Harvest from the Earth

COMPOST -Brown Gold

Healthy plants need healthy soil and well-made compost is at the top of the list of soil improvers. It supplies a mix of nutrients as well as coarse organic material that helps aerate the soil.

Earthworm manure, or vermicompost, is 10 times more nutritious than commercially bought compost. It is a natural fertiliser and soil conditioner. Plants that receive vermicompost are healthier, disease resistant and drought tolerant.

Vegetables are more productive and full of flavour. The earthworm species (Eisenia fetida), which produce vermicompost, feed on decomposing organic matter and produce waste (called castings) that contains five times more nitrogen than topsoil, as well as high amounts of potassium and phosphate.

Another by-product is earthworm tea. It is a combination of earthworm urine and the liquid leached from the decomposing material. It can be diluted with water (1:50) and used as a foliar feed, as a rooting agent or as a pre-soak for seeds. The only way to harvest this waste, is to keep a wormery. This is simply a container in which the earthworms are kept, in conditions that are dark, warm and moist. They are fed whenever necessary, on fruit and vegetable scraps, or soft garden waste. It is as simple as that. The cost of a ready-made domestic system can be from R550.00 (approx. $55.00) to several thousand rand, but it includes the worms and once it is in place, can last virtually forever.

GREEN TEA

Green tea is made from soft, dark green leaves such as comfrey, yarrow and borage leaves. Green tea is best for leafy vegetables. the dilution rate is generally 1 part tea to 7 parts water.

MANURE TEA

Manure tea is made from any kind of manure. some manure is strong than others. For instance, only two handfuls of chicken manure are needed compared to three to five handfuls of cow or horse manure.

Good sources are stables, dairies, as well as nurseries that sell manure in bags.

The final tea should be the colour of weak tea. Manure tea is a good root drench for vegetables, flowers and containers.

If using seedlings, the dilution rate should be 1:12, but for larger plants can be 1:7 or 1:10.

FINDING SPACE

The ideal site is a level piece of ground with the top and sides open to the air to aid decomposition. Ready-made compost bins and drums are also available from garden centres and hardware stores.

THE RECIPE

The basic method is to alternate wet, green material (nitrogen rich) with dried (carbon rich) material, interspersed with activating materials like manure, already made compost or soil.

INGREDIENTS

• Dried leaves

• Grass cuttings

• Garden waste, like shrub prunings, spent annuals, weeds (without seeds or flowers)
• Shredded newspaper

• Kitchen waste: vegetable and fruit peelings (except potato peels and citrus), eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds.

• Ash from a wood fire

• Manure

• Pine needles, hay, peanut shells

WHAT NOT TO USE:

Meat and fish left-overs, cat litter, dog droppings, coal ash, magazines, synthetic fibres, glass, tin or plastic.

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Autumn respite

The days are cooler, some actually cold and gardening has almost come to a stand-still, consisting mostly of clearing leaves, neatening borders and fixing up messes made by the chickens. The Marigolds are all but gone with the exception of a few new seedlings which are not going to make it as the days get colder. Our unusual autumn rains have definitely confused the issue as stacks of Nasturtium seedlings have also appeared - these might just survive the winter, I often have Nasturtiums flowering right through the year. But my garden birds are enjoying the  cooler days and spend a lot of time at the bird feeders and bird baths. During winter I always step up the amount of feeding as seeds and grubs get fewer and fewer.

Marigold seedlings intent on facing the wrath of winter

Two metal birds standing watch over the newly-planted Kniphofia (Red Hot Pokers)

My Halleria lucida (Tree Fuchsia) recovered nicely from last winter's frost, but will soon be leafless again

My efforts at starting a compost heap has been a total failure. I followed all the guide lines and it grew bigger and bigger, turning into a huge pile of leaves and other necessary materials and no sign of the 'black gold' I was trying to cultivate! The only good that came out of it is that the chickens had a great time scratching it about! Oh my. So this week the whole heap will be spread around the garden as a mulch, hopefully protecting many of the plants' feet against the impending cold.

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Queen of my own compost heap!

"I'm queen of my own compost heap; I'm getting used to the smell!"

A couple of months ago I started a compost heap again. Can't remember why I gave up the last one... Probably when I got my chickens and all my time was taken up playing with them and building them a coop. But buying commercial compost has not been working for me, the last time I bought some and composted the garden, one of my chickens got terribly ill with Avian botulism. It might have been the commercial compost and it might not have been, but it was too much of a co-incidence that she got sick a day or two after I had composted. Unfortunately she is one of those chickens that eats ANYTHING, stuff that my other girls would turn their noses up at, and I feel one just doesn't know what chemicals are put into even "organic' compost.

So don’t throw away materials when you can use them to improve your lawn and garden! Start composting instead! There is something magical about taking a pile of waste and turning it into black gold – because this is what composting does: it transforms discarded organic matter into nutrient-rich compost. I find it highly satisfying having a separate bin in the kitchen for potato peels, tea bags and other food waste. This gets emptied on top of my compost heap every morning and three times a week all the leaf litter and grass cuttings from the garden is added. I bought a couple of tins of (live) earthworms from a fishing tackle shop and, besides adding them directly to my garden, have also put some into the compost heap and I've been surprised at how they have multiplied!

Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down the organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. In every forest, grassland, jungle, and garden, plants die, fall to the ground, and decay. They are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear into the brown crumbly forest floor. This humus keeps the soil light and fluffy. I therefore hardly ever clean up leaf litter from within my flower beds and though some might not like the look of such an "untidy" garden, I also enjoy watching the Thrushes scratching around in the leaves, enjoying the insects and snails hiding underneath.

This work is deeply simple. All you need is a shady piece of ground large enough for a compost pile that is at least 1×1x2m. First you fork open the soil beneath your proposed pile and arrange a base made of old plant stalks, stems, and soft woody debris. Next you mound on top of this base a deep layer of green, nitrogen-rich materials like garden weeds and grass clippings, mixed with animal manure and kitchen scraps.

The following layer is dry, carbonaceous material like straw and old leaves, or wood chips and sawdust, all well watered so that your pile is nice and moist. Continue to layer your compost green material and then let dry until you have a tall, noble pile, as high as you can reach.

Every compost pile is alive, teeming with billions of invisible micro-organisms digesting your autumn mountain of garbage. In a few short days a healthy compost pile begins to steam with metabolic life as clouds of heat-loving bacteria break down raw protein and complex carbohydrates into amino acids and simple sugars, generating temperatures as high as 72ºC.

This breakdown stage is followed a few weeks later by a build-up stage that lasts for more than a month as complex fungal networks absorb the pile’s free gases into their web work of mycelia, reducing leaching of nutrients, disarming pollutants and disease pathogens, and physically binding soil and compost together, creating stable aggregates that increase water infiltration and retention.

In the last stage of decomposition a few months later—or sooner, if you turn your pile—your mound will be alive with sweet, woodsy-smelling compost laced with up to one hundred industrious compost insects per square foot, intertwined with writhing red compost worms testifying by their presence that decomposition is complete.

Compost Materials
Almost any organic material is suitable for a compost pile. The pile needs a proper ratio of carbon-rich materials, or “browns,” and nitrogen-rich materials, or “greens.” Among the brown materials are dried leaves, straw, and wood chips. Nitrogen materials are fresh or green, such as grass clippings and kitchen scraps.

Food
The 50/50 Rule: A perfect mixture of material consists of brown (carbon-based material) and green (nitrogen-based) material by weight.

Air
To Turn or Not to Turn: The organisms that live inside your compost bin need air to survive. Mix or turn the pile three to five times per season using a pitchfork, garden hoe or shovel. Proper aeration can make a big difference. You will know if your bin is not getting enough oxygen if the pile smells of ammonia.

Water
Moist, Not Damp: The organisms need water to survive, but not too much or they will drown. The ideal moisture level of your compost pile should be like that of a wrung out sponge.

Surface Area
Small is Best: Cut up or shred organic waste materials before placing them into the compost bin. This increases the surface area and speeds up decomposition. You can also store your kitchen scraps in your freezer to speed up decomposition, as your materials break down at the cell level when frozen.

When it comes to WHAT NOT TO COMPOST, the best is to use your common sense. Obvious items like chemically-treated wood products, diseased plants, human and pet waste and MEAT, BONES, AND FATTY FOOD WASTES are big no-no's, as is plastic in any form, tins and glass. Keep it natural and you can't go wrong.

And remember: "A good compost pile should get hot enough to poach an egg, but not so hot it would cook a lobster!"

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