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Thu, Nov 15, 12 at 20:48
| I'm interested in lasagna gardening and reading up on composting!! I'm so confused. I thought composting was throwing organics in a pile and turning! But I have been reading about green layers and brown layers etc! So I guess I need to figure out an easy way to start. Just a few questions:
Should compost area / bin be in the sun? Should it have a lid to keep rain out? Many more questions but that's a start! :-). Thanks for any input! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Welcome zander56. You are going to love this place and all the helpful people here. Go back to the garden forum page and look at the second column "By Topic" and scroll down to the "composting" link. You will find all the information you need there. Also, type in "lasagna beds" in the search function for specific information there. Relax, as you have a ton of information at your fingertips there. Have fun! |
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- Posted by phoenix7801 8b (My Page) on Thu, Nov 15, 12 at 23:49
| Welcome to the madness which is composting! When it comes to composting their are two types of materials that comprise a pile: greens and browns. Greens are most of time the what they sound like: green leafy soft succulent fleshy moist items i.e. scraps of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, coffee grounds, old weeds and manures. They have a carbon to nitrogen ratio that's less that 30 to 1. If you were to just pile these all together in a moist pile, they will smell...badly. Browns are also just what they sound like: brown dry brittle tough i.e. cardboard, wood chips, paper, bark, hay and straw. These have a ratio that's higher than 30 to 1. If you moisten these and pile them up it nothing happens...at least nothing too obvious. In active composting you ideally want to have a ratio of 30 to 1 in a pile that's roughly 3x3x3 or a cubic yard. This allows the pile to have enough fuel and mass to properly heat up. Unless wanna do extra work when your initially building the pile, doing layers makes more sense. Lay down some browns and on top of that lay down some greens. For example, start with a 2 inch layer of fallen leaves and on top of that put a 1 inch layer of coffee grounds. For the next layer change it up...raid your paper shredder and throw it in and on top of that old veggie scraps do wonders. Continue alternating layers and sprinkle on a little water now and then until your 2/3 of the height. Do you have any particular weeds that have gone to seed but you want to use them without the seeds germinating? Put them in the center of the pile at this point. Continue filling up with more layers until its just slightly taller than you want it to be. Now the magic happens. In a few days your pile should begin warm up. The nitrogen in the greens allows the browns to break down giving the microbes food to eat and multiply. As an added benefit they release heat during this time. Its not unheard of for a pile to reach 160�+. Go ahead and stick your hand in the middle hut be careful. This is the reason for the seedy weeds in the center. Eventually the temps will recede due to the microbes using up all the fuel in the center. By then taking that pile turning and mixing it up you introduce a new area for microbes to colonize and eat. It will heat up again. Make sure to cover the pile so that rain doesn't shut down your pile. Let it heat up and then recede and continue turning it after this happens again and again. Eventually it will use up all the fuel and will begin to look like good compost. From there you can use it as a mulch or till it in. I may have forgot somethings but if you have any questions we all are here to help. |
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| Thank you sooo much for the help! I bought a bin, have a big bag of coffee grounds, tons of leaves and a bag of shredded paper! Sounds like a good start to me! How often should I turn do you think? I've read weekly, monthly and almost never!? |
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- Posted by nancyjane_gardener USDA 8ish No CA (My Page) on Fri, Nov 16, 12 at 20:39
| I have a tumbler and I don't have a lawn for grass clippings. I just toss the kitchen waste into the tumbler (I tend to chop larger stuff like melon rinds up into smaller pieces). I then add a good amount of leaves about once a week and tumble! Tumbling is easier on my back than turning. When things start to break down after a few weeks, I turn the whole thing into a standing composter to "finish" As Phoenix said, it's easier to do the layers if you are just starting out, but also, don't stress on it! Compost happens! Do some reading around here and you'll learn a LOT! Have fun and happy gardening/composting! Nancy |
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| Composting can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. The link below takes you to one of the best composting tutorial sites I have found. Composting and Lasagna Gardening are different and most likely the best source of information about Lasagna Gardening should be form the person that first described it, Pat Lanza. http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm |
Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 12:33
| This discussion lists a few things people don't compost and why. Basically, you need to know if it *can* compost, then decide if *you* want it in your compost. "Composting can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. " I couldn't agree more! |
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- Posted by prairiechuck1 Michigan (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 23:32
| Thank you for posting Kimmser ! |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 14:53
| "I thought composting was throwing organics in a pile and turning!" It is. Everything else is just tweaking the process. Note, Mother Nature does not even bother to make piles. :-] |
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