DLM hot poop?

[KettermanHillCoop]

@lazy gardener , @CapricornFarm

I've been working on the DLM in my run since October. It's probably a good 6 inches of broken down materials. Materials consisting of dried leaves, grass clippings, pine shavings and poopy.

When does the DLM material lose the hotness to be safely used in the garden? Is there a timetable sort of thing?

 

[lazy gardener]

I use it with caution when the smaller bits have disintegrated. I'm pulling some of the deeper stuff out of the Winter run. The leaves are still intact, but the garden debris is quite broken down. It's compacted and FULL of red worms. I will use this stuff in hills for Winter squash, will put some of it in zucchini hills. If it goes under any plants that may be consumed raw (zucchini, cukes, melon), I make sure it's buried and there's a nice cap of garden soil over the top. Then, just to be on the safe side, I will put a nice layer of mulch on the hill when the soil is well warmed. I used some of this material when I planted some June Berries, and there was no sign of them being burned. I also used some in 2 planting areas where I put grape vines and flowers.

Just play with it, and go very easy to start. An other thing you can do with some is put a shovel full in a bucket, fill with water, and then decant some of the "tea" to water some of your plants. I would not use this "tea" around leafy salad greens! But would gladly use it around corn, squash, ornamentals, trellised and mulched cukes.

An other nice "free" fertilizer is weed tea. When you pull those weeds, put them in a bucket. Fill with water, and let the stuff sit for a few days. Warning... don't sniff the stuff, especially after you've given it a stir! It goes anaerobic and smells like sewer sludge. But, the plants like it, and you're accomplishing 2 things at once: killing the weeds so they can't reproduce, and fertilizing your plants.