Hi All,

This is my first post. I am a veery novice gardener and have just moved to a new flat that had a long, shady overgrown garden. I've cleared a lot of the garden and cut back a lot of bushes, and cleared the moss from the path. Rather than take this all to the tip I've decided to try to compst it.

I have cut it all down and piled in in a 2m square block held together by chicken wire in a sheltered place (Under a very large camelia/rhodedendron?? tree) where it will get some evening sun.

My questions a

Should I add horse manure (I have a horse) to help it decompose?

Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste ratio should I aim for?

And finally, there are a lot of slugs and snails in my shady garden. Are they any help to the compost heap?

Many thanks in advance for you hekp

Firstly, well done sounds as if u been busy.ur first question is easy.all types of manure will promote the breakdown of your green waste,just layer ur manure thinly amongst ur pile not too much, ur manure is precious!
Food scraps are fine,provided u don't use meat,just cut it up a bit to speed process up and remember that a variety of different size materials will break down quicker than all the same stuff such as all grass clippings..in a few weeks or months depending on temperatures u should have a pile of something that smells like the forrest floor....good luck

oops and i hate snails and slugs(when they are not in a glass tank)

ME too! But I don't like to kill them either. Will they help my compost pile break down?

Also, I forgot to ask, .. Can I add the manure straight from the horse? (I.e there doesn't need to be any period of 'rest' for the manure?

Many thanks

"fimonkey" wrote in message
...

Hi All,

This is my first post. I am a veery novice gardener and have just
moved to a new flat that had a long, shady overgrown garden. I've
cleared a lot of the garden and cut back a lot of bushes, and cleared
the moss from the path. Rather than take this all to the tip I've
decided to try to compst it.

I have cut it all down and piled in in a 2m square block held together
by chicken wire in a sheltered place (Under a very large
camelia/rhodedendron?? tree) where it will get some evening sun.

My questions a

Should I add horse manure (I have a horse) to help it decompose?

That would be ideal, particularly straw bedding.

Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste
ratio should I aim for?

It is unwise to add food scraps to an open compost heap as you will
attract vermin.

And finally, there are a lot of slugs and snails in my shady garden.
Are they any help to the compost heap?

No they are not of any use in the heap.

Many thanks in advance for you hekp

Try searching www.google.com using: making a compost heap for
further reading.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

In article ,
"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "fimonkey" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste
| ratio should I aim for?
|
| It is unwise to add food scraps to an open compost heap as you will
| attract vermin.

That is almost entirely an old wife's tale. I and many other people
put all kitchen waste on open heaps without trouble - and have done
for 30 years - and that includes meat! Of course, we don't throw
away a huge amount of food scraps relative to vegetable matter from
the garden.

If you throw away food on an industrial scale, or have a miniscule
garden (i.e. one that provides very little else to compost) then
things are likely to be very different.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "fimonkey" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste
| ratio should I aim for?
|
| It is unwise to add food scraps to an open compost heap as you will
| attract vermin.

That is almost entirely an old wife's tale. I and many other people
put all kitchen waste on open heaps without trouble - and have done
for 30 years - and that includes meat! Of course, we don't throw
away a huge amount of food scraps relative to vegetable matter from
the garden.


On the other hand when I opened the lid of the compost heap on the
allotment (that never gets food scraps ) two rather cute little mice
looked up at me. Warm dry place to shelter I assume.

Paul
--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames

On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:02:01 +0100, fimonkey
wrote:


Hi All,

This is my first post. I am a veery novice gardener and have just
moved to a new flat that had a long, shady overgrown garden. I've
cleared a lot of the garden and cut back a lot of bushes, and cleared
the moss from the path. Rather than take this all to the tip I've
decided to try to compst it.

I have cut it all down and piled in in a 2m square block held together
by chicken wire in a sheltered place (Under a very large
camelia/rhodedendron?? tree) where it will get some evening sun.

My questions a

Should I add horse manure (I have a horse) to help it decompose?

Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste
ratio should I aim for?

And finally, there are a lot of slugs and snails in my shady garden.
Are they any help to the compost heap?

Many thanks in advance for you hekp

If the sides are chicken wire then you've what's called a cold heap.
Takes longer to break down and the edges hardly at all. Compost from
cold eaps normally have more nutrients left. I'd cover the top to stop
rain leaching the goodness out. A number of councils have schemes to
buy an enclosed compost bin (dalek) at reduced prices. Those run as
hot heaps and produce compost quicker. Both types benefit from the
occasional shovel full of garden soil to get the right microbes in.
It's worth having both as everything doesn't compost at the same rate,
so you need to have somewhere to put the 'needs more time' stuff while
you dig down to the usable now. The twigs from bushes are likely to
still be there next spring. Shredding stuff speeds things greatly,
running a lawnmower over them works almost as well

Horse manure needs composting, really in a hot heap to kill the weed
seeds that horse manure is known for. Also make sure that the grass
your horse was on has not been treated with an herbicide eg
aminopyralid which as become a recent issue in this forum.

Meat scraps are also likely to smell. For the amount of bio mass it's
not worth adding to your compost the small amount of dodgier items.
I personally don't add potato peelings as they often sprout.

Slugs and snails will be happy in there, and will aid the
decomposition. It's an alternative to killing them. One of my heaps
has a frog in it as a result. The slugs etc will of course not always
stay there.

If your garden is shady, you might want to consider deep raised beds
in order to get towards the light. Google for 'lasagna gardening' as a
way of using kitchen waste, garden stuff and manure. Burying
compostable materials in the soil is really a more efficent way of
using them if the plan is to improve the soil. One old use of manure
was in 'hot beds'. That's (ideally in a greenhouse) where a deep layer
of fresh manure is put in the bottom of a trench, then 12" of soil put
on top. The heat from the manure breaking down warms the soil and
helps grow plants very early in the spring. The plant above ground
will need at least a clear plastic protection as well eg a cloche.
Raised beds, say 2 foot high might seem like a lot of work, but they
can be made of almost anything, any size or shape. They are also
compost heaps topped wth soil that never need to be emptied or hidden
away. Could be used as a way of splitting up the long look of the
garden into areas if that suits.

Btw when you come to use the compost in the spring, you might be
disappointed that such a large amount has broken down to so little.
Don't be. Compost made above ground has little main plant food left.
That why you still need a bit of fertiliser. What is does contain
essential trace elements and masses of microbe and insect life. It
feeds worms and they allow air into the soil. The compost holds water
as well. It's the plant version of our '5 a day'. If there's not
enough forspreding over the size of garden, use it by a couple of
trowel loads in the hole when planting new plants. That works really
well.

Wow, Thanks Tony Newton for your full reply, though as a complete novice some of it was lost on me.

I see your point about it being a cold compost heap, and yes it is open to the rain to perhaps I should cover it with tarpaulin?? I'm not too bothered about how long it'll take to break down, but should I still add food scraps to it if it's a cold heap, and if so, will it be a prpblem if the food scaps become larger than the garden waste material in it?

horse manure, my horse is on untreated grass, so if I add it to my cold heap will it help?

Many thanks indeed.

Tony Newton is spot on with that advice !

And you are wise to compost, why take the waste to the dump,
then spend good hard cash for fertiliser, makes no sense.

By the way, if you cover your heap, a bit of old carpet does fine,
it helps retain heat and moisture, plus you will soon find the odd
slow worm has moved in, and frogs, toads and newts will overwinter
in there too. These all do a first class job on your slugs, and you will
be doing a little bit for conservation.

Sorry, I did go on a bit! If you google for some of the terms you will
come across far better explainations than mine. Recycling suitable
'waste' back into the soil is really useful and with your horse you
have potentially a larger supply than most gardeners. I was suggesting
ways to make fuller use if any might be of use to you. Horse manure
does have the reputation of adding a lot of weed seeds to a garden
though. A hot heap or burying it a foot down largely solves that.

Yes, the heap needs to be covered. As others have suggested old carpet
works well. Anything that covers and stops the rain directly falling
on it will work too. Uncovered the heap will soon turn into a soggy
and a bit of a slimely mess. It will still compost, but in the least
effective way. What nutrients that remain will be washed out. A cover
will stop foxes scattering food scraps too.

Don't worry about the ratio of food scraps to ex-garden waste. The
important thing in compost making is a varied mix, and scraps are
certainly that and work very well. Grass clippings are usually the
main problem, they mat down and half decompose and then stop. Mixing
them with scraps and pulled weeds is the answer. Or layered with a
shovel of soil. All kitchen waste can go in eg veg and fruit peelings,
teabags, coffee filter waste, old half used and now soft cornflakes,
lentils you forgot for years, mouldly bread, eggshells, etc. A bit of
scrunchy up newspaper works well too (holds necessary air in the
heap). Cooked or raw food including fish and meat will compost, but
with more objectable smells, bluebottles and vermin. So best to leave
them out. Also leave out hard nut shells, they take years to break
down.

Tim is right, all sorts of insects and with luck a few small animals
will be attracted to your compost heap. A heap is like a small section
of woodland floor in your garden. It's a very busy eco system

Btw it's useful to mix it up a bit. Every month or couple of months,
stick a fork in, lift and let fall. Repeat until bored. That gets the
air and the all important oxygen back in and refreshs the
decomposition process over again. It speeds the process up from a year
or two to months.









On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:13:21 +0100, fimonkey
wrote:


Wow, Thanks Tony Newton for your full reply, though as a complete novice
some of it was lost on me.

I see your point about it being a cold compost heap, and yes it is open
to the rain to perhaps I should cover it with tarpaulin?? I'm not too
bothered about how long it'll take to break down, but should I still
add food scraps to it if it's a cold heap, and if so, will it be a
prpblem if the food scaps become larger than the garden waste material
in it?

horse manure, my horse is on untreated grass, so if I add it to my
cold heap will it help?

Many thanks indeed.