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  • #16
    Originally posted by Jungle Jane View Post
    You wouldn’t have a compost heap of brown’s,chicken pellets,browns,chicken pellets,can you imagine the compost from that. The green waste helps with the decomposition.
    Actually, that would make excellent compost, as long as you added supplementary water.
    Woody material alone makes excellent textured compost. The problem is that it's lacking in nutrients in general and nitrogen in particular, meaning that on its own it is very slow to rot and the resulting compost is low in nutrient. Adding high-nitrogen animal manures rectifies that.
    The "green" material one puts on the compost is, in actuality, mostly water, and although it does indeed have more nitrogen and other nutrients than do the brown materials, it is still not exactly an ideal source of them. Besides adding what nutrients it can, it's main purpose is to add water and to provide a soft material that will fill gaps between harder materials. Neither of those things are a problem when the decomposition is taking place underground, however, as the surrounding soil fills both of those roles. All that really matters is nutrient (or more specifically, nitrogen) levels.
    Home compost is made the way it is not because it is the ideal method (it's far from it), but because it is an efficient way of processing the materials used. A garden or allotment generates a lot of waste, and so composting that gets rid of that waste and provides a free source of compost at the same time.
    The ideal method of composting, it terms of both speed of composting and quality of the finished product (both texture and nutrient content) involves the hot composting of large quantities of woody materials, as finely shredded as possible, mixed with something high in nitrogen and water retentive, such as animal manure.

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    • #17
      I now have the bed topped up with soil, I will now leave it over the winter and see how it settles down, one thing I was happy about was the number of worms I came across while shifting the soil, I am still leaning towards the seaweed keeping the flatworms away, hopefully they will stay away
      Last edited by rary; 25-10-2021, 10:00 AM.
      it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.

      Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers

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      • #18
        As there was very little rain today, a couple of short showers, I actually managed to get out to the garden today, sadly all the rain has created a problem, due to the wet weather I didn't get the opportunity to fit retaining bars along the wooden side so it is now leaning outwards, I have fitted a temporary support and will repair it once I get the space to drop the soil, I now need to move several barrow loads of gravel, lift out a couple of sleepers and remove a fence, was needing replaced anyway, the big problem is where to put the gravel, but will get that solved some way, without throwing them out
        it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.

        Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers

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        • #19
          Just a thought on the gravel.
          Use it to make extra drainage for an asparagus bed.
          Feed the soil, not the plants.
          (helps if you have cluckies)

          Man v Squirrels, pigeons & Ants
          Bob

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          • #20
            Still unable to sort the timber wall as wet weather has held me back, one good thing is that with all the rain and time delay the bed has settled down quite a bit, so as I still have some soil to move I can spread it over the top of the bed rather than over the flower beds
            it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.

            Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers

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            • #21
              Originally posted by rary View Post

              I doubt it will be any worse than this year Snoop, I had to water regularly which is something I don't normally have to do, as I have been emptying one of the beds when I got 5 or 6 inches down the soil was as dry as dust and full of roots, as for the nitrogen depletion (I read that word on the back of a cornflakes box and wanted to use it) I am hoping that topping off with compost and seaweed will overcome this, how ever time will tell

              Hi!

              I have not understood right what it looks like exactly. I have to read the text again with a dictionairy on hand.
              One thing which I can contribute to the dry and nitrogen-problem at the top of a raised bed/hügelkultur: My recipe is stinging nettles.

              I put them on top of my beds. A lot of them. They provide the raised beds and hügelbeds with nitrogen.
              They grow all over and cost nothing. I have to walk to my garden 1 km approx. Until I am there, I have a big sack of stinging nettles. I make manure tea of them too for fertilizing.

              But on top of the raised beds they act as mulch and fertilizer as well.

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              • #22
                Originally posted by rary View Post
                Thanks J. J. I have a lot of dahlias and the likes to remove from the garden yet, so I will throw them in on top of the trees, I had intended shredding them and spreading it over the flower beds, but putting it on top of the logs will save me time.
                I have one question concerning the seaweed you mention on other comments: Do they contain salt?

                You seem to live near the sea, what I am envious of, I admit ... :-)))
                There your climate conditions are surely a lot different than where I live: In the south-west of Germany, but near a low mountain range.

                And your top soil was dry all the time? Here, it rained and rained and rained. You must be in a completely different climate region than I am.
                Last edited by Iris_Germany; 14-11-2021, 05:10 PM.

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                • #23
                  Away from the coast comfrey is also good and does not sting while you are harvesting it.
                  Near Worksop on heavy clay soil

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Plot70 View Post
                    Away from the coast comfrey is also good and does not sting while you are harvesting it.
                    Comfrey? I heard that, only that I do not find any here. I looked for it during walkings in vaine.


                    Whereas horsetail and golden buttoms there is a lot and I take them home too. First is full of silicium and the latter I make manure tea from. I have some of the golden buttoms in my garden too because the bees love them.

                    I looked comfrey up btw. some minutes ago and I found astonishing: It is full of proteins! I haven't heard that before. Maybe I will really look for it next year and when I find some, I plant them in my garden. So, thanks for mentioning it.

                    They look pretty and then I cut them for my fertilizer. I have a patch of nettles too in my garden. They grow to be sacrificed for my nettle tea.

                    (What I haven't been aware neither is that comfrey is a member of the borage family. I love borage in my cuncumber salad.)
                    Last edited by Iris_Germany; 14-11-2021, 03:39 PM.

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Plot70 View Post
                      Away from the coast comfrey is also good and does not sting while you are harvesting it.
                      Tell that to my arms...

                      It's true that comfrey doesn't sting, per se, but the bristles bring my skin out in a horrible rash. I think others here have experienced that before, too.

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                      • #26
                        I get a rash too ameno.

                        I use it quite a bit - steamed and wrapped around achy joints. Does the trick - but the bristles itch afterwards.
                        "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                        Location....Normandy France

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Plot70 View Post
                          Away from the coast comfrey is also good and does not sting while you are harvesting it.
                          Always in my bag when I am walking to my garden:
                          Heavy construction work gloves.
                          Without them, I would not dare to collect nettles.
                          They are my armor.



                          Attached Files

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Iris_Germany View Post

                            Comfrey? I heard that, only that I do not find any here. I looked for it during walkings in vaine.

                            I looked comfrey up btw. some minutes ago and I found astonishing: It is full of proteins! I haven't heard that before. Maybe I will really look for it next year and when I find some, I plant them in my garden. So, thanks for mentioning it.
                            Please be aware that comfrey can be difficult to control, unless you obtain a sterile strain, if you can some I would highly recommend it as that is all I use for feeding my tomatoes
                            it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.

                            Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers

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                            • #29
                              You certainly need gloves for dealing with nettles. I can tolerate them to some extent but not if I am harvesting them in any quantity.
                              I find comfrey mildly itchy but the bees love it.
                              I just put comfrey leaves on the ground and let them dry out. Next time it rains they disappear into the ground. I do not quite see the advantage of tea unless there is some kind of fertilizer emergency.
                              Near Worksop on heavy clay soil

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by rary View Post

                                Please be aware that comfrey can be difficult to control, unless you obtain a sterile strain, if you can some I would highly recommend it as that is all I use for feeding my tomatoes
                                You mean that they get all over the garden or get very big?

                                My few borage seeds got so humongous plants that they took the place of half of a bed away. I wanted to cut them down, then the bees and bumblebees attacked me ferociously, so that I did not dare to touch them until the end of the season.

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