't leave me 2 bays free to fill them while the stuff in bays 4&5 is rotting. Is it ok to just mix the leave and manure together?

Or should I not bother about separating any of it and just use all 5 bays for a mix of garden waste, manure and leaves?

Should I be covering any/all of the bays? And with what? I have a tarp on the full one at the moment, but not sure if I should have something more breathable?

Thanks for any tips!!

[YorkshireLass]

Oh wow - compost envy!


I would keep leaves separate for leafmould - or do you have room to construct a wire mesh leafmould cage? That would be good.
I would keep the manure separate for rotting down.


When do you anticipate the currently-full bay to be ready for emptying? And do you empty in bulk, or take a bit here and there?


Chopping and shredding your garden and kitchen waste will help it compost quicker and more evenly. I am a laissez-faire composter so turn it if/when the feeling strikes. I would cover it if I had a suitable material and it was due to rain a LOT, otherwise you don't want it too dry either.

[wannabesmallholder]

Thanks [member=3961]YorkshireLass[/member] Yes have been lucky to have an obvious separated area that lent itself well to knocking up some compost bays (it was a very overgrown and falling down fruitcage).

I'd anticipate emptying the full bay in the Spring once I start tidying and sowing stuff etc. Will take it in bits and pieces, but over the course of the Spring and Summer. Was planning to construct a few new raised beds, which will need filling with plenty, but might not actually get round to that this year.

There is an old cage thing there actually, which I thought was probably for leaf mold, but it looks tiny.

I thought it would probably be best to keep them separate, but just not sure what I then do about having one pile rotting while the other one is filling. How long do you reckon manure with straw and leaves take to be usable?

[YorkshireLass]

The figures I hear are about a year to be "okay" and 18 months onwards to be really good.

[Fleecewife]

Manure, garden compost and leaf mould are different and have different uses around the garden.  Manure is high in nitrogen and other soil nutrients so is used where a high nutrient feed is needed, for fruit bushes, vegetables etc (except root veg of course).  Garden compost has lower nutrient levels so is a gentler feed for seedlings and young pre-cropping plants, slower growing veg, and flowers and using as a mulch.  Leaf mould is wonderful stuff - we haven't had any for 21 years    - and is mainly used for making your own seedling compost, for trays and pots.  It can also be used for a low nutrient mulch to keep the surface loose and easy to hoe, as with a forest floor.


We have 3 bins in a row, the idea being to fill one, then when it's rotting well we turn it into the middle one (well, that's the idea) and start filling the original one again. Use the middle one then turn the first one into the now empty middle one and back to square one, or bin one.    OR, once you have filled one, start to fill the one at the other end.  When you need to start filling an empty bin again, turn the last one into the middle, then the first one on top of that - it will have shrunk enough to fit two bins-worth into one. That leaves you with two empty bins to fill while you use the well rotted lot.
It's generally easier to move the compost from one bin to its neighbour, but moving from one end to the other is possible.


For your five bins, you could keep two for manure.  Horse dung doesn't take long to break down into a usable product.  Once it's nearly there, turn it into the second bin and start filling the first one again.  As your stable muck is arriving in bags, if you're not quite ready for it you can store it in the bags until you are.  Or horse manure will stay in a free standing heap without a bin perfectly well - just cover it.


Leafmould really likes a more well aerated type of heap, hence usually being stored in a wire cage - choose the size to suit how much you have.  leafmould takes up to three years to break down enough, especially if you've used slower decomposing species.


If you really want to compost brambles and twigs, then you're best to shred them and keep them separately, or at least put them in the bottom of an emptied bin before you start filling it.  We prefer to burn woody plant waste and spread the ash under stone fruit and on onion and tomato beds, as a very valuable nutrient.


Each of your types of waste will rot down at different rates, so that's another reason to keep them apart.

[wannabesmallholder]

Manure, garden compost and leaf mould are different and have different uses around the garden.  Manure is high in nitrogen and other soil nutrients so is used where a high nutrient feed is needed, for fruit bushes, vegetables etc (except root veg of course).  Garden compost has lower nutrient levels so is a gentler feed for seedlings and young pre-cropping plants, slower growing veg, and flowers and using as a mulch.  Leaf mould is wonderful stuff - we haven't had any for 21 years    - and is mainly used for making your own seedling compost, for trays and pots.  It can also be used for a low nutrient mulch to keep the surface loose and easy to hoe, as with a forest floor.


We have 3 bins in a row, the idea being to fill one, then when it's rotting well we turn it into the middle one (well, that's the idea) and start filling the original one again. Use the middle one then turn the first one into the now empty middle one and back to square one, or bin one.    OR, once you have filled one, start to fill the one at the other end.  When you need to start filling an empty bin again, turn the last one into the middle, then the first one on top of that - it will have shrunk enough to fit two bins-worth into one. That leaves you with two empty bins to fill while you use the well rotted lot.
It's generally easier to move the compost from one bin to its neighbour, but moving from one end to the other is possible.


For your five bins, you could keep two for manure.  Horse dung doesn't take long to break down into a usable product.  Once it's nearly there, turn it into the second bin and start filling the first one again.  As your stable muck is arriving in bags, if you're not quite ready for it you can store it in the bags until you are.  Or horse manure will stay in a free standing heap without a bin perfectly well - just cover it.


Leafmould really likes a more well aerated type of heap, hence usually being stored in a wire cage - choose the size to suit how much you have.  leafmould takes up to three years to break down enough, especially if you've used slower decomposing species.


If you really want to compost brambles and twigs, then you're best to shred them and keep them separately, or at least put them in the bottom of an emptied bin before you start filling it.  We prefer to burn woody plant waste and spread the ash under stone fruit and on onion and tomato beds, as a very valuable nutrient.


Each of your types of waste will rot down at different rates, so that's another reason to keep them apart.

Fantastically helpful [member=4333]Fleecewife[/member]  - thank you!

[Cuddles]

Has anyone tried using the heat from a compost heap to heat water?  Sorry to pinch your thread but it might be something to think about if it actually works.  I came across a few videos about it on YouTube.  I'm looking to put in a composting area beside the polytunnel , I'm wondering if this would be a useful addition?

[YorkshireLass]

Has anyone tried using the heat from a compost heap to heat water?  Sorry to pinch your thread but it might be something to think about if it actually works.  I came across a few videos about it on YouTube.  I'm looking to put in a composting area beside the polytunnel , I'm wondering if this would be a useful addition?

I've een a "central heating" system in diagram form, but nothing in real life. I guess the key thing is being very good at constructing hot heaps!
The system was a closed loop, with a spiral in the heap to get the water hot. Hot water was then piped into a greenhouse, and the pipe meandered around, before returning the now cool water back to the spiral in the compost outside.