No Dig works any where Canada here went no dig this year after years of trying to fix my clay soil. Harvest this year was amazing. Yes I had to buy compost to do what I need to do this year even with my own compost piles. My shelves are filled with my own produce to last through a cold Canadian winter, I will not go back to what most consider normal gardening.
@@RockinStevieD Must say I don't follow it myself though but I'm feel the exception rather than the rule. For the scale I have it just takes more compost than I can generate and I am too tight to buy it. For a few raised beds or the massive scale of CD I think it is far more economically feasible.
Awesome to hear! I live in Tx and our soil is heavy clay. I've been doing no dig and just added cheap organic potting soil mixed with the compost I generated from lawn care and kitchen scraps. I'm well on my way to a food forest already in just a year and a half.
Thank you for another very inspiring video. I have been gardening for just over 2 years, following your no dig method from the beginning. I do add a layer of shredded leaves mulch on top of the compost layer to retain moisture as I don't have as much rain in the summer. The results have been amazing. My garden is getting bigger now that I have enough material to make a large compost pile 3ftx3ft x 3ft this fall. I have rows of ~15 marigolds that I planted underneath the tomatoes exactly the way you had and I never deadheaded them. So one question that I couldn't find the answer to is whether I should compost all my marigolds (or in general flowers that went to seeds - all they do is to produce thousands of seeds) . Now that the winter is coming, I don't think the heap can get very hot. I am afraid that next year when I spread the compost, the marigolds will take over my garden. So I would love to know what you do to your marigolds every fall. Thanks Long
That is super nice to hear! And I do compost all marigolds including a lot of seeds, because here there is enough frost to prevent them taking over. The dwarf French marigolds actually do not seed very much, but the Gem miracles do
There are also places where the "non sense" works under local conditions. I love this channel, but am well aware that my dry, high altitude climate would take several years to accomplish the compost that Charles does here.
@@Neenerella333 I live in a semi-desert area and admittedly not a high altitude. I have adequate moisture to keep my compost on the damp side and I keep it covered. Standard, routine practices work for me - it takes about 3 months for finished compost if I have enough of the right material to make an aerobic pile. About 6 - 8 months if I'm unable to get enough of the right materials. I don't know of any other way to make compost - just the right amount and mixture of greens and browns with sufficient moisture. Cheers
Hi, what a life changer your videos are, I have a question, my plot is covered and I then built beds and filled with manure, soil and mostly compost, will this effect the growing of my crops. Thanks in advance.
Thanks, and this depends what is the material you used to cover. I have a feeling it might have been some kind of plastic or polythene such as woven polypropylene. Hope I'm wrong. Yes this will affect the ecology because it prevents soil life from migrating upwards, and roots from progressing downwards. If it is that material, I suggest removing it, somehow. Sorry!
Thank you so much for clearing this up! I absolutely love your videos. I'm over here in CA zone 9b. And we don't get rain 10 months of the year. So my compost is completely cold even though it's 4' x 4' x 4'. Do you think it'll still work if it's completely 100% dry? We don't have any water to spare here, as we're in a severe drought - anytime i water the pile it dries out immediately. Thanks!
Glad to help Pascal, and that sounds a pretty horrible situation. If you cannot get the ingredients moist, the compost will not happen. I guess they are very dry when you put them on the heap, not surprisingly in view of your weather, and then you probably need to pack them down more so that when you add moisture, it can't run straight through to the bottom. Some scrumpled paper can be good for that, filling the gaps.
The knowledge I have learned from you over the years has been not only needed but has now blessed my family with an abundance of food..thank you for all you do
Hello From Chile, in the central area where we have arid climate. We have been making compost for few years now, trying different ways to find the best method with that climate. It has been a very long run sprayed of mistakes and little victories. With or without worms, mixing it or not, with or without cardboard.. by now we have 2 heaps of 1*1,20m with plenty of worms. Using one until filling it and then the other one letting the the first one resting. We add all organic wastes from the kitchen, making a small hole in the compost, mixing a bit with cardboard and the more mature compost. Adding water main of the times. We had troubles with acidity, smell and flies especially in winter as we love eating oranges and lemons. Despite of the weather, the compost doesn’t get so hot and seeds survive and sprout in the beds (tomatoes especially). What would you suggest to control acidity and smell during the winter? We used to add bicarbonate sodium on the top and within the fresh organic wastes if we have lots of oranges and lemons. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge about good practices to grow food. It is so useful! Morgan
1:42 Charles, I've also gotten to that certain age that I can say what I know is true without worrying what anyone thinks about it. Good on you and me, brother.
Just opened my first bin of a three bin pallet system like the one you show. I started it last fall and so excited to make two new beds for my mustard greens and lettuces this winter here in Florida. I turned it once last spring (after watching a video of yours). I went around and gathered everybody's leaf bags early this year to add to all the green we have over the summer. Just getting to the last of that and only halfway through bin number 2. Those bins are bigger than I thought, but we are getting it done. The finished compost looks so pretty and fluffy, thrilled!
You are Captain Compost in my book. I must say though that I’ve adopted some odd behaviors along this journey, such as cornering stock-boys at the grocery to confiscate their boxes or stopping by the road to gather grass clippings when the ditches are being mowed. I’m having great fun! Thank you so much for inspiring me. I only wish I’d had this knowledge before age 65, but I guess I’m proof that you really can teach an old dog new tricks.
I know the feeling Carol! I find myself eyeballing the yard waste bags of my neighbours and also the recycling bin at the nursing home i work at for things to use for potting up and what not. Happy Gardening :)
I am from Saigon, Vietnam. I was born and bred in the city all my life. I just got a chance to learn how to grow plants due to lock down in my city. Your knowegde help me with my kitchen waste composting and growing pot herbs, vegetables and flowers on my 20m2 terrace. I am grateful for all your work. Thank you so much.
Charles, you have been such an inspiration to me! Your advice has helped me realize that sometimes I can just let my garden do what it needs to be doing...
My husband is adamant about NOT having a compost area in our garden, since we have had bears visit and make a mess of our bird feeding area, and a friends has had rats come to her compost pile. Since I would never kill any animal, I have to buy compost in plastic bags!! We live in a very bio diverse area which I love ( upstate New York, USA) and have been using the no dig method to prepare many new areas on the property for future gardening sites. Thanks for sharing so much information with your enthusiastic followers all over the world. You make a positive difference in our world👍👍👍
you should still be able to compost yard waste and garden debris without any problems (wood chips, leaves, grass clippings, dead plants etc.). I'm also in upstate NY, originally Northern VT, and bears have no interest in that stuff at all.
I hear you about bears! I used to collect the odd “visiting card” and add it to the pile. Just so if people asked me how I grew my garden, I could smile sweetly and say “Bear manure”. That was on an acreage, Kootenay region in Southern Interior B.C. I am in the village now and have to worry about rats. My solution is to put anything remotely food like in a tumbler first, then add it to the pile when it is half done. Things like apple and potato peelings.
Composting is both 'wonderful', and 'surprising'! Two years ago we moved house and bought a 'robo- composting bin' (just a plastic bin with a lid on top, about a meter high). Into it we have been putting all the 'fresh' (non cooked) kitchen waste, and all the 'poop' and bedding from our rabbit. The bin is still no where close to being full! In the process, I seem to have become an 'expert' worm breeder! However I have also become to appreciate how powerful the natural processes are, that are involved in turning living material into valuable material for other plants. If you want to gain an insight into the natural world, I can seriously recommend a 'compost bin' of almost any size, and just sit back and watch what happens!
Apart from being small the plastic bins are rubbish. The ingredients a compost needs are nitrogen (grass) carbon (manure ,leaf mould) air and water. Not much air and water in a plastic bin,
Great video as always Charles... Laughed when you said you were getting too old, not to speak the truth & say it as it really is!!. That's why I love your videos. They are based on your decades of experience, research , observation & experimentation and you actually do what you say. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge & taking the time to make the videos, it is very much appreciated. Cheers
Thank you Charles, I’ve been using the pallets as well and have more to use…I have a wood chipper too, I will do more of what you say- I truly appreciate your knowledge and experience thank you kindly! 💚
I just spread my first ever home made compost! Thank you for teaching me how to make it. My bins are made from pallets like these ones, and was worried about it not getting hot. I turned once like you said in a previous video. We actually had grass snakes laying in it which was an amazing discovery. I'm looking forward to seeing how my raspberries do next year, it's so exciting creating something so useful out of 'waste' and very satisfying lowering my carbon footprint and reducing landfill. Thank you
I will be forever thankful Charles, for all that knowledge spread with the world I'm in my first year of no dig and composting, even being in another climate (italy) it does work perfect, plants loving it Looking forward soon to start buying your books from your Amazon profile, will get them all Ps: Did you made any sticker of the circular "no dig" logo? Greetings and much love from Italy, we adore you
I’ve made compost for the first time and it is really simple. The points raised in this video will be very helpful to those who are new to making compost so thank you. Kind regards. Gary
20k Pounds worth on how many fulltime-equivalents, if one may ask? And how much of that is profit (to pay those workers from) if you deduct seed, water, electricity and whatever else you buy in? I know these are things that don't get talked about a lot, but a good case for profitability would be really quite helpful for people starting out with market gardening.
You are so right that my market garden is not profitable. That is not my main aim because it is a teaching garden and we do a lot of trials and extra jobs. My writing work funds the wages. For others, I advise having a second job, or family members make the difference with 'free labour'. It worries me that food is cheaper than labour so it's difficult to pay yourself or other people a living wage, from sale of vegetables only.
Nice video 👍I just appreciate the fact that you take your time to educate your viewers. I learn alot from you . And I am glad to be a subscriber on your channel that way I never miss out the good stuffs.
greetings here I'm a huge fan of earning more money, and I think everyone should have a side hustle. side hustling can allow you to earn that little bit of extra money that can help you achieve your financial goals faster - whether it's paying off student loans or saving for retirement.
@@user-dt2oh3yl6w Speaking of crypto trading, it's the best business in the world right now. Because I know a couple of friends who make a whole lot of money trading the financial market. NEVER LOSS?... I sincerely doubt when I see such things like 100% WIN strategy, Crypto trading is very technical, involves carefulness and great IQ... I wonder doing that with no losses or I will say only a professional trader/broker can do that.
Nowadays, there are lots of brokers and to find one, it most be online, retail, trusted and reliable. So please how can I find a professional broker to trade with?
I found an interesting free local nitrogen source for my farm piles, a local cidery is happy to bring me a truckload of apple pomace for free rather than pay to dump off 400kg of apple pomace after pressing.
Querido Charles respondiste a todas mis preguntas ... compost sin necesidad de calentar... y se puede usar aunque falte un poco... y todo. Me encantó porque este año decidí no andar con vueltas y poner todo en el compost... pasto enredaderas .... cómo experimento porque me parecía demasiado lo que dicen que no se puede poner esto o aquello y me acabas de confirmar!! Siempre una alegría verte. Acá en Bariloche recién empiezo con la siembra de primavera verano. Un abrazo.
Gracias Griselda por sus comentarios y es un placer para mí poder ayudarlo. ¡Es una lástima que tanta gente parezca querer que las cosas se compliquen mucho! Ahora encuentras la alegría de la sencillez. Buena suerte con tus nuevas siembras.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig es un placer y un honor conocerte Charles. No sólo en la huerta ... la sencillez es de las pocas cosas que me emocionan en la vida. Se complican porque hasta haciendo jardín o huerta quieren ganar y triunfar pero trabajar con la tierra es ayudarla sembrar y que sea lo que la naturaleza quiera...🌿🥬🍅
Easiest and most efficient way imo is to just plant crops on compost piles. I threw some horse and sheep manure on my compost pile with a little dirt on top and planted a few heavy feeders in that as an experiment(pattison pumpkins and money maker tomatos). They are giants with lots of pumpkins and tomatos.
I have 2 compost bins made of 5 pallets on my allotment. I put green and brown waste in and empty one completely into the other on the first weekend of every month. Then I reverse this procedure the next month. Am I aerating too much
That sounds good Charles except yes, you don't need to turn more than once in my experience. Also it conserves carbon and microbes, when heaps are not disturbed too much
Recently discovered Charles and really loving it, but £20k sales for one full time and two part-time workers clearly doesn’t stack commercially, unless you’re also running a RU-vid channel with 800k subscribers! Very inspiring for hobbyist gardeners though: bravo!
Great video, very informative. Thanks for putting it in Lehman’s terms. I have just cleared a very overgrown allotment and have a pile of weeds probably about 1 cubic metre. I’m in the process of building 3 pallet compost bins. Should I spread the pile into the 3 bins or load it all into one? I’m struggling with the layering of brown and green waste concept.
Glad it was helpful and put it all in one, chopped so they pack down. I'm sure there are many stems (brown) and some soil (brown) so you may find they heat. Larger volumes decompose more quickly.
Can I actually compost couch grass? Those runners are awful. I'm in the process of pulling a big patch that has grown out of control. I'm afraid of it and have been throwing it in the dumpster to be hauled away. I have a permaculture yard and they are my number 1 weed problem. I've tried weed-wacking them and I think they just grew back worse. I'm 8a, NC, U.S. thanks
Yes you can, I do. What you can't do is throw it on a rough heap and forget about it. You need a proper enclosure, lined with cardboard for example, and then you keep adding other stuff on top in level layers and it decomposes, even without heat, but at this time of year you should find the temperature rises easily. Within three months, it should be all disappeared.
Your videos have been helpful, in so many ways. Thanks for sharing with us. If anyone is looking for another great channel, check out The Veggie Boys! It is a fun family run produce farm! So entertaining!
Great video as ever Charles! THANK YOU! What would you do with woody stems such as sunflowers or tomatoes, or even when plants have gone a bit dry and no longer green?
I made thermophilic compost in a m³ heap on the Geoff Lawton or Berkeley 18 day method. I wasn't ready to use it when it had finished. Now, a month later, it is writhing with compost worms. I've tried removing the cover to let light in but they only go a little bit deeper and my shovel still scoops some out, even if I just take from the top. Can I use it as a mulch on my garden beds or will that kill off the worms?
That's so nice to hear. The worms are part of the decomposition process, they are not earthworms and many will die when you spread the compost, although I'm sure they lay eggs before they perish because they are soon so prolific again. I would use that compost if you need it now, otherwise leave it for later
I've always wanted to ask-would placing composted material under "pressure" accelerate its breakdown? Heat and pressure breakdown proteins/organic structures, would placing compost under weight accelerate the process of composting?
I would say not because conversion of materials to compost is a biological process, not a mechanical one and probably that would cause damage to the very organisms which work so well to achieve these amazing transformations
Great video Charles! I obtained a bulk load of mushroom compost, you mentioned to store them under a cover. Once it is stored should I add stuff to it like vegetable food waste, weeds, mix purpose, manure or should i keep them all separate? I’ll be using for a raised beds
Thanks Samuel, nice to hear, and there is no need to mix it with anything, and I would use it whenever you need it, starting now even. Your other materials like food waste and weeds, I would add to your compost heap.
I'm starting my first own compost heap and I am genuinely excited about it realising it is the source of nutrients and microbiology for the whole system. Kinda fascinating
Heya Charles. I've learned so much from you after watching nearly 100 videos. I know you generally set about 6 months for compost, ish........ I live in the tropics. If I start a large say, 1.5 meters high by 2 meters wide pile of leaves, weeds, and other small bits I find I have finished compost in 2-3 months. Adding manure, pouring urine, and turning it every 2 weeks helps. If I turn it only once through the process it takes 4-6 months. Sometimes I will add small sticks, palm, etc and it generally gets tossed in the next pile when I sort it out. Thinking of starting a compost business next year as the stuff we have here in SE Asia is rubbish. Thanks again for all your useful tips.
Hi Juguru, and this is music to my ears - a compost business! Many will thank you and I hope you earn money to pay for the work. Your conditions are clearly so different and in some ways ideal, so 3 months is definitely best plan.
I have a question. Have you seen the Lomi Compost? I see sponsored people loading it up with green scraps in the evening and taking out dirt by the morning... How is that possible? Black magic? Do you know? Have you heard anything about it?
Feedback I hear is that it's expensive, and chops + dehydrates to produce a compost-like material that is not compost! Still needs to decompose, but is odourless.
Hey Charles, I’ve been filing up my compost here in Australia and I am really unsure if I should be watering it or not. I bought a temp gauge and it was reading 55 degrees but then it went down. I don’t know how long it was at 55 for because I only recently got the temp gauge. Is there any signs that I can look for that would tell me I should water it? Someone told me it should be 50% water to allow the microbes to travel around and start breaking it down.
55C for a short while sounds good. Unless you are continually adding decent amounts of green types of material, the heat will drop off. All your materials need to be moist, without being soggy. It's easier to achieve when there is some woody material in there to hold air between the wetter bits. You know, it might be too wet if you can squeeze it and more than two drops of moisture come out of your hand. But yes, it needs to be moist and 50% does not help anybody because you can't measure it!
Buen día desde España Alicante!! Una pregunta ud vendería algunas semillas, tengo entendido que sus semillas son auténticas! Agradezco su respuesta. Mil bendiciones. Gracias.
I made a big mistake with my compost bin last year and had way too much fruit & veg in it. It was heaving with fruit flies and woodlice. Is has turned to compost now is it useable do you think?
Hello. I don't have access to woodchips for mulching in between the rows. I have dried corn stalks that have some mold on them now. Ive chopped em up and put them in a bin. Can I use rotton corn stalks to mulch between my rows and add into the compost pile? Due to it being rotton would it infect my soil with pests and diseases?
Hi Petru and you certainly can use those stalcks! Any mould or mildew on them is good because that shows fungal activity and will not cause any problems for your new plantings, which will be strong and healthy and resist the mould - which comes only on decaying material
It’s good that someone is highlighting composting. But turning bins is very hard work. Gather the ingredients and then mix each top up pile together with the ingredients and put that on the compost pile. Just leave it. 5-6 months you have decent compost for use in the garden.
We have a great supply of horse manure from the field adjacent to our allotment. I struggle to get enough ‘browns’ during the summer to mix with my ‘greens’. Therefore would the horse manure turn from green to brown if stored in a separate pile over a period of say nine months?
Going that way after 9 months, depending on the bedding - if wood it's more brown, if straw it's 50:50. Maybe add a little. Scavenge for woody bits from elsewhere.
Gave up on my barrel composter after getting anaerobic messes even after upping the carbon in the ratio. Moved to larger heaps outside and got to about 48 C and have lovely compost now. Thanks for all of the videos you share.
I have a problem in that I may have been misguided in digging in quite a lot of kitchen waste into the soil late last year. It was buried to stop animals getting at it but an exploratory look reveals that it is anaerobic which makes sense but does that cause any problems other than the smell?
Not everybody agrees about this Stephen, but in my view that's not so good for soil life - but one digging is better than two, so I would leave it there, it will decompose and your plants will grow!
I make excellent compost using the Darlec compost bin next to the bins. I also have a hotbin compost bin which is meant to be quicker but it’s sticky and clumpy so may be better to put on the beds to over winter for the frost to break it down. Thank you for sharing your experience, I do enjoy watching your weekly videos.
Mr C. I use a lawnmower to chop up our leaves and green waste and then layer it in our compost bin..... Turning the thing every two weeks...... I know this reduces the time from waste to usable compost!
Been following you for quite sometime now and trying my first compost but looks like it’s not working. Still clumpy. It got heated once during October around 80 F but after that it gave up. Doesn’t smell bad though at all. I can see some onions and other stuff roots growing. Can I still use it in my garden bed before planting season.? Will be a waste if not. Many thanks
Yes for sure, spread it now! Asap so that lumps are softened by weather. It continues decomposing on the surface :) and compost made cool can still be very good
This Man is a kindred Spirit. I love your show. I would have to agree about the do’s and don’ts. I have an enormous amount of Plantain and curly Dock. So I use them as my Greens. Not enough Vegetable waste, so have to think outside the square. I was watching a Video the other day where a Lady used a lot of fresh Horse Manure to heat her Greenhouse as she lives in a very cold part of UK. I have 3 Ponies and 5 Chickens, so love recycling and utilising all that I can get my hands on.
how do you keep tree roots out of your beds? I have some beds that are 20 ft from a tulip poplar tree and I have to turn the first half to eliminate the roots.
Believe it or don't but this was inspired by Robert Frost's lesser known masterpiece titled: Two Tramps In Mud Time. FALL DUTY The ice has kissed the pumpkin vine so late in fall it’s fallen time. Crystal bridges cross the pond while diamonds tip the 'sparagus frond. The grass now speaks beneath my tread and echos words the brown leaf said. But my eye is on the garden's end for I have duties to attend; where an Etna sits with fires deep - a beard of smoke now crowns the heap - that calls attention to a need: the season’s final deed. My hands are cold - my face is raw - but soon my labour will restore a hearty glow as my cheeks burn. I sink the tines and turn and turn; until it's done, as is my back, but come spring time, both rich and black and full of worm and what plants need; I shall be glad I did the deed. This alchemy in sunwashed frost: the art and craft of my compost. {c} Jason Horsler
What if your compost gets roaches? I'm considering moving away from open, aerobic compost and seeing if anaerobic might be better. I'm concerned roaches will get into my house. I wonder what Mr. Dowding thinks and how he would resolve this issue. I know aerobic is better, maybe there's a way i could balance it out, like getting chickens.
I would not worry at all! The roaches of compost heaps and in the soil are speeding up decomposition of woody fragments and they are different types compared to the roaches which can accumulate in houses. Aerobic is your best option for great compost.
Good morning, Thank you for all the knowledge you are sharing! Is a pleasure to watch your channel and read your books. I took over a plot that I am now transforming fallowing your priceless advices. I have built a 3 bay compost system, one bay is already full, since February, with mostly weeds that I pulled from around the plot. The temperature is constantly at 15*C, even if I am not bothered by not reaching high temperature, this makes me think that maybe there was too much soil in the weeds roots, so there is no balance in the brown and green materials? If that’s the case, can I add more green materials at the moment of turning the heap over? Is a good idea collecting waste from the restaurant kitchen where I work? I am concerned with the possibility of pesticides and weed killers that might be present in commercially grown vegetables. Thank you Charles! Sandro
Hi Sandro Nice job you are doing there. I would add those kitchen wastes, valuable organic matter. Not perfect but few things are. Add coffee grounds too. Yes I expect you added a lot of soil. I hope you can afford to buy some compost, or find some well decomposed wood.
yhey charles great video again! As a new starter in a micro plot, in terms of buying compost to start with whilst i start making my own, what compost should i be buying so for my beds?
Hi Charles, thanks for another great compost video. I struggle to get enough brown material on my allotment and don't want to add straw as worried about residual herbicide. I can get hold of wood chips. Can I use exclusively those as the browns?
This was a very encouraging video! I didn't know that I could compost blighted tomatoes, etc. Is it necessary to cover the top of a working compost pile to protect it from rain? Thank you!
Hi do you have a garden shredder for tree prunings? I'm kind of thinking that you did mention it once,? I'm thinking of buying one to save my arms from all the lopping, but not sure which one to go for.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig ah thank you so much for replying. , I just found your video now, where you said you had purchased a shredder. I was also researching that Bosch model, hoping it will make my composting a lot easier ☺
Inspiration for being a better gardener! March 16 and 39 degrees F. Cool week ahead good for some heavy work and chores. Thank you Charles, you've got a spring in your steps!
thank you charles for this video, since going no dig 2 years ago, i now compost everything : blighted plants, roots of bind weed, dandelion, couch grass. making beautiful compost others on my site " oh yoyu cant compost that" i just let them get on with it. but then most people admire how good looking my crops are and how few weeds i have. yet when i talk about no dig they still rather dig. strange. have a great week!!!
😀 lovely to hear of your results neil, and I have always found it so strange that people often ignore what is right in front of them, something that can save them time and give great results! There's a big understanding here for humanity.
Maybe if they knew how much carbon they were releasing with each shovel full of disturbance they would think twice? Oh well, at least the chiropractors are happy.
@@Lauradicusunbelievabley one plot holder last winter dug his plot over 3 times, unfortunately some people are just stuck in their ways, same as when I use peat free occasionally I get no problems with germination, but the same people always state its rubbish and they can't grow in it.
I am surprised to see that you use cardboard. There are studies that show that there are toxics(a.o. pfas) in cardboard, especially the recycled cardboard. Do you regularly check your soil?
There was also a study recently, which "shows that there is a lower carbon footprint from buying food in supermarkets compared to grow your own"! You can prove almost anything you want in a study, but what about the rain that is falling and nobody has studied ? 😮 With all the stuff we see in the sky, some of that is coming down, and the last thing I'm worrying about is cardboard that I use just once in decades, and only if there are many weeds to smother. Or waste cardboard in compost, would you burn it?
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I imagine you want to know what is in your soil and in your vegetable s: especially if you sell them. This is something you can check yourself, so I was curious if you do. But of course, you cannot control what is falling out of the sky. No I don't burn it, I bring it to the "déchetterie" and then it is recycled and new toxic cardboard is created 😉
Would love to have the space for the three-bin compost system.. we have the space for one and all garden waste goes in there. No luck with free woodchip from tree surgeons around Canterbury area so we just collect cardboard from supermarket when in need to balance the greens
Can you collect leaf bags from neighbors? That’s a good source this time of year. I also put in used coffee filters, we use the brown paper Melita filters. Newspaper too. Pretty much any unbleached paper that has been printed with soy based inks.
Hello I have plastic compost bins and find the bindweed growing around and under it what can I do about this I don’t want to use weed killer as it might contaminate the compost,but I can’t seem to control the bindweed
I would slot thick cardboard under all the edges so you have a kind of 'ring' of cardboard on the ground around it. Find weed will not grow inside the heat as long as you are continually adding new material on top. We controlled it like this last spring around the new pallet compost heaps
I was reading an article the other day about how compost is going to become very expensive because of the increased price of a gas they use to make it which is going to push up the price of fresh food. Very worrying indeed!
Jodie that I think was about artificial fertiliser, esp. nitrogen. Compost is not fertiliser, but the price will rise because of greater demand, so it's good we value and make more of our own.
Oh yeah you're probably right there Charles. Yes totally agree 😊 Love watching your videos too by the way, I could watch you every day your voice is so relaxing 🙂 🇳🇿
I've used woodchips as browns for our small heaps this year (putting food scraps into daleks each day) and it really seems to work amazingly well. The woodchips had already rotted down for over 6 months before I started using them (we got the woodchips September 2020 and started using them in the heaps in April 2021). We got ours from the neighbours having tree surgeons controlling their trees and I simply asked them if I could have the chipped prunings. I'm going to try an experiment of putting woodchips atop one of my no-dig beds to see if it works as a long-term mulch a la 'Back to Eden' (a chap in Washington State whose name I've forgotten). Obviously I'll keep on making compost too, because we have green and brown waste from the garden.
Have you tried humanure? I built a compost privvy up the end of the garden about 18 months ago. It's product disappears in weeks on an active heap including the squares of Daily Telegraph. Saves water too.
