"Composting is the backbone of good horticulture".....Read that one day and so tried it to determine whether or not it was true....
11 months and 2 dumptruck loads-worth of composting later, I learnt that the statement seemed true !
And all it is(was) was just Carbon plus Nitrogen plus H2O !.....
Chicken manure, Horse manure, cow manure, seaweed, coffee grounds, grass clippings, sheeps blood and guts ; thems were my Nitrogen ingredients.
Alder leaves, Maple leaves, bark mulch and wood chips - thems were some Carbon ingredients.
Would use the sheet metal from an old above ground swimming pool to form a large tub to fill (aprox. 2 cubic yards at a time).....
Add water whilst filling it, throw a blanket (tarp) over the cylinder once filled up, and start checking on it every day....80 degrees / 90 degrees, 100 degrees, 110, 120.....129 degrees (ONCE it hit 140).....
After about 8 days unraveled the cylinder, re-set it up alongside the pile.....and then began transferring the (steaming) contents to the new cylinder....Another 8 days later (if I still had the energy), I'd repeat the whole process once more !
Within about a one month period, I'd have 2 cubic yards worth, of just unbelievable compost !.....
I'd head off to a nursery, come home with some plants, park 'em there and they'd go BOOM !.....
Yes ?....Am (was) a horrible gardener until I discovered, that....."Composting IS the backbone of good horticulture".....
but enuf about me and my compostings eh ?.....You've an excellent thread here it looks like !
Thanks....Thanks for providing so much info !
RT
