Composting...

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

That's an attractive and functional 3 bin setup. Unfortunately, that's $1000 worth of lumber today. I just spent $125 on 6 8' 2x8 for a raised bed.

I hear ya! I spent $42 on TWO 2x4s 12' long!
Insane!!! I'm so glad wood waited to triple til after my coop and run were finished!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I found some pictures of the corrugated metal raised beds I made last year.

Here is a picture of one of my new 4X4 foot X16 inch high corrugated raised garden bed. In this picture, I have added about 8-10 inches of hügelkultur wood and organics as filler to the bottom of the raised bed.

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Here is a picture after I filled the top 6-8 inches with a 1:1 mixture of my chicken run compost and top soil. I planted strawberries in this bed and they really grew well last summer.

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Like I said, I just used scrap lumber I had behind the garage to make the 2X4 frames which I then attached to the 4X4 corner posts. I used pocket hole screws for everything on the framing to hold it together. I bought a small bag full of roofing sheet metal screws with gaskets to attach the metal to the wood frames. I built each of these 4X4 corrugated metal raised panel garden beds for less than $25.00 each because I did not have to buy any wood.



Would love to see some pictures of your build and your experience using the 2X2 raised beds. Maybe a new thread on the subject. Depending on how you use the wood from the pallets, just be warned that reclaiming pallet wood can take more time and effort that you might think. Some of the pallets I have tried to disassemble have had some funky type of nails that made it very difficult to take the wood off. Other times, the wood would break into pieces and left me with nothing useable. I imagine you can save money using reclaimed pallet wood, but be prepared to put some sweat equity into the project.

There are a few YouTube videos of using pallet wood to make some nice raised beds. Worth a look to consider your options. Here is one guy I like to watch. This was his pallet wood build.

Very mice work there! U wanna come help me frame out a couple windows in my coop we didn't get to do during winter when we were rushing to get it done before snow/rain hit hard!?

 

[sandburRanch]

Trench composting has been done successfully for years. I used to plant in rows, and dig a trench between the rows to throw in compost material. The next year, I would plant on top of that trench and the dig a trench where the plants were grown the year before. Worked fine for me.

But then I got chickens, and now I feed almost all our kitchen scraps and leftovers to the chickens. No more trench composting for me. The chickens make my compost now, and I add that chicken run compost to the garden in the fall, after harvest, and let it age over winter for planting in the spring.

I am always looking for better (easier) ways of doing things, myself. I try to work with nature more and fight it less. Instead of having compost piles that constantly need turning, I let my chickens do all that work naturally in the chicken run. They provide me with more compost than I can use for my gardens. I have a number of pallet compost bins for excess material, and they can just sit for years slowly composting before I harvest them. I am not into turning piles, or bins, of compost. Trench composting is a great method for not having to turn piles, and having chickens to make compost works out even better for me.

That's how my late father gardened with chickens after he moved from the farm to the city , except without trenches . He had 2 small areas for alfalfa that he rotated every 3-4 years with the garden area . The chickens fed on the alfalfa free range from spring until early fall , then were cut from that activity so the alfalfa could be cut for hay and stored loose and dry for winter feed . I did some plowing for the garden for him with a round nose long handle shovel . The hens were under feet so bad picking earth worms it was difficult to accomplish anything .

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Very productive day! Trying to get better idea and understanding of what I wanna do out back and how to incorporate the composting along the way.
Seeing foot long worms has really gotten me excited! (I know it doesn't take much lol!) But we have clay soil and it is horrible! It won't drain for anything which causes a lot of stuff to just die!
Anyways...I decided since the new run is super nice that I'm gonna do all varieties of sunflowers along the side which gets full sun all day! Since those don't get planted for a while I went ahead and moved the composting things I had and made a compost lasagna along that side to start working that clay dirt!
I moved several worms over to the new area and gave em plenty fresh scraps in hopes they'll hang out there and give me an extra hand!
With the AI potential I am not letting the babies out of the run so gonna rely on nature to tend this for me. Guess we'll see how it's coming along in few months.
I also found from MIGardener that sunflowers supply lots of vital components necessary for revitalizing the soil so this should be an even bigger benefit on this area! I'll try to get a pic tomorrow...I ran out of steam today .
I think I probably need some wood along the edges too so it doest get washed down the hill...right?

 

[Arelwood]

You may want to locate your deep litter chicken run over your intended garden area - that would be the fastest, easiest way to add nutrients and organic material in a hurry.

If you have the space, I’ve always dreamed about a setup with a coop in the middle, garden on one side, chicken run on the other…then every fall, switching the run/garden to the other side.

I have a similar dream! For now, I live in the city on a tiny lot. But someday (I hope in 5 years or less) I will move out to the country and be able to design the coop, garden, and compost area of my dreams!

 

[Sally PB]

But someday (I hope in 5 years or less) I will move out to the country and be able to design the coop, garden, and compost area of my dreams!

Until then, learn all you can, do all you can, and SAVE all you can!

 

[TJAnonymous]

You all have such nice compost areas... My main pile is just a huge dump site on the ground. To be fair, the previous homeowner left a giant round bale out there the year before we moved in so it just seemed to make sense to add to it as the round bale broke down and decayed. My whole area is probably 10 ft x 10 ft?

I do have a little 3 ft x 3 ft side-by-side that my DH built from some repurposed PVC and chicken wire but it got too small really quick. Plus the chickens were always kicking the compost out of it while digging in it. My daughter still dumps the bunny litterbox (pine pellets, shredded paper towels, and bunny business only) there because she is too lazy to walk the additional 50 ft to the bigger compost area...

But my compost areas don't look nearly as fancy as everyone else's

 

[rosemarythyme]

But my compost areas don't look nearly as fancy as everyone else's

As long as it works, doesn't have to look nice. Regardless of how we pile it up, in the end, it's a bunch of organic matter rotting and breaking down.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Hey by chance would the lint from the dryer be considered compostable?
Got a mailer the other day that had that "air" sealed into it and when I opened up the brown packaging to lay it flat it reminded me of the lint from the dryer. So wondered ...any thoughts?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Hey by chance would the lint from the dryer be considered compostable?
Got a mailer the other day that had that "air" sealed into it and when I opened up the brown packaging to lay it flat it reminded me of the lint from the dryer. So wondered ...any thoughts?

If the clothes are natural (cotton, wool) then 100% compostable. Blends, synthetics, etc. should be avoided.

Dryer lint of all types makes a great fire starter for camping, backyard fires, or the wood stove.