I'll share the reasons why I compost in piles or windrows in my context: - Digging holes is nearly impossible, especially 1 meter deep. - I need to know where my compost is and how much I have. - I prefer not to have it mixed with soil. Soil has weed seeds I don't want - Even if it's great soil, it dies and loses structure when in pots and becomes compacted, so I make my potting mix with sand and crushed char instead. - I don't water my piles or windrows, they just get rained on and decomposed. - I just cover the piles with grass clippings and there's no smell. But in my system, ashes and char already come incorporated into the kitchen waste and animal manure, which also helps a lot in neutralizing smells. I like your idea of reusable holes though, I'll keep it in mind since you say they are easier to dig after the first time.
Not being able to dig a one metre hole is something I never considered. Controlling compost was my biggest problem as well. Soil desperation made me rethink this issue. I needed more compost than my compost pile was providing. I don’t mix my green matter to be composted with soil after harvesting a year later I have no weeds from the green matter Having enough green matter is my biggest issue.I go looking for it. Yes I like your idea of adding sand to the material I have harvested. I have endless river sand to add to make more soil. I’m fortunate to build on top of a gravel pit . I have no access to ashes. Would love to try adding them. A lot of gardens love the smells and experiences of turning over compost piles. It is an experience to say the least. Yes the reusable holes is a future investment.
Thank you. I've already started adding compostable material to a hole in the corner of my backyard that the council dug up. It's an easement. It's very rare they need to dig. I can't dig too deep because there are sewerage pipes there. But I'm using it for a composting hole, and now I'll cover it with soil.it will form a bit of a hill. But it's nicer than a hole. Thanks for your guidance and confirming my idea. I wasn't sure about it, but it makes sense😊
I do trench composting inside my 3 piggy planters that is a 10inch x 36 inch dimension. I cover it up with existing composted soil. I love your ideas because I do trench composting inside my raised bed gardens. It doesn’t smell and less time consuming compared to the pile up composting method.
I even put roadkill and gut piles 2 feet deep with a layer of charcoal or soil and charcoal mixed together on top, usually with more "compost" and rotten log material and some forest top soil, with the bare root trees I planted and all of them survived!
The diversity of your compost is advantageous. Composting almost anything that can contribute diversity to your trench helps soil diversity and I would argue also the speed of decomposition. Adding cow manure, road kill, fresh comfrey leaves are supposed to really add composting energy to a trench. Just boils down to adding diverse energy for diverse microbes.
Once you have a handful of these active holes where you can harvest great soil your garden is in motion. Harvest the composted materials and refill with green matter over and over again. Amazingly clean and extremely simple. The existing trenches are so easy to re-dig.
The easiest way is filling big tall flower pots with green wastes and kitchen wastes, then put a thin pot soil to plant flowers or vegs, after harvesting plants, tunrn over the flower pots to get good soil.
Hi , I don't have a lot of green material here , it's winter now . Have a lot brown leaves , from where I work. Could I do what you do with greens , and break down ??? Thank You for All Your information .
Brown leaves will compact more in trench composting. Green matter tends to decompose faster if air and water get in and encapsulate the microbes. Green matter can be harvested after 3 months+. Brown matter closer to 6 months if not compacted too much. The only restriction with using leaves is decomposition time.
I didn't make it to the end of the comments so forgive me if this was asked and answered. But once the trench is dug, filled and covered do you plant on top of it? Or just let whatever wants to grow do so and then come back in your rotation schedule? (in the situation mentioned every two years). Thanks much and appreciating the information. Currently in the US dealing with Sand based soil but looking to start something also in South America where the composting situation will be much different dealing with heavy clay soil closer to the type in Ecuador
Near rivers in Ecuador soils are very sandy. We’re I’m clay soil are rare. The composting process in trenches is between three moths to six months. I mentioned two years just as an example. Cover your green material quickly with compost from the same hole. My preference is 30 cm or a foot just to have a good crowing base. My preference is alfalfa because it digs into the green matter with tap roots and starts helping decompose the green matter even quicker. So yes be very selective with your seed choices. Covering the trench with growing life is definitely a huge asset. The compost will be more energetic.
Completely agree. The yard refuse pile I have outperforms the compost bin in terms of production. The bin _can_ be faster but I don't feel the amount of work which goes into managing the bin justifies the labor.
Honestly, I was a compost control freak. Was of the impression that my constant influence made this enormous difference. Long live natural processes…..way more powerful than human arrogance!
I constructed a regtangular wooden box 1.2 m x 730cm. I am composting the Bokashi method (fermentation) after putting it in the "hole" I layer it with dirt. After 2 weeks it turns into soil. So making a wooden lid or two no rodens can come in.
Peter after two weeks exactly what is it you have? Something that is ready to go into the garden? That needs to be buried 30 cm deep to continue decomposing for another two months or more ? Never tried the Bokashi method but the videos I’ve watched are very dishonest about the decomposition time frame. 2 weeks then another two plus months puts it tight back at three months. Seems fussy ?
I'm confused, A)digging a 1.4 meter hole seems like alot more work B) where do you put the material that you dug hole from the hole day one ? C) isn't it going to sink over time?
I like these questions. Digging these composting holes is an investment. We use them into the future. Our location is basically a gravel pit. 1.4 meters is what we dug for our greenhouse. 60 cm to 100 works just fine. The soil/ sand that comes out of the holes is used in the garden. Sand is mixed with soil. Gravel and rocks are filtered out and used on walkways. Whatever comes out of the holes is processed. Fortunate to have great easy to dig materials that are reused. If someone had a really dense clay they might have to haul it away. Worse case scenario but they would have a forever trench. I organize the green matter placed in the hole well switch directions with each layer. The sinking was my biggest worry as well but it is minimal. Really seems to depend on how you stagger the layers. Our greenhouse 1.4 m dig sunk 10 cm after heavy rains. I presume our cover soils washed into the green matter and the green matter shrunk. We have cover crops on top. When we go to finally plant the greenhouse we will add 15 cm from another trench. Hope this gives you an idea that the system is quite flexible.
I do the composting in shallow holes all but I let the kitchen scraps and other materials to ferment for a couple of days or so in 20 liters buckets, adding some water, this way rodents do not find appealing those kitchen scraps. Also, I get fallen leaves, cut grass from neighbors and some friends that do gardening as ther living, for this big amount of material I place them in terraces and let them sit there over wood logs and after a couple of years I can plant some trees or other plants on them.
@@teresamexico309 sounds like your creating a forest floor. Don’t wait ….. seed those areas with ground cover seeds to add more green matter. You can always dig it in. People are always surprised how easy everything germinates in compost piles.
@@Buildingenjoyment I wish I could seed those areas but we get not much rain on this place, it is a semiarid region. However, I do cover the shallow holes with the composting material in with some dry leaves/mulch and the filled terraces with cardboard covers Thank you for your comment.
Your context is different from most persons. Some perspns may not be physically capable or have the space. Also which is more labour intensive is very debatable. Trench composting is more demanding and can harbour rats too. Rats burrow into the ground. There are many ways to do heap or bin or pile composting that are simple, beneficial, safe and effective. Check out the Johnson-Su bioreactor composting system or the Hungry bin or Hotbin composting solutions.
You’re correct. Space and energy are a big part of this equation. My point is the out of sight and ignore scenario. Prepare a hole once and use into the future. I have no soil here in Ecuador these composting trenches are going to keep my garden alive. Lack of green matter is what might make me fail. I’ve never had this productivity with a compost pile. Set up five holes and rotate harvesting and filling. Never wait for usable compost again. Requires land and energy no doubt.
For me it is a toss up between continually shoveling soil (already have no till raised garden beds that are all used all the time) or turning compost in a pile from time to time. Cannot trench directly into the ground - the native ground is limestone covered by about 1/2 inch of dirt. If I had a huge garden space in the ground with already loose soil, would be great.
Rick buy a little jack hammer $ 199 try to get into the limestone. Use the limestone for walkways. I’m doing that with the gravel here. The jackhammer makes quick work of limestone.
I have so little soil. It was time to figure out how to do it differently. I have about 20 holes that are so easy to harvest. I think the reseeding is the key. Harvest save 12 inches put on top of the green matter and seed immediately.
Compost pile sure is a LOT of work, gathering enough materials specially! I'm lucky I work for the county, mowing lawns, raking leaves, just the job I needed to gather my greens and browns! In summertime, when dry leaves are scarce, I use cardboard I left to soak in the rain, combined with fresh grass clippings from mowing, and in the fall, I use clippings with leaves, I have a forest all around me, so it's practical! I also use those soaked half-rotted wood pieces from the forest, I use that in the fall, I cover my garden beds with it, along with some leaves and a little grass too, to have a little nitrogen at least.. I'm interested in time needed for decomposition in those holes, that is the only drawback I can think of, otherwise your method is perfect, I'm worried about oxygen supply, turning over the pile introduces a whole lot of it, so it definitely speeds up the process.. But I'll try with one hole, just to see the difference in composting speed
@@zoranhorvat8284 I can harvest around three months. Will put a disclaimer I use almost exclusively soft green matter. I actually grow a lot of it from seed. Green soft matter that is piled up to allow air and water to enter decays fast. Any twigs found are crumbling. Hope that helped.
@@Buildingenjoyment Yeah, it helped, it is faster than I expected! It takes about 5 months for my pile, maybe shorter this year, cause I made a whole mountain of it :) That is why I'm covering the beds with surplus! Before I covered the beds, I sprinkled a little wood ash too, it was pretty compacted soil when I started growing 4 years ago, but compost, wood ash, cardboard, and rotten pieces of wood turned the table, it's still a little held together, but that's ok, moisture doesn't evaporate that quickly at least!
@@Buildingenjoyment Not a bad idea! Last week I was clearing the storeroom of some old store that was closed long time ago, and I found few bags of Kalcifrit, our Croatian name, it's similar to lime I think, I though to sprinkle that over everything, or half at least, not enough material for everything.. It's for calcification of the soil, and I think it's perfect! It's 10 years old, but I don't think that can go bad.. Found some clover seeds there too, maybe I could try with that over few beds, only, those seeds could be too old after all, now when I think about it
@@Buildingenjoyment I'm also watering the soil with watered-down solution of soaked stinging nettles, when the plant is in leafy stage, for nitrogen, and I water with also watered down solution of soaked banana peals, when it's flowering stage, for potassium, that also helps a little at least, to introduce some of the needed elements..I don't like using anything synthetic, so I use what I can find in nature. The yield is a little smaller then with fertilizers, but healthier! It's a risk, but worth it,when you grow only for yourself.. On bigger scale, I get it.. Last year I lost a whole batch of tomatoes, over 50, went a little crazy that year, and I burned myself.. It rained for a month almost, plants were a little too close together maybe, and I placed mulch too.. I expected drought, and for that scenario, I did everything right, but, with so much moisture, it all went to hell, removing the mulch and thinning out didn't help also, too far gone! Anyway, thanks for reply, I'm digging the hole on Monday, I'll leave the weekend for relaxing!
For good idea for hot and dry Mediterranean region, with 5 months no rain. It is like wormcasting. There is one RUclipsr in Phoenix who buried a box in the ground and throw all the organic material inside.
The argument for compost bins and piles is to have a compost that is hot enough to kill off weed seeds, and to produce compost fast for immediate use. Since your soil has sufficient weed seeds in it that they can sprout for the next decade, having weed seed free compost accomplishes nothing. Whether it makes sense to speed up composting is highly dependent on your specific situation. Processing sod by burying it isn't really composting, but just a different method of killing it off.
@@richdobbs6595 I have no weed issues. I have a real suspicion that the seeds in the green matter germinate and then die off since they can’t reach sunlight. The reason I say this is I dug up a spot that was full of white radishes (Daikon ) that had germinated under 12 inches of soil. The green matter is airy enough for the seeds to germinate. Just a suspicion. A good gardener is also cautious about putting nasty weeds (seeds) in the compost. My garden is the easiest garden I’ve ever had to weed. To me that is the secret to a great garden. The pull the weed test! I always use to find gems in my compost that have against all odds not only germinated but have also started to grow. Your points are very valid. To be really honest with you I wouldn’t want to have to rely on my compost to heat up enough to kill off weed seeds! Never had real success with that in Canada. Once you have a handful of staggered trenches your soil supply = your composting efforts.
@@Buildingenjoyment Where in Canada are you? I'm going to be relatively near Canada, but in Northern Idaho I suspect that I'm going to be in an entirely different situation from you. The soil is shallow and rocky. But for the first couple of years I'll be concentrating on putting in a driveway, septic system and building. So my composting efforts will be targeted at reducing brush to chips and using it to accumulate compost for future raised beds. And then I'll probably be concentrating on building an earth sheltered greenhouse .
@@richdobbs6595I’m in Loja , Ecuador left Victoria ,British Columbia three years ago. Sounds like you’ve your plate full in the next few years. Creating soil in your spare time is an important effort.
my understanding of using "heat" generating compost is not just to kill off weed seeds but also to kill off bacterium etc that may be harmful to humans and animals usually generated from say kitchen scraps etc. Once that compost has reached it's heat levels and is supposedly 'cleaner' then we are able to add healthy bacterium by using organic matter that we are familiar with like what is mentioned here. Since we have lately seen outbreaks of things like listeria etc in the US this idea does seem appealing.
I have two bays which i dont turn or really do anything to. I just build one up for a year and then when Im using that one I build the next one. In a sense they do start as holes and then become piles.
Wouldn't work for me, 1) I only have about 30cm of topsoil before I hit clay, 2) My green waste collection is almost entirely from food waste and grass cuttings, so small weekly amounts. 3) Turning my compost a couple of times is a lot easier that digging down a metre. I slide off the plastic container and fork the pile back in. 20 minutes maximum.
If you have 30 cm of topsoil you’re ahead of most of us. Try growing green matter to increase your composting abilities. Simple seeds like alfalfa, radishes and many other cover crops. You. Can even seed on top of your compost pile.
I didn't know there was much microbial activity at 1 meter depths due to lack of O2. And things are starting to stay cooler at those depths, slowing any reaction rates. The various commercial products like tumblers are good for people who want a 90-day turnaround and don't want to wait years on end for a finished product. I'm not seeing any worms in your "compost."
We have zero worms here. We dug up our greenhouse maybe 50 yards and found one worm. Our food forest was basically a gravel pit. We built on top of it. Worms are being slowly introduced. We have massive grubs that possibly are eating these worms ? Not sure. The earliest I have dug up a trench was after 3 months. The soil is covered in white fibres and close to being ready for use. We need to understand that microbes are motivated by a steady supply of green matter. O2 as air and in the water is more than enough in this layered mess of green matter. The soil is loaded with all types of consumers that show up to process this green matter. We’re able to harvest every week. Why? Having 10 to 20 holes creates an endless supply. It is an investment. We are going to start using the holes over and over agin. Easy digging makes it easy. If someone is scared of a shovel then the system doesn’t work !
Once you dig a hole keep using them over and over again as your green matter receptacle. We’ve sandy soil so digging is incredibly easy. These trenches are buried and seed immediately so they don’t occupy growing space. Time is of course the biggest concern. Once you have five of these holes the trench system should be self sufficient. All I can suggest is to try it out. It requires the gardener to leave certain areas unplanted to set this trench composting up.
@Buildingenjoyment No thanks. I have a heavier loam, a limited annual cropping area with perennials interplanted, a turn over only when needed above ground heap system with a very healthy composting worm and invertebrate population, I can take the amount of compost needed when I need it by shovel or trowel and can use it in potting mix as well as on or in soil. If I had a deep sandier soil I'd prefer to keep organic matter around the surface rather than have it wash through deeper earlier. I've tried bury and plant systems previously. Some crops don't do well over fresh material and some bushes and trees dislike root disturbance but like surface compost feeding. Good luck if it works for you, but I see more disadvantages than advantages and more hard digging rather than light quick shovelling.
@@michaelhowe5369 I’m not at 2 years. Harvested as early as 3 months. At three months I find the compost is covered with a white substance that slowly goes away when exposed to oxygen.
The green matter has so many air pockets for water and air to get in. The 12 inches on top is very grainy previously composted material very fluffy. In 3 months the green matter is perfect soil. Removing the time equation to create compost quickly has been a game changer.
This is too much of a divisive topic that after I got to 2:40 I had enough. What may work for one location might not work somewhere else. Some people live in cold climates where composting is best done in warm months and building hot compost piles IS the best solution. I've watched videos of companies that make quality compost and they all use hot composting because it's the least amount of land usage as they can process it faster, and no they aren't turning stuff by hand. So, too many variables and I wouldn't say businesses that make good money hot composting don't know what they're doing. In fact they're composting on cement. If a person does a LOT of composting which is typical in regenerative agriculture because you need a lot of organic inputs to your beds, well, they all use hot composting. However, a gardener that has 1 acre of land may decide they can afford to lose 30 - 50 sq. ft. making cold compost which will take a year+ to break down. Don't tell other people they're wasting their time without understanding what their constraints are.
Dig a hole every month. Put green matter every month in each hole when you do yard maintenance. Cover with the same compost and seed. After 5 months dig up hole number one and use the compost in your yard. Fill the same hole back up with green matter save enough compost to cover the hole and seed. These compost holes are incredibly easy to dig up. Use the same five holes until you die. Using the same holes is the fascinating aspect of this method. I’m taking about ease of use and out of sight. The constraints of others can’t compete with the simplicity of this method.
@@elliottyeomans654 It's not waffle if some people find it useful. I find this useful for my situation. If you can't make a constructive comment then try not saying anything. Just move on. 😉
Here is the food forest video. ruclips.net/video/zvEBDdjRm4I/видео.htmlsi=jcxskiGA2PbPLcPf
I'll share the reasons why I compost in piles or windrows in my context:
- Digging holes is nearly impossible, especially 1 meter deep.
- I need to know where my compost is and how much I have.
- I prefer not to have it mixed with soil. Soil has weed seeds I don't want
- Even if it's great soil, it dies and loses structure when in pots and becomes compacted, so I make my potting mix with sand and crushed char instead.
- I don't water my piles or windrows, they just get rained on and decomposed.
- I just cover the piles with grass clippings and there's no smell. But in my system, ashes and char already come incorporated into the kitchen waste and animal manure, which also helps a lot in neutralizing smells.
I like your idea of reusable holes though, I'll keep it in mind since you say they are easier to dig after the first time.
Not being able to dig a one metre hole is something I never considered.
Controlling compost was my biggest problem as well. Soil desperation made me rethink this issue. I needed more compost than my compost pile was providing.
I don’t mix my green matter to be composted with soil after harvesting a year later I have no weeds from the green matter
Having enough green matter is my biggest issue.I go looking for it.
Yes I like your idea of adding sand to the material I have harvested. I have endless river sand to add to make more soil.
I’m fortunate to build on top of a gravel pit .
I have no access to ashes. Would love to try adding them.
A lot of gardens love the smells and experiences of turning over compost piles. It is an experience to say the least.
Yes the reusable holes is a future investment.
@@Buildingenjoyment i agree with you!
Some people might consider digging a 1m hole much more effort than turning a stack of compost.
@@sneakythumbs9900 Agreed but dig once use forever. Amazing how easy it easy to harvest this compost!
I came to the same conclusion. I have lovely big worms in my garden, so I feed them direct!
I’m so jealous we have to dig up cubic meters of soil to find a single worm. We do have super sized grubs here the barely fit into your hand.
Thank you. I've already started adding compostable material to a hole in the corner of my backyard that the council dug up. It's an easement. It's very rare they need to dig. I can't dig too deep because there are sewerage pipes there. But I'm using it for a composting hole, and now I'll cover it with soil.it will form a bit of a hill. But it's nicer than a hole. Thanks for your guidance and confirming my idea. I wasn't sure about it, but it makes sense😊
When you put the soil on top seed it right away. That grows helps compost the material faster. The roots will dig into your compost material.
I do trench composting inside my 3 piggy planters that is a 10inch x 36 inch dimension. I cover it up with existing composted soil. I love your ideas because I do trench composting inside my raised bed gardens. It doesn’t smell and less time consuming compared to the pile up composting method.
I even put roadkill and gut piles 2 feet deep with a layer of charcoal or soil and charcoal mixed together on top, usually with more "compost" and rotten log material and some forest top soil, with the bare root trees I planted and all of them survived!
The diversity of your compost is advantageous. Composting almost anything that can contribute diversity to your trench helps soil diversity and I would argue also the speed of decomposition. Adding cow manure, road kill, fresh comfrey leaves are supposed to really add composting energy to a trench. Just boils down to adding diverse energy for diverse microbes.
Once you have a handful of these active holes where you can harvest great soil your garden is in motion. Harvest the composted materials and refill with green matter over and over again. Amazingly clean and extremely simple. The existing trenches are so easy to re-dig.
The easiest way is filling big tall flower pots with green wastes and kitchen wastes, then put a thin pot soil to plant flowers or vegs, after harvesting plants, tunrn over the flower pots to get good soil.
That is an awesome idea!
Been doing this for years. Works perfectly well. Garden shows are now showing burying green waste in raised beds. Will be the new trend.
@@davidtapp4718 Same!
Hi , I don't have a lot of green material here , it's winter now . Have a lot brown leaves , from where I work. Could I do what you do with greens , and break down ??? Thank You for All Your information .
Brown leaves will compact more in trench composting. Green matter tends to decompose faster if air and water get in and encapsulate the microbes. Green matter can be harvested after 3 months+. Brown matter closer to 6 months if not compacted too much. The only restriction with using leaves is decomposition time.
I didn't make it to the end of the comments so forgive me if this was asked and answered. But once the trench is dug, filled and covered do you plant on top of it? Or just let whatever wants to grow do so and then come back in your rotation schedule? (in the situation mentioned every two years). Thanks much and appreciating the information. Currently in the US dealing with Sand based soil but looking to start something also in South America where the composting situation will be much different dealing with heavy clay soil closer to the type in Ecuador
Near rivers in Ecuador soils are very sandy. We’re I’m clay soil are rare.
The composting process in trenches is between three moths to six months. I mentioned two years just as an example.
Cover your green material quickly with compost from the same hole. My preference is 30 cm or a foot just to have a good crowing base. My preference is alfalfa because it digs into the green matter with tap roots and starts helping decompose the green matter even quicker. So yes be very selective with your seed choices. Covering the trench with growing life is definitely a huge asset. The compost will be more energetic.
Completely agree. The yard refuse pile I have outperforms the compost bin in terms of production. The bin _can_ be faster but I don't feel the amount of work which goes into managing the bin justifies the labor.
Honestly, I was a compost control freak. Was of the impression that my constant influence made this enormous difference. Long live natural processes…..way more powerful than human arrogance!
I constructed a regtangular wooden box 1.2 m x 730cm. I am composting the Bokashi method (fermentation) after putting it in the "hole" I layer it with dirt. After 2 weeks it turns into soil. So making a wooden lid or two no rodens can come in.
Peter after two weeks exactly what is it you have? Something that is ready to go into the garden? That needs to be buried 30 cm deep to continue decomposing for another two months or more ? Never tried the Bokashi method but the videos I’ve watched are very dishonest about the decomposition time frame. 2 weeks then another two plus months puts it tight back at three months. Seems fussy ?
I'm confused, A)digging a 1.4 meter hole seems like alot more work
B) where do you put the material that you dug hole from the hole day one ?
C) isn't it going to sink over time?
I like these questions.
Digging these composting holes is an investment. We use them into the future. Our location is basically a gravel pit. 1.4 meters is what we dug for our greenhouse. 60 cm to 100 works just fine.
The soil/ sand that comes out of the holes is used in the garden. Sand is mixed with soil. Gravel and rocks are filtered out and used on walkways. Whatever comes out of the holes is processed. Fortunate to have great easy to dig materials that are reused.
If someone had a really dense clay they might have to haul it away. Worse case scenario but they would have a forever trench.
I organize the green matter placed in the hole well switch directions with each layer. The sinking was my biggest worry as well but it is minimal. Really seems to depend on how you stagger the layers.
Our greenhouse 1.4 m dig sunk 10 cm after heavy rains. I presume our cover soils washed into the green matter and the green matter shrunk. We have cover crops on top. When we go to finally plant the greenhouse we will add 15 cm from another trench.
Hope this gives you an idea that the system is quite flexible.
I do the composting in shallow holes all but I let the kitchen scraps and other materials to ferment for a couple of days or so in 20 liters buckets, adding some water, this way rodents do not find appealing those kitchen scraps. Also, I get fallen leaves, cut grass from neighbors and some friends that do gardening as ther living, for this big amount of material I place them in terraces and let them sit there over wood logs and after a couple of years I can plant some trees or other plants on them.
@@teresamexico309 sounds like your creating a forest floor. Don’t wait ….. seed those areas with ground cover seeds to add more green matter. You can always dig it in. People are always surprised how easy everything germinates in compost piles.
@@Buildingenjoyment I wish I could seed those areas but we get not much rain on this place, it is a semiarid region. However, I do cover the shallow holes with the composting material in with some dry leaves/mulch and the filled terraces with cardboard covers
Thank you for your comment.
Your context is different from most persons. Some perspns may not be physically capable or have the space. Also which is more labour intensive is very debatable. Trench composting is more demanding and can harbour rats too. Rats burrow into the ground. There are many ways to do heap or bin or pile composting that are simple, beneficial, safe and effective. Check out the Johnson-Su bioreactor composting system or the Hungry bin or Hotbin composting solutions.
You’re correct. Space and energy are a big part of this equation. My point is the out of sight and ignore scenario. Prepare a hole once and use into the future. I have no soil here in Ecuador these composting trenches are going to keep my garden alive. Lack of green matter is what might make me fail. I’ve never had this productivity with a compost pile.
Set up five holes and rotate harvesting and filling. Never wait for usable compost again. Requires land and energy no doubt.
That chard "being put into the compost" is better quality than I can buy at my supermarket.
Absolutely the best comment so far.
I like the way you think.
Thank you. Time to duplicate and benefit from natural processes!
For me it is a toss up between continually shoveling soil (already have no till raised garden beds that are all used all the time) or turning compost in a pile from time to time.
Cannot trench directly into the ground - the native ground is limestone covered by about 1/2 inch of dirt.
If I had a huge garden space in the ground with already loose soil, would be great.
Rick buy a little jack hammer $ 199 try to get into the limestone. Use the limestone for walkways. I’m doing that with the gravel here. The jackhammer makes quick work of limestone.
Really good point...i salute you for that... thanks for sharing...love it♥️
I have so little soil. It was time to figure out how to do it differently. I have about 20 holes that are so easy to harvest. I think the reseeding is the key. Harvest save 12 inches put on top of the green matter and seed immediately.
@Buildingenjoyment well that's really a brilliant idea...ur just a really good teacher to us...♥️
New subscriber here,, thank you for sharing
Compost pile sure is a LOT of work, gathering enough materials specially! I'm lucky I work for the county, mowing lawns, raking leaves, just the job I needed to gather my greens and browns! In summertime, when dry leaves are scarce, I use cardboard I left to soak in the rain, combined with fresh grass clippings from mowing, and in the fall, I use clippings with leaves, I have a forest all around me, so it's practical! I also use those soaked half-rotted wood pieces from the forest, I use that in the fall, I cover my garden beds with it, along with some leaves and a little grass too, to have a little nitrogen at least.. I'm interested in time needed for decomposition in those holes, that is the only drawback I can think of, otherwise your method is perfect, I'm worried about oxygen supply, turning over the pile introduces a whole lot of it, so it definitely speeds up the process.. But I'll try with one hole, just to see the difference in composting speed
@@zoranhorvat8284 I can harvest around three months. Will put a disclaimer I use almost exclusively soft green matter. I actually grow a lot of it from seed. Green soft matter that is piled up to allow air and water to enter decays fast. Any twigs found are crumbling.
Hope that helped.
@@Buildingenjoyment Yeah, it helped, it is faster than I expected! It takes about 5 months for my pile, maybe shorter this year, cause I made a whole mountain of it :) That is why I'm covering the beds with surplus! Before I covered the beds, I sprinkled a little wood ash too, it was pretty compacted soil when I started growing 4 years ago, but compost, wood ash, cardboard, and rotten pieces of wood turned the table, it's still a little held together, but that's ok, moisture doesn't evaporate that quickly at least!
@ get some alfalfa seeds chewing up your ground. Helps so much.
@@Buildingenjoyment Not a bad idea! Last week I was clearing the storeroom of some old store that was closed long time ago, and I found few bags of Kalcifrit, our Croatian name, it's similar to lime I think, I though to sprinkle that over everything, or half at least, not enough material for everything.. It's for calcification of the soil, and I think it's perfect! It's 10 years old, but I don't think that can go bad.. Found some clover seeds there too, maybe I could try with that over few beds, only, those seeds could be too old after all, now when I think about it
@@Buildingenjoyment I'm also watering the soil with watered-down solution of soaked stinging nettles, when the plant is in leafy stage, for nitrogen, and I water with also watered down solution of soaked banana peals, when it's flowering stage, for potassium, that also helps a little at least, to introduce some of the needed elements..I don't like using anything synthetic, so I use what I can find in nature. The yield is a little smaller then with fertilizers, but healthier! It's a risk, but worth it,when you grow only for yourself.. On bigger scale, I get it.. Last year I lost a whole batch of tomatoes, over 50, went a little crazy that year, and I burned myself.. It rained for a month almost, plants were a little too close together maybe, and I placed mulch too.. I expected drought, and for that scenario, I did everything right, but, with so much moisture, it all went to hell, removing the mulch and thinning out didn't help also, too far gone! Anyway, thanks for reply, I'm digging the hole on Monday, I'll leave the weekend for relaxing!
También se pueden echar ramas y cosas secas ?
Si pero se tarde más tiempo en descomponer. 3 meses con solo cosas verdes y hasta 6 meses con hojas y ramas delgadas!
This is an interesting approach i'll be thinking of going forward.
This idea of burying and forgetting is the key ingredient. It frees up more time and I literally know soil is awaiting me in the future .
For good idea for hot and dry Mediterranean region, with 5 months no rain.
It is like wormcasting. There is one RUclipsr in Phoenix who buried a box in the ground and throw all the organic material inside.
The argument for compost bins and piles is to have a compost that is hot enough to kill off weed seeds, and to produce compost fast for immediate use. Since your soil has sufficient weed seeds in it that they can sprout for the next decade, having weed seed free compost accomplishes nothing. Whether it makes sense to speed up composting is highly dependent on your specific situation. Processing sod by burying it isn't really composting, but just a different method of killing it off.
@@richdobbs6595 I have no weed issues. I have a real suspicion that the seeds in the green matter germinate and then die off since they can’t reach sunlight. The reason I say this is I dug up a spot that was full of white radishes (Daikon ) that had germinated under 12 inches of soil. The green matter is airy enough for the seeds to germinate. Just a suspicion. A good gardener is also cautious about putting nasty weeds (seeds) in the compost.
My garden is the easiest garden I’ve ever had to weed. To me that is the secret to a great garden. The pull the weed test!
I always use to find gems in my compost that have against all odds not only germinated but have also started to grow.
Your points are very valid. To be really honest with you I wouldn’t want to have to rely on my compost to heat up enough to kill off weed seeds! Never had real success with that in Canada.
Once you have a handful of staggered trenches your soil supply = your composting efforts.
@@Buildingenjoyment Where in Canada are you? I'm going to be relatively near Canada, but in Northern Idaho I suspect that I'm going to be in an entirely different situation from you. The soil is shallow and rocky. But for the first couple of years I'll be concentrating on putting in a driveway, septic system and building. So my composting efforts will be targeted at reducing brush to chips and using it to accumulate compost for future raised beds. And then I'll probably be concentrating on building an earth sheltered greenhouse .
@@richdobbs6595I’m in Loja , Ecuador left Victoria ,British Columbia three years ago.
Sounds like you’ve your plate full in the next few years.
Creating soil in your spare time is an important effort.
my understanding of using "heat" generating compost is not just to kill off weed seeds but also to kill off bacterium etc that may be harmful to humans and animals usually generated from say kitchen scraps etc. Once that compost has reached it's heat levels and is supposedly 'cleaner' then we are able to add healthy bacterium by using organic matter that we are familiar with like what is mentioned here. Since we have lately seen outbreaks of things like listeria etc in the US this idea does seem appealing.
I have two bays which i dont turn or really do anything to. I just build one up for a year and then when Im using that one I build the next one. In a sense they do start as holes and then become piles.
When do you harvest the compost?
100% - I have never used a bin, always berreid my organic material and never needed to buy quality soil. it is soooo much easier an stress free.
Finding enough green material to compost is the bottleneck in this system.
Wouldn't work for me, 1) I only have about 30cm of topsoil before I hit clay, 2) My green waste collection is almost entirely from food waste and grass cuttings, so small weekly amounts. 3) Turning my compost a couple of times is a lot easier that digging down a metre. I slide off the plastic container and fork the pile back in. 20 minutes maximum.
If you have 30 cm of topsoil you’re ahead of most of us. Try growing green matter to increase your composting abilities. Simple seeds like alfalfa, radishes and many other cover crops. You. Can even seed on top of your compost pile.
Correct!
I didn't know there was much microbial activity at 1 meter depths due to lack of O2. And things are starting to stay cooler at those depths, slowing any reaction rates. The various commercial products like tumblers are good for people who want a 90-day turnaround and don't want to wait years on end for a finished product. I'm not seeing any worms in your "compost."
We have zero worms here. We dug up our greenhouse maybe 50 yards and found one worm. Our food forest was basically a gravel pit. We built on top of it. Worms are being slowly introduced. We have massive grubs that possibly are eating these worms ? Not sure.
The earliest I have dug up a trench was after 3 months. The soil is covered in white fibres and close to being ready for use.
We need to understand that microbes are motivated by a steady supply of green matter. O2 as air and in the water is more than enough in this layered mess of green matter. The soil is loaded with all types of consumers that show up to process this green matter.
We’re able to harvest every week. Why? Having 10 to 20 holes creates an endless supply. It is an investment. We are going to start using the holes over and over agin. Easy digging makes it easy. If someone is scared of a shovel then the system doesn’t work !
Looks like as much work as a compost heap spread over more space.
Once you dig a hole keep using them over and over again as your green matter receptacle. We’ve sandy soil so digging is incredibly easy. These trenches are buried and seed immediately so they don’t occupy growing space. Time is of course the biggest concern. Once you have five of these holes the trench system should be self sufficient. All I can suggest is to try it out. It requires the gardener to leave certain areas unplanted to set this trench composting up.
@Buildingenjoyment No thanks. I have a heavier loam, a limited annual cropping area with perennials interplanted, a turn over only when needed above ground heap system with a very healthy composting worm and invertebrate population, I can take the amount of compost needed when I need it by shovel or trowel and can use it in potting mix as well as on or in soil. If I had a deep sandier soil I'd prefer to keep organic matter around the surface rather than have it wash through deeper earlier. I've tried bury and plant systems previously. Some crops don't do well over fresh material and some bushes and trees dislike root disturbance but like surface compost feeding. Good luck if it works for you, but I see more disadvantages than advantages and more hard digging rather than light quick shovelling.
2yrs . i can do it 6 months
@@michaelhowe5369 I’m not at 2 years. Harvested as early as 3 months. At three months I find the compost is covered with a white substance that slowly goes away when exposed to oxygen.
aerobic bacteria is what is missing on your system
The green matter has so many air pockets for water and air to get in. The 12 inches on top is very grainy previously composted material very fluffy. In 3 months the green matter is perfect soil. Removing the time equation to create compost quickly has been a game changer.
This is too much of a divisive topic that after I got to 2:40 I had enough.
What may work for one location might not work somewhere else. Some people live in cold climates where composting is best done in warm months and building hot compost piles IS the best solution.
I've watched videos of companies that make quality compost and they all use hot composting because it's the least amount of land usage as they can process it faster, and no they aren't turning stuff by hand.
So, too many variables and I wouldn't say businesses that make good money hot composting don't know what they're doing. In fact they're composting on cement.
If a person does a LOT of composting which is typical in regenerative agriculture because you need a lot of organic inputs to your beds, well, they all use hot composting.
However, a gardener that has 1 acre of land may decide they can afford to lose 30 - 50 sq. ft. making cold compost which will take a year+ to break down.
Don't tell other people they're wasting their time without understanding what their constraints are.
Dig a hole every month. Put green matter every month in each hole when you do yard maintenance. Cover with the same compost and seed. After 5 months dig up hole number one and use the compost in your yard. Fill the same hole back up with green matter save enough compost to cover the hole and seed. These compost holes are incredibly easy to dig up. Use the same five holes until you die.
Using the same holes is the fascinating aspect of this method. I’m taking about ease of use and out of sight. The constraints of others can’t compete with the simplicity of this method.
I never mentioned commercial operations. This system works fantastically in cold climates. Being buried keeps the compost a lot warmer.
Waffle!
@@elliottyeomans654 It's not waffle if some people find it useful. I find this useful for my situation. If you can't make a constructive comment then try not saying anything. Just move on. 😉