Kitchen Garden Forum

Last year I ventured into growing some crops (dwarf beans, mange tout, lettuce, toms, spinach), mainly in large containers, all very successful! Want to do the same again this year, and expand a bit.

I am looking to supplement my compost, which I bought last year, with cheaper, or free additives. javascript:emoticon(':lol:') Also, I've saved the compost from last year which wasn't root bound, is it ok to recycle that if I add rotted manure or some chicken manure I have in pellet form?

My main question is this: We have had a compost heap for about 4 years. All that has really gone into it is grass clippings(our garden is mainly laid to lawn) and hedge trimmings (conifer hedge) and probably some dead leaves too. It's grown too big for the little space it's crammed into (behind the garage and shed and up against neighbours boundary) and I am currently removing it bit by bit into the council garden recycling wheelie bin as I was under the impression that grass clippings just became a big black sludge, so I thought that it would be no good for me to use. However, as I get down the pile I find that it looks quite nice and brown and crumbly, if a bit wet at the moment. Lots of red worms around.

So, can I use it for my vegetable growing? If so should I mix it with something? Does it have too much of one type of nutrient, or not a good enough range of nutrients? If I can use it should I start getting air in to dry it out a bit?javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

I'm not organic, but I don't want to be poisoning myself or my 4 year old either! I do put general purpose weed and feed on the lawn a couple of times a year, and those clippings have gone onto the heap, although the last lot which went on was probably over a year ago.

Just looking for some general advice really. And I AM going to be starting a proper compost thing this spring for all my kitchen veg peelings and waste - probably a wormery type thing as we just don't have an area for a proper compost heap.

Hoping someone can advise, would love to use it if I can.

First, let me get one thing clear, The name compost is applied to both special mixture such as Levington or Bowers or Gem compost which is ready to use as a complete medium for growing just about anything, but after a relatively short perion the incorporated feed will be exhausted and additional plant feed will have to be used. It is doubtful if one should plant in it again in its original state but does fine when incorporated into the garden soil to improve its structure,
Turning to the other sot, this is what you get from rotting down organic waste, that is anything that has grown or lived, food, plants, lawn mowings, animal waste and excreta, wood chippings, sawdust, paper,cardboard and so on. There are sometimes problems here, usually too wet, too dry, lack of aeration, too much of one sirt. In the case of grass cuttings you can overdo what you add at any given time. My suggestion would be to mix it with something like the result from a shredder but paper and thin cardboard that has been through a shredder is also very effective. Turning the compost is helpful but you can usually manage to rot everything given enough time. When you finally dig it out anything not completely rotted is added tro the next batch, the worms generally present are helpful in the next load.
I wouldn't advise using this bin or heap compost as if it were the same as the bought in growing media type, the two are fundamentally different.
I hope this helps.

I couldn't see the end of you message when I typed. so a bit more here. If you wanted to use the old bought-in compost again it would probably work but I don't advise it for anything tricky. I cannot be specific about what to add,maybe a dressing of something like fish blood and bone as you would use on a bed but without a soil analysis it is just guesswork. Bear in mind that the medium will no longer be sterile so don't try it for seed sowing. You may find that pelleted chicken manure is too strong in nitrates.
Allan

Having re-read and thought about it, you want to use the garden compost in your containers. If I wanted to do that, albeit experimentally, it would be a mixture of equal parts of the two composts plus about an extra quarter of gritty sand.

Allan has explained all that very clearly. Just one point to add. If you want to make compost for use round the garden you really need to start off with 2 compost bays or bins. You can make them from old pallets nailed into squares adjoining one another, or you can buy posh ones which won't do the job any better but look better. Fill one. Try to mix in different layers if you can. Cover it with old carpet or cardboard etc weighted down with stones and leave it for a good few months. It can be stirred up to speed it up but I don't bother.Fill the other one. When that one's full see if you've got compost in the other one and discard the not quite ready bits into the second bin.

I trust the other posts have separated potting compost and the compost heap for you.
Spent potting compost is not that much different to your garden soil at the end of a season – a little tired but still basically sound.
You say you use large containers – why not pretend they are small gardens?
So dig them over and mix in some well rotted compost heap, say a quarter to a third and add some fertiliser. Could be Growmore, Blood, Fish & Bone, pelleted chicken manure or a Vitax base depending on what you feel comfortable with.
I wouldn’t do it every year, replace say a third of them each year with fresh potting compost in rotation.
I haven’t tried this but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

Thanks for that addendum, Geoff, and at the end of its life in containers anything left over can find a use on somebody's garden rather than going into the council's hole in the ground or whatever. This goes for any growbags too.

Thank you all for input, Geoff what you say is what I was hoping I would hear! So, to recap:

I CAN use my garden compost
I need to mix about a third into my old spent potting compost
Add some sort of fertiliser
use new sterile compost for seedlings (glad that was pointed out to me - wouldn't have been able to see the seedlings for the weedlings!)

I wish I did have room for a proper compost bin as detailed by Jane, but we just don't have the room. That is why I'm going for a wormery as it's small and believe that what comes out the bottom is liquid feed and ready compost.

All the rest of my garden waste (hedge, grass clippings etc) IS being recycled and not going into a hole in the ground, the council collect it from my green garden waste bin, shred it and turn into compost and then sell back to the public.

Cheers all, what an excellent site, now bookmarked. Can't wait to get going on this years crop, may be back for more advice.