Need desert composting book

[JCinNM]

So I used to live in Wyoming and had fantastic veg and flower gardens. Composting was so simple! Now I live in the far SE corner of New Mexico, Chihuahuan Desert. My piles just sit there and won’t break down. My tumbler does okay with kitchen scrap so I put my chicken manure in 55 gal garbage cans. One can for the pure stuff. One can for the poop-shavings-feathers. Both have lids and holes drilled in the bottom. I roll them around on the ground, leave them upside down, etc. Nothing is happening for two years. I NEED A BOOK FOR DESERT COMPOSTING. Does anyone in NV, UT, AZ, & NM know of any good books? I just wanna start from the beginning like I don’t know anything about composting.

 

[igorsMistress]

Maybe try watering your pile. In my experience the biggest issue is the dryness in the desert. I put everything in the pile including kitchen scraps, deep litter from the coop, and bunny litter, plus water about once a week in summer, every two or three weeks or so in winter depending on rainfall.

Also, this is a very popular gardening thread here, would love to see you over there!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-the-garden-today.670277/page-3990

 

[JCinNM]

Maybe try watering your pile. In my experience the biggest issue is the dryness in the desert. I put everything in the pile including kitchen scraps, deep litter from the coop, and bunny litter, plus water about once a week in summer, every two or three weeks or so in winter depending on rainfall.

Also, this is a very popular gardening thread here, would love to see you over there!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-the-garden-today.670277/page-3990

Thank you for the invitation. I lurk there sometimes. That’s me hiding behind the peach tree. Afraid I would just get lost since it’s so HUGE!
As for watering… lol. That’s all I do all day long. Fix sprinkler heads. Program timers. Drag hoses. Water this, water that. Thank goodness there are spigots every 50-100 feet all over the property. And IF it does rain it floods! My compost area is covered with shade cloth to help keep it from drying out in 12 hours. Thinking about getting an old chest freezer to use. It would help hold some moisture.
Sorry. Just feeling sorry for myself and missing Wyoming.

 

[igorsMistress]

Thank you for the invitation. I lurk there sometimes. That’s me hiding behind the peach tree. Afraid I would just get lost since it’s so HUGE!
As for watering… lol. That’s all I do all day long. Fix sprinkler heads. Program timers. Drag hoses. Water this, water that. Thank goodness there are spigots every 50-100 feet all over the property. And IF it does rain it floods! My compost area is covered with shade cloth to help keep it from drying out in 12 hours. Thinking about getting an old chest freezer to use. It would help hold some moisture.
Sorry. Just feeling sorry for myself and missing Wyoming.

I understand, it’s quite an adjustment. We moved to Phoenix about 18 years ago and it took me a long time to learn to garden here! You’ll get the hang of it. It takes a long time for my compost pile to break down, most of the summer and there’s stuff that has been in there for a few years, like mesquite branches. Put your flock to work turning your pile, maybe that will help.

Sounds like you have a big place, what do you grow?

Everyone is super nice and helpful on the gardeners thread. They may have other suggestions that will help you. Just jump on in!

 

[787junglist]

Try Some permaculture key line design techniques and mulch everything you can. Try to harvest water from your roof and recycle it through the garden

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Good luck! I lived many years in NW NM, am now in SE MO. I miss New Mexico! I had a great composting system going there, cannot compost worth beans up here. Lol.

 

[Sally PB]

Everyone is super nice and helpful on the gardeners thread.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

My tumbler does okay with kitchen scrap so I put my chicken manure in 55 gal garbage cans. One can for the pure stuff. One can for the poop-shavings-feathers. Both have lids and holes drilled in the bottom. I roll them around on the ground, leave them upside down, etc. Nothing is happening for two years.

My first thought on reading this was to combine the pure poop with the mix poop/shavings/feathers and keep it damp. Maybe a bit of food waste in there to add that moisture too.

But yeah, dry is going to be your biggest challenge.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My first thought on reading this was to combine the pure poop with the mix poop/shavings/feathers and keep it damp. Maybe a bit of food waste in there to add that moisture too.

But yeah, dry is going to be your biggest challenge.

Mixing everything sounds like a very good idea! You need vegetable waste + animal waste + moisture + time to get the pile cooking. Good luck!

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi!