About the middle of June, I had one bin full of composted grass and leaves and the semi-finished compost in two bins on either side. The material in the foreground is wood chip mulch that is going in the first bin on the left. This material along with two loads of composted HM and composted leaves went in to my new SFG boxes p61305291 by tsebmj, on Flickr This is my third load of HM and it is fresh, right out of the horse’s dupa. It will be used for my fall composting. The third bin back, contains the early crops from the garden and the pile in front of the bins is the remaining garden debris. pa2007621 by tsebmj, on Flickr I shred everything that goes into the compost bin. This debris along with about ½ yd of HM filled the first bin. pa200763 by tsebmj, on Flickr The second bin from the right, is annuals, canna lilies, dahlias, potted plants and of coarse HM. p61305291 by tsebmj, on Flickr After about three weeks, the three bins had reduced in volume to where I could put the contents of the three bins into two bins. The debris in the foreground is some fall leaves, grass clippings, more cannas, hanging baskets and mums. pb020800 by tsebmj, on Flickr At the time of this photo, it was 45 deg and you could see some vapor coming from the piles after composting for three weeks. pb040801 by tsebmj, on Flickr I will keep enough fall leaves to fill the fourth bin from the right and the rest is going to city hall this year. pb060806 by tsebmj, on Flickr
Looks like you've got composting down to a fine science! I'm still struggling with my little compost barrel. It's black and gets alot of sun and 100F temps... and things just don't seem to want to break down. Guess I'm not putting in enough "good stuff". I think I need to go steal some manure from my neighbors pasture.
Go to a riding stables and get the bedding. The urine is what you want not the road apples(less weed seeds and less nitrogen).
You seem to have composting down to a fine art John. We have three composting bins here that give us plenty of 'black gold' for the garden. :-D
Hmmmm... a riding stable. Not sure there's any around here. BUT a friend's dad used to train race horses... not sure if he still does or not. Learned something new (again)... thought the road apples were the best to get. My neighbor has cows, would their patties be good to use?
Dang.... wonder how can I convince the cows to just come pee on my garden in the right places at the right time?
