Leaves and compost

[5.3acredream]

I have a large garden and am in need of a great deal of compost. Now I don't have access to a great deal of greens (particularly since it is winter right now). I have a compost heap with kitchen scraps, leaves, manure right now but I'm thinking ahead to MORE COMPOST.

So in order to get a lot of compost, my township offers shredded leaves for free. Since compost is just a ratio of carbon to nitrogen, I'm thinking I can add blood meal and begin a large compost pile. I know it won't be as nutritious as say a good variety compost but do you think this would be alright?

How much blood meal would I want per yard of leaves?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know the right ratio of blood meal to shredded leaves to get the right nitrogen:carbon ratio. If all else fails you might chat with your local extension office, that's the kind of thing they might be able to help you with. They may even be able to come up with alternate sources of greens.

Speaking of which, can you get on your state thread in the "Where am I? Where are you" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors? Someone may have manure or some other green free for the pick-up. Are there riding stables near you that may be glad for you to haul away manure, especially if you muck it out.

If the garden is not too wet or frozen solid, you can till in a bunch of leaves. By the time you are ready to plant they should be pretty well broken down, especially in the warm weather part of your garden if you also plant early cool weather plants.

Look into the deep litter method for your coop or run. It doesn't work for everybody but that is a way for your chickens to provide you with a lot of compost. Those leaves should make very nutritious compost, I sure would not turn it down.

 

[IamRainey]

I have neighbors who let me collect their spent coffee grounds. I got a bunch of small cheap utility pails with tight lids from the hardware store. My neighbors dump their grounds (and filters too) in the pails and call me when a pail is full. I collect it and give them a fresh pail. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen and "green". And they're available all Winter long.

I used to collect grounds from the local coffee house too. They were happy enough to get rid of them. But I get enough from neighbors now. ...and one of them also collects all her root vegetable peelings for me too. That's what she feeds her dog everyday so she keeps my chickies in treats.

In any case, this is convenient for me and sooooo much cheaper than the volume of bloodmeal I'd need to heat up my huge piles.

Oh, BTW, I think a ratio of about 1 part nitrogen to 3 parts of carbon is a good standard. I, personally, don't pay attention to it at all. I put what I've got on my piles.

 

[Oldspice]

I am not sure that you even need blood meal, the leaves do most of the work.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am not sure that you even need blood meal, the leaves do most of the work.

They will eventually break down without adding any nitrogen but the process is a lot faster with nitrogen. The closer to the right proportions the faster. Turning also speeds up the process. It's a biological process, the carbon is the food and the nitrogen provides the energy for the microbes. It's important to keep the moisture levels right too.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Planting early peas then tilling or turning the plants into the top few inches of the soil gives a good boost too.