David Creed

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since Jul 12, 2014
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Recent posts by David Creed

I bought a second hand shredder off gumtree, the best £25 I have spent in a long time, damp/wet corrugated cardboard in summer and leaves in the autumn and I am getting around 30lbs of coffee grounds per week from a local supermarket café, we have a wood burner so there is always lots of sawdust around for the mix, cheers Dave
9 years ago
Most people who watch the back to Eden video fail to see/hear the part about chicken manure, I don't know why but that's the way it is, its one of the most important parts of woodchip gardening, Dave NE
9 years ago
Hi Steve, I have seen council chips dotted around my area less than a cube yard and they can get hot so your idea should work ok, it will take time though. Grass clipping get hot very fast and would be a good mix for your wood chip, as would human urine. gallons of the stuff for that size of pile. I started a compost bin last November with nothing more than sawdust and urine and it is still on going, good luck, Dave ps just up the road from you, Whitley Bay
9 years ago
Hi Mike, I am sure I read somewhere that dried cut weeds are still classed as greens because, as they were green when cut, the minerals etc are still present, once you add water they are much the same as before. I don't have access to straw bales etc so rely on a local resource which in my case is cardboard, the super markets have tons of the stuff. I only have a small back garden but I place the CB under trees and bushes where the wind and rain + bird poo start to break it down before the shredder does its job. I have 9 small scale experiments going at this time, sawdust and urine, leaves and coffee grounds, comfrey/kitchen scraps/CB etc etc and these are what are local to my area, have a look at your place and surrounding areas, breweries coffee shops super markets, cheers Dave NE UK
9 years ago
You need to have brown material in the mix, for me its leaves in the autumn/fall and corrugated cardboard in the summer time, I wet the cardboard and then put it through my shredder, cheers Dave NE
9 years ago
Hi Debora, this year I have planted a small comfrey patch in my garden and 3 plants under my apple tree, these are from root cuttings from ebay, I will let these grow on this year without touching them so they can build up their roots for next years harvests, 3 to 4 per season is recommended, this will make comfrey tea to feed my toms etc, I will be out soon for the nettle harvest and make more tea to bulk up leafy greens etc, plenty to see on youtube, cheers Dave
9 years ago
Hi Debora, your top layer looks like it should still be in a compost pile/bin, the fungus is still trying to do its job of breaking down the wood chips etc. I would rake it all off and bag it up to finish cooking and then re layer with multi purpose compost or home made compost, I suspect your other bed has plants with more robust roots which can get down to some decent soil, your lettuce seeds are trying to grow in a battle zone and will never heart up, sorry to sound so harsh its not intended, cheers Dave
9 years ago
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/science.cfm
One of the most comprehensive articles I have read on this subject, Dave
9 years ago
As Michael has said, Bocking 14 is the way to go, I have root cuttings coming along in a cold greenhouse which will be planted out this year and ready for cropping in 2016. Out in the wild I have found 2 patches of comfrey, one is the 14 strain and the other is an unknown but has self seeded everywhere, its not good news for the landowner but a win win for me as I can harvest as much as I need for making comfrey tea, cheers Dave
9 years ago
Hi Tom, I have seen the Vedic video and the crop growing results looked very encouraging, keep in touch and let us/me know how you get on, cheers Dave
9 years ago