The more i've been looking into thing ( five years or more ) the more i realize that getting a well rounded mix of composted manures and rotting vegitation is the thnig to aim for .
what was that olde worlde saying .. " the secret lies in the soil " too right and our fore farthers recognised it 7 make it possible.
it seems we have temporarily moved awy form the old idea and gone hell for leather into artificail stuf and single crop harvesting over and over again in th same place..
I have an old Percy Throwers book ca 1964 plus eseveral pre and post war crown publications about crip production from the period when we had to dig for victory and the best to date scienticic knowledge was used to keep us growing things and stop the country from starving
I think Percy was a retired guy by 1964 , he'd had a life of doing the gardening for some large house and wealthy family who employed numerous gardeners as well as him working at some place like Kew Gardens as head gardener so he knew his stuff he was also technically qualified in plant husbabdry etc.. He was one of the first to write a decent gardening book and eventually he had a TV show & newespaper column in his own name .
What I've gathered from Percy and those numerous other scientific gardeners is that you need a minium of five sorts of content made up of equal parts ( buckets full of the end product ) of non meat eating animal manure , bird droppings and veg compost
The seem to all agree upon .
Three buckets full of well rotted manures from at least three creatures non meat eating creatures on straw ... cow ,pig, horse, goat, sheep, llamma donkey etc.,
one part of some bird dropping sc/w feathers & bedding from any of of duck ,chicken ,pigeon, goose or turkey.
one bucket of well composted vegetable matter that the worms have gone through .
this is their basic ideal rounded blend of soil nutirent .
Addng composted seaweed , fish waste is also reckoned to be a big advantage so is adding comfrey at any stage of its life either as choppse 7 decaysed or fresh as a green additive
One of the manures can be mushroom compost as it has a blend of straw gypsu and several tyeps of manures in it. But don't do more than one part it is not good for the plants
The more varied a vegetable compost you can make the better so not only can you add what comes of your garden or kitchen you can add sea weed banana skins orange peel etc etc,, mashed up green or dead leaves and things like usedtea leaves and coffeee grounds arfe alos good .
I have also learnt that worm casts obtained from live worms consuming newly rotting vegetation , egg sheell sand tea bags is a vital element that povides extra nutirent . using meat eating animal muck is a no no co comosted cat or dog muck is lout lest you wn to give youselves toxacara or numerous sorts of worms & maladies that infest meat eaters and their dung. For the same reason its not on to use human crap ( in most cases )
I have friends who are producing a nutient soil enhancer at home with six or more animal manures s,o many veg species you be hard put to count on three sets of Welsh fingers and things like hair ,toe nails from dogs cats horses goats humans etc etc. as well as all sorts of aquatic animal sources both salt and fresh along with weeds from their ponds and local rivers .
Apparently addig in chopped up fresh comfrey to all of the ingredients during their action period enhances or at the end when you put it in the garden enhances the product further with phospates
I've drooled in envy at some of the 2 pound tomatoes they have grown or the fantastic carrots and greens they have produced .
Now I'm heading to make my own soil enhancer in the same manner .
To this end I've already got three large Dalek composting bins on the go ( I have whinging bitching neighbours to contend with ) & another threeare due soon for me to start the production system .
Bin one....the cool bin for just composted veg matter and worm casts .
this is bing used with brandlings , cross cut shredded newspaper , mashed up dead leaves ,my own urine "diluted at 20 water to one part nectar ; ) , all our kitchen waste but no cooked stuff or raw meats or fats , there is also other non glossy shredded paper and lots of torn up brown cardboard bits as well as all garden waste chopped bruised or shredded ) that has no soil on it and at present no prennial weeds ( even these will get added once they get drowned for a few weeks in a bucket of water and their decomposition starts ) I want this bin to go help make up my soilless growth medium that I am proposing to use in all my 22 deep raised beds. as well as my using some to boost the soil based bins contents .
Bins two three and four will be hot with the various manures & straw etc watered and aireated weekly . With care I should be able to make it like Expresso Coffee in about four to six weeks all year round
Bin five should be another another fairly cool bin for all rooted stuff with earth on the roots , some of their stalks plus shredded paper cardboard , diluted urine & a few layers of fresh animal manure ( this bin is only for putting on the lawns to refresh them ) but I will also broadcast some of the blended nutrients on them as well when they need it. . again watered and aireated weekly
Bin six is for holding the finished blended nutrient until it's needed
Any left over worm cast and the stuff they have been through will be dry stored till it's needed then used on the basis of one plant out , put a trowel of it in mwork it well , then put in a different plant seed etc. in the newly fertilized area .
It appears to me that most people seem to get manure and compost ideas mixed up and end up with a very unballanced weak mixture that they try and feed the soil with.
Topic: composted sileage (Read 9286 times)
