Location: Burnaby North on a slope facing south & a view :-)
Posts: 395
How to compost cuttings correctly and KALE?
COMPOSTING Questions Vancouver Canada
A few in this Forum know my garden by now from photos. For those who don't it is situated between to houses and get nice full south sun in summer but in winter its mainly shade.
I had to cut down all the RED RUSSIAN KALE as it was so infested by aphids I could not eat it anymore. So i cut it down to the earth with the hope that it will make new growth by the next month...
Had to cut down also part of the curly Kale as so infected. Soapy water etc did not help in the long run. ( I still don't know can I plant my Kale seeds and Brocoli seeds NOW outdoors or must I sew it indoors and then move the seedlings outdoors IN WINTER or will they die. I do NOT have much indoor space to play nearly none.
Question 1/
is now I put all the cut off in one empty flower bed..I would like to know IF I cut it all in small pieces and bury it in the earth of that flower bed. Will it be rotten and falling apart by spring? My big black municipality plastic composter is 80% full and I want to keep the space for my kitchen veggies cut offs for winter.
Question 2/
I did put to many needles from the pine ( maybe one 8th of the whole composter)
I wonder what can accelerate the compost. I did add the comfor leaves that I was told accelerate the composting but see no big change when I turn. I still can see
things 99% as they were say 1month after..
I do turn it and add moisture etc....NEver knew it was so difficult to compost and the Racoon is trying now and then to have a go at it. but has not managed yet.
You won't get a lot of decomposition of burried material over the Vancouver winter... the soil is too wet and cold. You need warmth and oxygen for rapid decomposition. But thats OK... the kale will rot in the spring/summer of next year and wont be any hindurance to your flowers until it does. Bury all the organic material you want. It will rot within a year. Just not within a month or two if the season is cold.
The lack of warmth is also probably the reason your composter isn't composting as fast as you would like. Below a certain mean daily temperature the composter will not trap or generate enough heat to keep its center near the 35C optimum. For a typical suburban composter, that mean daily temperature is about 15C, depending on how "hot" your compost mix is. But conifer needles are very "cold" (i.e. they are slow to compost and therefore thet dont generate much heat) so you just arent getting the warmth needed. You need a sunny spot and summer temperatures to get rapid decomposition in the Pacific northwest.
But again, so what? A compost of confier needles and fine leaves DOES NOT HAVE TO BE FULLY COMPOSTED to be usable in the garden. Just mix it with the soil. Unless the leaves form a solid mat that water and roots cant penetrate (and confier needles NEVER do that), your plants wont mind.
Location: Burnaby North on a slope facing south & a view :-)
Posts: 395
Re: How to compost cuttings correctly and KALE?
[quote=Grant Gussie;234585]You won't get a lot of decomposition of burried material over the Vancouver winter...
Hello thank you for writing.. Well my composter is in an "L" corner full south between two walls .. the pine is the only mix the rest is mainly kitchen cuttings ..
Actually WHEN should the compost be used ? After winter and for what ? Do I put it around plants/flowers I can't digg them all up.
Or should I use it for my veggie pads ? and how deep do I put it into the earth..
So if NOW before the winter the compost isn't ready it will not be after the winter either.
so will it be usable in Spring.. Go I can't imagine hadling all the 1/2 rotten stuff ..and I keep on turning but still see many cuttings that are in recognizable shapes such as ognion, banana skinn etc..
We had a 20 weeks SUNSHINE run this summer so the composter should have done well ...
Actually WHEN should the compost be used ? After winter and for what ? Do I put it around plants/flowers I can't digg them all up.
Or should I use it for my veggie pads ? and how deep do I put it into the earth..
So if NOW before the winter the compost isn't ready it will not be after the winter either.
so will it be usable in Spring.
Don't sweat about it. Just put on the ground wherever you want to put it, whenever you want to put it there. Now its best to leave it until its dark and crumbly, which should occur by mid may. But if you can still see some banana peels and you don't mind looking at them, just use it. I put it around my plants just before the summer drought sets in to serve as a mulch. Or I dig it into the soil in early spring. Whatever. Its all good.
Location: North Bend OR US;Oregon coast, just N of Coos Bay
Posts: 190
Re: How to compost cuttings correctly and KALE?
An additional question or 2 on compost:
I was told by a local "Never compost anything from a tree that doesn't have anything growing under it - it will kill your compost."
With a compost "heap," is it good or bad to find fungi growing on it?
Location: Burnaby North on a slope facing south & a view :-)
Posts: 395
Re: How to compost cuttings correctly and KALE?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2annbrow
An additional question or 2 on compost:
I was told by a local "Never compost anything from a tree that doesn't have anything growing under it - it will kill your compost."
With a compost "heap," is it good or bad to find fungi growing on it?
My god :-) the pine needles I composted come from a tree where NOTHING will grow under I tried to plant IVY and even that hasn't grown more than 50cm in 2 years ...:-)
Anyway thanks for all the advise.. lucky the needles don't make the majority I just tried to add something that was sort of airy.
I don't think pine needles will be a problem as I have often heard that you should add pine needles to acidify your soil, so I don't think that they will be a problem.
In the spring, you could put your compost through a sieve (1/4 inch mesh). You just put the fine stuff on your garden and put the rest back on the compost pile.
