• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

huge composting pit - now 1+ yrs old (also coffee ground composting)

 
Posts: 39
6
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

So a little over a year ago (best i remember)
i had a pond in my yard and the plastic liner had broken.
(its about 12ft by 8ft wide 4 or 5ft deep.)

It was a mosquito nursery, and was a big problem.
I finally cleaned it out to a bare dirt floor.

a buddy of mine makes and sells organic fruit juices
and he has 5 gallon buckets of mango, banana, citrus , beet, and other peels.
i dumped about 40 of the 5gal buckets in the hole.
i added 2 large bags of sawdust
about 400lb of coffee groundes
5 or 6 bags of grass clippings
various leaves,  yard waste etc...

unfortunately, i have a bad back, and mixing it was a problem.
and.... mistake #1 was putting the peels (very wet, lots of rotting juices) in first.
i did add a few small cardboard boxes at bottom, but, sawdust would have been better
i just didnt have any at the time. i got it a week later.
then i added grounds, grass, leaves, more grounds, cardboard, grounds, sawdust etc...
till it was full.

i put a couple of long 2x6 planks down to walk on it.
and now i finally took them up and tested my weight.
in most areas, it is fairly solid.
in 1 spot i sunk about a foot down.

i dug up a shovel full, and i was surprised to find dirt... ?#@!?>
it was a very dark, very rich "mud"
(it did rain recently, cool temps, and no sun to dry thing out)

it is still about 4 to 6 inches low, so , i am still adding leaves, grounds etc... to it.
it had sunk a little, but , not much.

There are drier spots where the top couple of inches is excellent compost.
but, that very well could be coffee grounds and grass clippings added 6 months ago.

it seems the worms are churning things up also... which must be how i got soil in the mix.

i get 100lb of coffee grounds every week or so from starbucks.
i have used them in experiments of sorts.
also, i can get 7ft tall bags of sawdust from a cabinet maker.
this is like having finely ground wood chips.

i once made a pile of semi-dried grounds, dry oak leaves and semi-dry grass clippings
the oak leaves were small, and the grass clippings had been run-over twice.
this produced the best compost i had ever seen,
i could have sifted it though a pasta colander.
i added a little sand and used it as seed-starting mix (great stuff)

another one was sawdust, grass clippings and grounds.
it made excellent worm food.
and i use it as a mulch... it has to be used as a thin layer and mixed well
as the grounds can form an impenetrable barrier to water.
mixed well, with less % of grounds, can fix the issue also.

i used this mix also to put UNDER cardboard to keep weeds down around fruit trees.
the worms came up and went to town.
the cardboard kept it moist and protected.
i do wish i would have added some coarse sand, as it gets thick and sticky without much air.


Brad




 
Without subsidies, chem-ag food costs four times more than organic. Or this tiny ad:
A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home
http://woodheat.net
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic