Elephantine compost
Apr. 24th, 2012 21:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillI'm going to have to pace myself with building compost piles... I just doubled the size of the front windrow, and I've already made a good start on mowing the Back Forty, which will have its own (monumental) version. If I'm not careful, I'll spend most of the next three weeks just turning and fluffing.
Fortunately, the stuff does sit and wait well, if I have it scattered or gathered into very small (1' tall) piles. It dries and turns brown, but that helps to bring up the C:N ratio of the finished pile, which (by the faint ammoniac smell of the first one) is probably a good thing. Browns are always what I'm short on at this time of year. If it's a matter of a few days, I can also build the pile but not water it, and if it has a decent amount of dry matter, it won't heat up until I dampen and cover it. That's how I expanded the front one, as this is the off day for turning the first half, and I might as well do it all in one go. If I feel like I need to stagger it, I can do that later on. (Ah, it's set to rain tomorrow, which may start that half of the pile without the use of a hose... must find more plastic to cover it with.)
Speaking of browns, I'll need to hit my stack of bagged leaves pretty heavily when I mow the lily-of-the-valley vine. Talk about wet and verdant green -- it's probably got a C:N of 20:1 or less, very very nitrogen heavy. It composts rapidly as a result, and it should yield huge amounts of compost (given how much vine I have to start with). More hours of pitchforking... at least if I use up a bunch of bags of leaves, that will give me more plastic to use as cover. If I don't give up and buy dropsheets, or go without.
Lord only knows what I'm going to use all of this compost for; I'm looking at a rough estimate of 5 cubic yards of compost from the front windrow, and about 3.5 times that from the back. That's 18 cubic yards of compost, which is approximately two dump-truck loads. Spread four inches thick (who ever spreads compost that thick?) that would cover about 1,500 square feet. Whoa Nelly!
I've never composted all this mowed material before, and (hopefully) I'll never have this much to do ever again. Which might be a good thing... talk about epic feats and impressive quantities. At least it looks like it's killing the weed seeds, and I'm all for anything that does that.
Hey, I need some sort of mulch for the sidestrip, to cover the cardboard I'm killing the bermuda with, and compost would be a darn sight easier to plant groundcovers into than wood chips would be.... hmmmmmmm. the main 60'x14' portion would use a little over half of the finished compost, and that might be a very good purpose indeed. I'll keep it in mind.
Nothing about this place is on a small scale. Seriously.
Fortunately, the stuff does sit and wait well, if I have it scattered or gathered into very small (1' tall) piles. It dries and turns brown, but that helps to bring up the C:N ratio of the finished pile, which (by the faint ammoniac smell of the first one) is probably a good thing. Browns are always what I'm short on at this time of year. If it's a matter of a few days, I can also build the pile but not water it, and if it has a decent amount of dry matter, it won't heat up until I dampen and cover it. That's how I expanded the front one, as this is the off day for turning the first half, and I might as well do it all in one go. If I feel like I need to stagger it, I can do that later on. (Ah, it's set to rain tomorrow, which may start that half of the pile without the use of a hose... must find more plastic to cover it with.)
Speaking of browns, I'll need to hit my stack of bagged leaves pretty heavily when I mow the lily-of-the-valley vine. Talk about wet and verdant green -- it's probably got a C:N of 20:1 or less, very very nitrogen heavy. It composts rapidly as a result, and it should yield huge amounts of compost (given how much vine I have to start with). More hours of pitchforking... at least if I use up a bunch of bags of leaves, that will give me more plastic to use as cover. If I don't give up and buy dropsheets, or go without.
Lord only knows what I'm going to use all of this compost for; I'm looking at a rough estimate of 5 cubic yards of compost from the front windrow, and about 3.5 times that from the back. That's 18 cubic yards of compost, which is approximately two dump-truck loads. Spread four inches thick (who ever spreads compost that thick?) that would cover about 1,500 square feet. Whoa Nelly!
I've never composted all this mowed material before, and (hopefully) I'll never have this much to do ever again. Which might be a good thing... talk about epic feats and impressive quantities. At least it looks like it's killing the weed seeds, and I'm all for anything that does that.
Hey, I need some sort of mulch for the sidestrip, to cover the cardboard I'm killing the bermuda with, and compost would be a darn sight easier to plant groundcovers into than wood chips would be.... hmmmmmmm. the main 60'x14' portion would use a little over half of the finished compost, and that might be a very good purpose indeed. I'll keep it in mind.
Nothing about this place is on a small scale. Seriously.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 06:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 06:44 (UTC)If I do manage to make it, I'll bring a couple of bins, but I still can't drive our pickup any appreciable distance. Hopefully a nice hot summer will cook more of the new-car smell out of it.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-26 02:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-26 06:39 (UTC)That was in the back, though; the front is perfectly normal so far as I can tell. Compost would probably be good for a while there.