Turbo-charged…

Day 264 #365DaysWild

Cold afternoon.

Pile of grass cuttings.

Let’s make compost.

Compost is an essential ingredient of a great organic garden.

We don’t use animal manures as it’s impossible to know whether aminopyralid herbicide has been included in the feed that the animal has digested. Unfortunately the herbicide passes through the animal and the resulting manure may be toxic to plants for several years.

Our compost is made entirely of plants or products derived from plants such as cardboard or paper (with a few crushed egg shells added. Plant-based kitchen waste goes in. 

It takes around a year to make what my old dad approvingly called ‘pure plant food’

Todays job was turning compost, adding cardboard and grass cuttings. By turning the compost into another of my pallett bays, air is incorporated which speeds the process. Fresh grass cuttings turbo charge the whole.

I use a compost thermometer to watch the temperature of the compost rocket to 70C.

Finished compost is added to the soil surface.

Compost is rich in invertebrate and fungal life. As a surface mulch there is no need to dig and so the soil ecology is undisturbed and more beneficial for plants.

Healthy soil produces healthy plants.