Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi all, Dont know if this post is in the right section but here goes.

as most of the good and great people on this forum know i grow
nearly all my veg in planter bags, i know this seems a long winded
post but when i have lifted most of my veg. 1st can i reuse the
old compost 2nd, will i need to add anything to it and if i can what do i add to it,
or 3rdly will i just have to dump it and start again.
thanks ash.

I grow peppers and cucumbers in my growbags each year and come the early autumn I transplant greenhouse winter lettuce into them - the lettuce having been sown in trays in August.
I usually empty the compost out of the bags, give it a good watering with liquid manure and reload the bags or use it in pots.

I do very similar as JohnN but find that the tomato bags are usually completely filled with fibrous roots I tip those onto the garden. Most of the other compost from pots and potato bags is reused for either winter salads or winter flowers in pots (wallflowers, pansies, bulbs).

As I've mentioned before, since moving I've had to grow all my veg in containers of one sort or another. Setting out on this new path, I asked the RHS advisory service for advice on composts. They recommended using a good peat-free organic compost, replacing a third of it each season (and also adding good garden compost when available). What wasn't clear was whether they meant just to take a third out and top up with new, or thoroughly mix the new with the old. I've tended to be lazy about it, but in this second season things still look good.

If you have a compost pile what I do with any spent containers particularly those that become rootbound, is add them in layers mixed into the compost pile with kitchen waste etc, worms work it into the compost adding the benefit of worm casts to the mix and the whole lot adds to the bulk and when rotted down hey presto, you have a nice pile of revitalised compost ready to use, very little work needed n your part, just let the worms do the work.

thankyou one and all for your replies
i think they are all useful a neighbour of
ours has a couple of ponies and she said
i could have as much of there poo as i want
so would that be ok to mix in with the compost.
ash.

Please read the sticky Aminopyralid thread before using pony-poo.

Thanks Peter, i think i will give the pony poo a miss
even though where she keeps the ponies is on a small
field next to the farmers house, cripes and the thought of
free manure ah well.
ash.

Hi Ash,
I would not give up on the pony manure because although Amino Pyralid is used by some farmers there are many more that would never trust it.
I walk (or to be strictly true I troll through our hay on an all terrain vehicle) our hay and anything untoward is either dug up or killed off and reseeded.
If you can find out the source of your neighbours hay supplier would be an advantage. Most people with ponies either make their own hay or buy from local suppliers.
Just make the enquiries and then if neccessary do a small plot and grow a Cress Test and see what happens.
Don't just give up on a good supply of compost especially horse or pony manure it is too valuable to miss.
JB.

Johnboy wrote:Don't just give up on a good supply of compost especially horse or pony manure it is too valuable to miss.
JB.

What about cow-poo, I have lot's of well-rotted and now dry cow-poo in the adjacent farm-barns where the cattle used to live. What I did so far is to treat it the same way as RHS recommend for nettle and comfrey by soaking it in a water-tub. I have killed a few plants though also had some success.

Right now I'm in the doldrums and blaming that New Horizon organic compost for failures. If I use cow-poo juice I'll blame that for any failures rather than my lack of experience.

This growing food business is very-stressful for me at the moment.
_____________
Richard.

Do the "bean test" on any horse muck or cow muck before using it.
JB, I envy you, down here horses are crammed into a field and left there all year round, you can watch then trying to graze the wicket-short grass, four or more to the acre and everything bought in.

The wish to have a horse outweighs the ability to pay for sufficient space to support it.

peter wrote:Do the "bean test" on any horse muck or cow muck before using it.
.

I did a search for the 'Bean-test', lots of references but I can't find the details. Please help.

And-yes, possibly more stupid questions coming up. Let me guess, plant a bean plant in material with the muck in it. If it dies, the muck is too strong.

Can't be that simple when an extra pint of water might have done the trick. Come on, I'm easily taught but I am a novice.

Read the aminopyralid sticky at the top of Weeds, Pests & Diseases, link herethis

A little way down is a link to another site, where, again a bit down the page, are the instructions for the bean text.

Hi Peter,
I have seen some of the disgraceful practices used by some horse owners in the south and especially Hertfordshire and Essex. I am happy to say that hereabouts these practices do not occur and horses are to say the least somewhat pampered unlike their home county cousins.
There really should be a law regarding over stocking an area with horses.
Thinking about it there probably is a law and I know that the RSPCA do have a crack at these people now and again but it should again and again and again until the practice is stamped out. The practice is purely and simply animal cruelty.
JB.

Hi Richard,
It seems that you have a goldmine on your doorstep. Well rotted manure can an absolute boon but don't simply rush in because sadly today there has been this awful chemical amino pyralid.
I would take samples from as many different places in the old cattle lines and if very dry simply try rehydrating with only the amount of water it will absorb. Then dig some into a small plot and do the bean test. With even the slightest hint of AP the beans will grow deformed.
I do not know how much ground you have to play with but if you could use two plots and alternate every year until you are sure that it is safe.
Next year dig a plot and grow potatoes and if you end up with fern foliage then all would not be good but otherwise go for it.
JB.