Author Topic: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)  (Read 11901 times)

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Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #25 on: Mar 12, 2013, 03:39:35 PM »
My compost pile is flattened.  I need to get out there and rake up all the leaves again.  Then maybe do the grass cutting that I didn't do at the end of last year. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #26 on: Mar 28, 2013, 01:12:49 PM »
I plan to keep track of how much compost I pull out of the pile this year.  I don't think it will be a great amount but there should be some.  It's kind of a cost ratio thing with me.  Is all the labor and mess worth what the garden gets from it or would I be better off weeding, blah.

So today I took out 5 gallons of compost from the pile.  I wonder what that's equivalent to in Cubic Feet?

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #27 on: Mar 29, 2013, 06:57:38 PM »
Today I took out another 5 gallons.  I didn't have the umph to take it up to the birdbath flower bed but that is where it is headed. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #28 on: Mar 29, 2013, 07:04:04 PM »
Each 5 gallons is about .78 cubic ft.  So now I know.  It looks like I may have several feet this year. 

Offline bestofour

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #29 on: Mar 29, 2013, 10:27:45 PM »
I've got to get my compost pile started again. I've just been burying stuff directly into the garden.

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #30 on: Mar 30, 2013, 01:42:54 PM »
That's one way to compost.  Of course with the mound of leaves I have every years it would be pretty hard to bury it without a backhoe. 

I got out there at noon, wrong time, and dug up another 5 gallon bucket of compost for the sidewalk flower bed.  So that's 15 gallons so far at a cost of approximately 6.81 cents.  That sounds good to me since I spent 25 on mulch and plants.  But the kolrabi is edible so that cancels itself out. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #31 on: Apr 01, 2013, 09:44:43 AM »
25 gallons of compost today so that's a total of 40 gallons and I still have more to dig out.  So that's 6.24 cf and about 8 bags at 2.27 for a total savings of 18.16 cents.  Not bad.  To bad I need so much of it. 

Offline Tina

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #32 on: Apr 01, 2013, 12:57:06 PM »
There is no such thing as too much compost. You can add too much sometimes but that is a human error, not a compost problem.
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Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #33 on: Apr 02, 2013, 08:15:06 PM »
? to much compost?

I have 14 tires that will hold 1.5 cf each of compost and an equal amount of garden soil.  I don't think I'm going to come anywhere near that amount.  Then I could probably put another 3 cf of compost in the birdbath flower bed without over burdening it.  And that doesn't even touch what ever will be needed in the foundation, shade, driveway, or ditch flower beds. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #34 on: Apr 07, 2013, 09:25:03 AM »
dug up another 5 gallons/.78 cuft for a total dug out of 45 gallons7.02 cuft.  And there is still plenty buried in there.

I'm moved 4x4x3 feet of unfinished compost to the lower end of the pile and still haven't even touched the yard.  So I expect to have a very large pile of leaves to work with this year.   

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #35 on: Apr 07, 2013, 05:08:48 PM »
And another 5 gallons/.78 cuft.  The total is now 50 gallons/7.80 cuft.  That's a nice haul for the year but there is still more out there. 

$22.70 in savings is a tidy sum on my budget.

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #36 on: Apr 08, 2013, 11:15:54 AM »
And another 5 gallons/.78 cuft.  55 gallons total to date/8.58 cuft.  I'm very happy.  But I'm considering that I didn't pull any of the finished compost from the pile last year so this is actually 2 years worth of finished compost.

$24.97 current cost of compost here multiplied by the number of cuft I've dug up. 

I'm turned over almost the entire pile.  I should if I'm up to it after the doctors appointments tomorrow to finish turning over the pile.  Then I can start raking the yard.  Oh Boy!

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #37 on: Apr 11, 2013, 10:52:15 AM »
well after getting all of the unfinished compost into one big pile I'm thinking that turning it once a week is going to be quite some chore.  I don't think I want to add another years leaves to what is there and try and turn it every week.  So I guess it's time to think about making a second compost pile.  I have several brush piles that happened by accident.  Maybe that should be the place for a new pile.  One could be where the veggie patch was going to be, before I found out about bunnies.  Yea, that's what I'm going to do.  There are already logs there that I can use to keep things in bounds so to speak.  And it is reasonable without plantings at least the ones on purpose.  Of course this means my piles will only get turned every other week and that's a best course plan.  Otherwise nothing would get weeded or mowed or raked or...

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #38 on: Apr 12, 2013, 10:29:59 AM »
Ok 60 full gallons of finished compost.  9.36 cuft total for two years of working.  I can live with that.

So now I've raked up 99 gallons of leaves from the area between the shade bed and the fruit trees.  This is a very small part of the yard.  But I figure if I can do the same amount everyday for the next two weeks that should put all of the leaves in a compost pile somewhere in the yard.  Of course I plan to intersperse that with some grass cutting. 

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #39 on: Apr 12, 2013, 10:07:19 PM »
i am thinking it is time to start my compost bin.  i've been putting it off.
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Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #40 on: Apr 13, 2013, 11:30:29 AM »
Enjoy!  I love playing in my compost.

Today before I headed off for breakfast I raked up another 99 gallons of leaves for the upper compost pile.  It's not to it's full size yet but I did hit the 3 feet high mark.  Funny thing about it is the stump there has started to sprout branches so I'll have to move the compost pile over and debark that stump and try and kill it.  I don't want it sucking all the nutriements out of the compost pile. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #41 on: Apr 22, 2013, 08:00:25 AM »
I lost track of this for a few days.  Lets see I know there was a day of 198 gallons and then today where I did maybe 66.  I didn't actually put it in the barrel and transport it I just raked it across the driveway to the upper compost bin. 

so that's about 462 gallons of leaves as of today.  And there are still leaves in the front that I just couldn't rake all the way to the compost pile and then a little pile from the left foundation bed, and all of the back and side yards.  So I would estimate that I probably have as much again of what I have raked.  It's suprising that it composts down to such a small amount isn't it?

Offline bestofour

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #42 on: Apr 22, 2013, 09:49:58 AM »
duh, what kind of leaves are you composting?  We have oak trees and I just read that they are great, not composted, to use to keep grass out of paths and walkways because whole, compacted oak leaves repel water therefore not breaking down quickly so grass and other weeds are smothered out, almost permanently, from an area.  Wonder how that would work for the paths between my garden rows.

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #43 on: Apr 22, 2013, 06:06:57 PM »
Um, I have chestnut oak, big ones.  Your right, under my compost pile and where I heap them to fill in depressions nothing grows.  But when I let the leaves stay in the flowerbed during the fall and winter they weeds come right through them.  The leaves do breakdown so this is something you would have to add to from time to time.  Also leaf mulch is spongy so be careful walking on it.  I have weak ankles so I've learned to wear my ankle brace out there. 

It might work very well.  At the end of the season you could turn it into the soil

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #44 on: Apr 23, 2013, 02:35:30 PM »
added another 99 gallons of leaves to the compost pile.  That's a total of 561 gallons.  At this point I would need 280.5 gallons of grass clippings to get all the greens necessary to heat up the compost piles.  Don't think that is going to happen.  Guess I'll continue to cold compost.  Which is actually good because the upper compost pile is now 5x5x5 ft. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #45 on: Apr 24, 2013, 08:40:10 AM »
I cut back all of the daffodil and tulip stems.  Not the leaves, just the stems.  I don't need any seed heads forming since they take so long to mature into bulbs.  I got maybe 1 gallon of greens.  So that leaves me needed 279.5 gallons lol.  I put them in the lower pile and then noticed that with the wind and the rain that the pile was compacted.  So I just had to pull out the rakes.  I've got to do something with that pile.  It is about 8 feet long, 3 feet high, and 5 feet wide.  I need to split it into two I think.  That's a lot of work.  Today I just managed to incorporate the green and some sticks into it and to tidy up one of the long sides.  If I have any strength left tomorrow after the mowing I'll see what I can do. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #46 on: May 11, 2013, 09:04:08 AM »
Took a good long time for tomorrow to get here didn't it?  lol.

Today I cut grass and raked up 15+ gallons of mixed greens and browns for the compost pile.  The excessive rain has gotten the piles to an acceptable size, less than 6 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet.  So 264 gallons of greens left for the season lol. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #47 on: May 12, 2013, 08:24:35 AM »
I'm going to count the pine tree and the prunings from the chestnut oak as 2.5 gallons of greens.  So I am now at 261.5 gallons left.  The pile has really shrunk which means that it is doing what it is suppose to. 

I wish that it would be small while raking and mixing and large when it is time time to harvest the finished compost rather than the other way around. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #48 on: May 14, 2013, 11:05:21 AM »
Ok, I'm counting the rakings as three buckets which is 15 gallons.  So 246.5 gallons of greens left to bring the piles up to the ration I would like to have.  I will say after the mixing today there is alittle grass combined with all of the leaves in the bottom pile.  Not anywhere near 25 to 25 percent but at least 1 percent. 

Offline duh

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Re: Let's Talk Compost Again...:)
« Reply #49 on: May 17, 2013, 09:20:01 AM »
Today was a good day for rakings.  I got 3.5 buckets of mixed greens.  So 17.5 gallons.  That brings down the total to 229 gallons left to rake this season lol. 

Interesting thing today.  When I was raking up the waist high grass it balled up in the bucket and didn't want to break up when I emptied it in the compost pile.  I decided that I would just leave the bundle all together and toss leaves on top if it.  Will see what happens with that. 

The lower compost pile is currently 4x4x4 now that it's all been put together after the mixing job yesterday. 

 

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