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| Jon Hughes
When you add your compost, how thick do you add to your beds each year? Also, do you turn it in, or just add it to the top and plant in it? Thanks Ken |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I don't know about Jon Hughes, but the normal practice of leaving finished compost on the surface is called 'mulching'. The nutrients are allowed to be pulled down into the soil. The soil surface is encouraged to hold moisture there and hold the temperature at that level for a time which might give newly planted plants time to set roots and delay dormancy. In digging in, the compost is made part of the soil and amends it to the level the compost is able to supply. The usual practice is to dig it in to a depeth of 4" to 6". If manual labor cant do it, the rototiller is a fast, easy and good way to amend with the compost. Not all composts are alike...it can depend a lot on, not just what material is put into the bin, but weather patterns, sun allowance, how the gardener cares for the bin, whether its turned often or irregularly, watered when it needs it, or left to rainfall, covered in winter, or left to fend for itself. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Thu, Mar 24, 11 at 10:20
| Wow... I don't remember Goren ever being so eloquent or succinct. Great Job Goren (or to whoever hacked his username ;-) I always just keep my beds topped off, year round, with the most awesome compost on the planet (Yeah babyyyyy) Because of the way I built my beds, there really is no need to "turn it in" , But if I didn't have this system, I would definitely turn it in.
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| When you lay compost, or any other organic matter, on your soils surface the Soil Food Web works at incorporating that into your soil. When you till compost, or any other organic matter, in you mix that with the soil and the Soil Food Web works at incorporating that into your soil. On rare occassions I have seen where it was necesary to till compost into a soil to get some kind of soil bacteria into that soil so they would work. Just how much you might need to add depends on what is there now, little or no organic matter in the soil means you need a lot. Some to much organic matter in your soil requires only enough to maintain that level. |
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| Now that all makes sense. Good information. Thank you |
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