|
| I recently finished a 2-year lasagna garden project and am now in the midst of planting. Now that that's finished, I plan on starting a permanent compst bin so I can continue to have good soil ammendmends in the future. So, some questions.
1. Does it matter if I put my bin in the sun or the shade? I assume in the sun things will break down faster. 2. My grass is very weedy (a mix of creeping charlie, purslane, clover, bull thistle, crab grass, dandelions), so I'm thinking I should not add my "grass" clippings to the compost bin. 3. Should I put down some thick cardboard before I put my bin down? I'm thinking of the weeds. I really don't want to add additional weeds into my planting beds. |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| 1. If you're in a warm or moderate climate, put it in a shady area but not too close to the trunk of a tree. In cooler climates out in the sun is fine. If you get a lot of rain, set it up so it can be protected from too much water. 2. It depends on if you plan to do 'hot' or 'cold' composting. High enough temperatures kill weeds and seeds. Dandelions and thistles are fine in compost as long as they haven't formed their fluffy seed heads, so if you're out there pulling weeds, you can put them in. If in doubt, leave it out. Some of those plants are nutritious and good to eat. 3. No, the weeds will be smothered by the compost, and leaving it directly on the ground will encourage earthworms to visit your pile. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Everything You Want to Know About Composting
|
| 1) Sunlight has nothing to do with the digestion of the material in a compost bin. Placing it in shade is fine. In full sun might cause some drying of the upper layers which might cause you to need to wet it more often. 2) If you have no "weed" seeds in the grass clippings you can add them to your compost whether you hot or cold compost, simply because the "weeds" are there does not mean anything. Even if "weed" seeds are put into a compost pile if they are well buried they may germinate and then die because they do not have access to the sunlight all plnats need for growth. 3) There is no need to put anything on the soil where you compost bin will be since the pile of compost will block access to the sunlight those plants need to grow and they will die. If your compost is quite moist and cool, not a hot compost pile, you might get earthworms in there, but earthworms are not major digesters of the raw material that becomes compost. If you get the mix about right (near to 30 parts Carbon to 1 part Nitrogen) and just enough moisture and not too much the bacteria that are the primary digesters will generate too much heat for earthworms to exist in that material. |
|
- Posted by tropical_thought San Francisco (My Page) on Fri, Jun 10, 11 at 11:51
| Put the bin in the sun if you want the compost to happen faster. The heat from the sun, (not the light) helps to heat up the bin. Heat speeds the break down. On the other hand, sun will cause the plastic bin to age faster. Shade is good. It depends on where you can put it so as to be out of the way and not ruin the look of the garden. That is the biggest consideration for me. |
|
| Thanks for the info, everyone. I can't wait to get my bin set up and get started. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Soil Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.