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Canada

Found a local soil place here that sells composted soil
in 3 cubic ft large bags its laboratory tested and its
75 % cow manure and 25 % Peat moss its calls Black Garden soil its suppose to be good for buildin up gardens..
I guess its been a bit over a month now since ive dug in
the pure manure from the farm and over the past 2 weeks ive been digging in grass clippings and mulched leaves.

was thinking of getting a bag of this to lay over the top of the garden before i plant my cover crop then adding another bag of this in the spring before planting and tilling the garden?

any suggestions on this stuff is it worth the coin or not?

thanks Dave

10/18/2003 5:52:22 PM

ny

I used some two years ago that sounds like the same stuff, was very dark. After a week out turned a stange grey? I thought it was mixed from compost out of a sewer plant, that was my best guess.

10/18/2003 6:13:30 PM

Western NY

i think i said this a long time ago, but as far as i know, there are no requirements for labeling of what they call "compost". first of all, the pH can and usually does, vary widely from what you might expect. might be from a municipal source or a manure source mixed with sawdust. there are very few good composting operations going, you're lucky if you live within driving distance of one.

10/18/2003 6:47:50 PM

it's easy to make your own compost pile and doesn't require much time (if ya got time for giant pumpkins, then ya got time for a tiny compost pile).....plus you know what's in your own compost.

10/18/2003 7:46:28 PM

Oz

im using plastic garbage cans/with lids as "cookers".
im throwing in all pumpkin goo/rind,and some soil.
i add red wiggler worms to speed things up.

10/18/2003 8:08:21 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Dave, save your money. 3cu.ft. bales are pretty small for the job you want to do. This stuff sounds good, most likely pricey. Wait until spring, retest soil using the Co-op or A&L labs in London. You may need some other goodies by then.

10/19/2003 8:46:18 AM

Roanoke Il

Dave check your local city goverment I don't know how they do it in ontario but near me the city compost the leaves and grass clippings and sreaded up tree limes and offers it free. It is also in a pumpkins growers best intrest to get to know a local farmer that raises hoarses cows chickens rabbits zoo's ect. some time all it takes is some offering of beer like a case for a pick up of manure.

10/19/2003 9:05:33 AM

Montoursville, PA

I look for the boarding places for horses. They usually have more manure than they know what to do with. The only good stuff I have paid for recently was a load of mushroom waste delivered to my driveway. After having done that I can honestly see no values over manures from the horse keepers other than the fact it is further along in the breakdown proscess. It may have unseen or unmeasured values because of this in the earliest part of the growing season.

One novel capture I made was to get a free bale of chicken feathers from a poultry processing plant. Poultry feather meal is expensive. These feathers will be poultry meal by spring. They carry with them many good elements and about 14% nitrogen which appears available in small amounts over a long period of time as they go through the process to become humus available to the plants.

There is no best composting materials. Anyting that was once living has merit as long as you understand the basic mixes of many types of additives is important. For instance that huge load of feathers is being added with manuers, other compost, leaves and some purchased organic fertilizer to complete the mix of many types of additives this fall.

The cover crop is again going in a bit late but it will have time to germinate and grow some now and more early next spring.

10/19/2003 11:30:07 AM