composting?

augiedog55 · January 22, 2012

I have a small bed on the south side of the house I tried to grow tomatoes in last yr. With the blistering heat and the spider mites I pretty much lost.. Its an old i guess you would call raised bed. I put railroad tie about 20 yrs ago out there so it one tie high. Its approx 2ft wide and 8 ft long.Since the season ended I've been throwning anything I could find to mix in the with soil. I've put 30 gal. of 2 yrold horse manure, 10 gal of rabbit manure, a bag of cotton boal compost and a bag of mushroom compost ou there.. Needless to say i'm about 10 inches above the rail road tie...lmao. i'll have to fix that this spring with some 2x10's
so here in the big question. since winter i've been throwing all kitchen scrapes in the there. Coffee grounds, banana peals, orange rines , eggs shells ect. Since it winter here in Mo it does really break down it just freeze dries.. ( Banana peals look like leather). So when it warms up at what point to I stop put the stuff from the kitchen out there so mother nature can break this stuff down and I can put 3 tomatoes in there come mid may?

dice · January 23, 2012

Some people grow in stuff like that. They dig a hole and fill it up
over the winter. Then they put an inch or two of soil on top, plant
in it, and mulch.

Figure that by end of summer it will have broken back down to the
height of the original bed as stuff decays.

BigBrownDogHouse · January 25, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by augiedog55

So when it warms up at what point to I stop put the stuff from the kitchen out there so mother nature can break this stuff down and I can put 3 tomatoes in there come mid may?

This is what I do and I am by no means an expert but this works great for me.

Once the plants are out in the Fall, I dig holes all over my garden and start composting in the ground. I go heavy with all kitchen scraps until the ground freezes..... Every raw kitchen scrap available.
Once the ground freezes, I go with coffee grounds and egg shells on top of the soil.

When the ground thaws out in mid March or so, I again start composting everything in the ground again. I usually stop around May 1st. Planting around here is usually the third week of May through Memorial Day.
When I start putting the tomatos in, I have a very hard time finding any scraps that I have put in the ground. Everything seems to be gone.
Nothing but awesome looking soil and happy worms!

During the growing season, I'll keep dumping the coffee grounds and egg shells in the garden.
Might not be the expert way but I have no problem with 10 foot tall tomato plants and an extremely bountiful harvest.

No reason to change things if they are working.

augiedog55 · January 25, 2012

Brian, Thank you for your help.You are correct, "if it workin keep doin it"

January 22, 2012	#1
augiedog55 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: oak grove mo Posts: 406	composting? I have a small bed on the south side of the house I tried to grow tomatoes in last yr. With the blistering heat and the spider mites I pretty much lost.. Its an old i guess you would call raised bed. I put railroad tie about 20 yrs ago out there so it one tie high. Its approx 2ft wide and 8 ft long.Since the season ended I've been throwning anything I could find to mix in the with soil. I've put 30 gal. of 2 yrold horse manure, 10 gal of rabbit manure, a bag of cotton boal compost and a bag of mushroom compost ou there.. Needless to say i'm about 10 inches above the rail road tie...lmao. i'll have to fix that this spring with some 2x10's so here in the big question. since winter i've been throwing all kitchen scrapes in the there. Coffee grounds, banana peals, orange rines , eggs shells ect. Since it winter here in Mo it does really break down it just freeze dries.. ( Banana peals look like leather). So when it warms up at what point to I stop put the stuff from the kitchen out there so mother nature can break this stuff down and I can put 3 tomatoes in there come mid may?

January 23, 2012	#2
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Some people grow in stuff like that. They dig a hole and fill it up over the winter. Then they put an inch or two of soil on top, plant in it, and mulch. Figure that by end of summer it will have broken back down to the height of the original bed as stuff decays. __________________ -- alias Last edited by dice; January 25, 2012 at 03:45 PM. Reason: sp

January 25, 2012	#4
augiedog55 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: oak grove mo Posts: 406	Brian, Thank you for your help.You are correct, "if it workin keep doin it"