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Wed, Oct 17, 12 at 9:31
| Hi
13 years ago I hand cleared an inaccessable 4000 sq meter block. I stacked the loppings in 3M x 3M piles and as high as I could reach. As the piles settled, I added more loppings. The loppings where 5mm to 60mm. When finished, I added heavy logs and stumps to the top of the pile. I have now dismantled a pile. At the bottom I have about 250 to 450mm of brown dry dusty remains thickly matted with near by hedge roots. Is this garden gold, and if I dig it in, will it be nitrogen hungry. It is very dry - hence dusty - but it looks, feels and smells like top stuff. The top debrie and part weathered branches I am restacking and will cover with chuck litter + soil and grass. This time I will keep it moist. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I'd consider it 'garden gold' and use it without worrying about nitrogen. I have similar piles of loppings around my place, do the same harvesting from the bottom, and use the result in potting mix. |
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| What you may have done was a kind of Hugelkulture. What you found at the bottom of that pile could be compost, but is organic matter that your soil probably needs. I have not noticed that that kind of material significantly adversly affected the Nitrogen needs of plants when used as a mulch. Since I have not tilled my planting beds for years I have not tilled any of this in so cannot say if that might have an adverse affect. |
Here is a link that might be useful: About Hugelkulture
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