Do I need to inoculate my compost pile?

[Bootsy]

Hi @roadrunner That's a good way to work with the land.

We have no trouble producing sufficient green waste from everything that grows in our garden. Our garden is very bio-divers and we have an award for a wildlife friendly garden. Yes, they do that sort of thing over here

When we first moved here 45 years ago the ground was just heavy clay with a few trees and some grass. We have worked hard over the years to change it into what we think is a very welcoming and friendly garden. We are totally organic (don't use any artificial chemicals), have, literally, thousands of plants and about a hundred trees. We grow a lot of our own fruit and vegetables, have habitats for the creatures and birds and even our cat (sadly no longer with us) was wildlife friendly. The birds were used to him and their young used to play safely around him. He even chased the hawks away from the birds. I don't have any of them all playing but this was typical off them not being bothered although he was sitting nearby. My wife is also friendly with the wild birds and can often just pick them up and hold them in her hands.

I must admit that our climate is ideal for being able to grow things and produce good results. That's why the UK is famous for its gardens.

 

[Purrfluff]

If your compost consists of leaves, grass clipping and green waste then it will not have any clay in it. The idea of making compost is to use materials that rot down, will improve the consistency of the soil and feed the plants. The rotted compost should be put on the surface of the beds (flower, vegetable or plant beds) and just gently turned into the topsoil.

Fallen tree leaves take a lot longer than grass clippings and soft leaves/vegetable matter to rot down. So if you have a lot of fallen leaves in the heap they will take at least a year unless you put them through a shredder first. This can also be speeded up by the addition of chemicals such as Garotta and they are generally known as 'accelerators'. Most contain nitrogen to help encourage the bacteria that actually do the rotting.

The compost should have some small amount of clay in it because I added my (very clayey) garden soil in, as per instructions I read to add garden soil.

Actually, one of the books I've been reading (Vegetable Gardening West of the Cascades by Steven Solomon) says that to produce humus during composting you must add clay. Probably a small amount.

I have a Mantis type mini tiller/cultivator that I use on the raised beds to get deep and fluff up the soil. (The raised beds have an imported top soil and not the native soil). I was planning to put in some compost and then till it in.

I did actually shred the leaves I am adding to the heap. I gathered them up and ran them over with the lawnmower about three times.

I've started a new heap in the now empty space. I dumped in two wheelbarrow loads of grass clippings, some garden waste, some of the native soil, and a bit of the saved up leaves. The leaves have started to stick together. Probably as a result of all the rain.

The compost that is finished or (I hope) close to finished is actually the product of 10 years of throwing stuff into the compost heap. We've never taken any compost out until now.

The plan is to use it in the raised beds to recharge the nutrients and to add some to the native soil in hopes of improving it.

 

[Bootsy]

If it works for you then that is brilliant.

I don't necessarily agree with whoever wrote the book that says you must put clay in the compost to produce humus but I'd rather let the scientists argue over it. From my days of learning Latin (when I was young it was a compulsory subject in school) the word 'humus' is the Latin word for soil.

When we first moved into our place (45 years ago) the garden was solid clay with a layer of approximately 2" of topsoil on top. After all these years of producing our own compost the flower and shrub beds now have a good 9" of topsoil and the vegetable garden has about 2ft of topsoil. The lawns still have the original 2".

The 'topsoil' has some of the clay in it from the constant digging that we originally did and clay contains excellent nutrients.

A very interesting blog to read is this American one.

http://www.gardenmyths.com/what-is-humus/

 

[Silentrunning]

After reading this thread, I thought I would go out and check my compost piles. They are all frozen solid.

 

[MaryMary]

I thought I would go out and check my compost piles. They are all frozen solid.

If it makes you feel any better, (in this weather... take what you can!) ... I did a lot of reading on maintaining a worm bin. They said that if you have too many kitchen scraps, freeze them to wait for the next feeding. They said that the expanding and contracting of freezing and thawing would help break down the molecules in the scraps and make them easier for to worms to eat.

Give it another two months, and they'll have a heyday!!

 

[roadrunner]

I like books/articles that challenge garden myths. One of the best books I've read on gardening was one that attacked so many myths. It was this book by Linda Chalker-Scott https://www.amazon.com/Informed-Gardener-Linda-Chalker-Scott/dp/0295987901

And she had a pod cast with the same title: https://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/podcast/

As far as using the term Humus I've learned just to not use it, even in its correct connotation, because it's such a misunderstood concept.

Now the only Humus I talk about is Hummus, much less controversial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus

 

[roadrunner]

BTW, I went looking for the author (Robert Pavlis) that Bootsy linked, because I liked his blog and found this on youtube for anyone interested...

 

[Bootsy]

@Silentrunning Even hot heaps will freeze if it gets cold enough.

Now the only Humus I talk about is Hummus, much less controversial

I spell it differently so that I don't make mistakes. Houmous. Most commercial producers over here now spell it that way.

I prefer to make my own. This isn't mine.

 

[Purrfluff]

I finally covered the (hopefully) finished compost with a tarp to trap some heat and keep the rain off of it.

So I started a new heap. A dry spell allowed me cut about a cubic foot of lawn grass clipping and I throw them on the new heap. I mixed in some of the shredded leaves I saved from fall. I figured that with the lack of rain it wouldn't accomplish much.

But already the grass clippings are starting to get an ammonia smell and I could swear that I saw some steam rising off of it when I poked at it. I assume I need to either turn it or add more leaves for carbon? I realize it's not good to have it starting to smell but the idea of it heating up is gratifying.

 

[Chuck]

The smell is not a good thing. If it smells like ammonia it isn't getting enough oxygen.

 

[Purrfluff]

Should I turn it a lot or add leaves? Or both?

 

[Chuck]

Should I turn it a lot or add leaves? Or both?

Dead leaves won't make it smell. What causes the odor is a lack of oxygen and this comes from either not turning enough or adding too much green or too wet. Usually its being too wet. I might turn mine once every couple of months and then only the new stuff I've added.

 

[Purrfluff]

What I put on there was 90% fresh lawn grass clipping. My thinking about the leaves is that I may have too high a ratio of greens to browns (nitrogen to carbon). I just went after the heap with my mini tiller and mixed in some more leaves and soil. Now I'll let it sit for a couple of days and give it the smell test.

 

[Chuck]

What I put on there was 90% fresh lawn grass clipping. My thinking about the leaves is that I may have too high a ratio of greens to browns (nitrogen to carbon). I just went after the heap with my mini tiller and mixed in some more leaves and soil. Now I'll let it sit for a couple of days and give it the smell test.

Also, when you add a lot of green, don't just pile it up. Scatter it about and bury some of it., not just a mass of green stuff.

 

[Purrfluff]

Also, when you add a lot of green, don't just pile it up. Scatter it about and bury some of it., not just a mass of green stuff.

I thought that you had to have a heap that is fairly compact if you want it to heat up? I'm concerned that if I spread it out the reaction will slow down or stop altogether.

After going it after it with my mini tiller the heating up stopped. So I threw some more grass on there today.

I will admit that I am irrationally delighted to see steam coming off the pile because I've been seeking this sign of activity for so long.