Composters

I think I could learn to appreciate it if someone else did my landscaping for me.

I have two acres of pure sand (at least 10 ft deep) to cover 3-4 inches deep (deeper would be better) and then till in to about a foot deep. My neighbor has a horse, and kitty corner they've been sharing cow poop from two cows (neither garden; I don't get it. I'd hord the stuff if I had large livestock like that). Next spring I will have 6 - 10 hens on permanent poop-making assignment... but I'm looking for something to dig in now before the "wet" weather comes (4 inches of snow?). The other nearly 3 acres we're leaving in sand and leaving to Mother Nature until I want to tackle the pasture making battle (maybe in 2007 or '08?). Besides, if I had that much compost at one time, it would give me an excuse to call in sick and sit on the tractor all day (I DO love my little 29 HP New Holland Darling)!

greenjay, just what are YOU needing so much compost for? just curious. no one within hollering distance of me here tries to actually have anything greener than silver-green sage :-) (OK, my DH has fantasies of a lawn in the back yard)

Ah, it's too bad that used kitty litter can't be used for fertilizer. I have five cats. I could hire them out!

Here is what I need the compost for:

2 areas that were damaged by flash floods this summer have to be relandscaped from grass lawn to bermed mixed planting. 2800 sf and 1960 sf respectively I need to berm each areato direct /absorb water runoff, with mixed plantings of shrubs + misc rocks. The landscaping company wants to charge about 70K for a job that should not take more than 5K in materials. There is a significant benefit to doing it the right way, and we have no reason whatsoever to trust the landscaping company since they have screwed up every single task delegated to them for the past 4 years.

Good luck, greenjay. Sounds like you've got about the same total sq footage to convert to life-supporting soil as I do. And the additional, major benefit of not being flash flooded out again.

The one land scape company I talked to wouldn't even bid on what I want done because they said it would all die during a bad summer and I'd be after them about it (I'm trying to create a 1 acre pine forest between me and the dastardly winds from the south west). But I figured 5-7K to get what I want done, too. Sometimes you just gotta do it yourself (or in my case, gotta convince DH that he wants to do it ;-) (Actually, I'm pretty darn good with the tractor and auger, these days, if I do say so myself, LOL). The water lines and electric conduit are already trenched and installed, so that helps. Now I just got to get enough (or even some!) organic material into that sand so something will grow there.

70K?? I think you could build a house for that!

First Kitties can provide compost very quickly. Use Alfalfa meal as litter and the cats will use it readily and then dump the components as frequently as you personally need into a working compost pile and soon the 10' of sand becomes 6' of soil and nutritious plant loving goodies. Fear not the feces of those who grace our homes with unconditonal love, well some cats, and let them enjoy the miracle of garden you create.

One year in GA a few decades ago, I got a hold of a pickup truck full of spoiled alfalfa rabbit or chicken feed pellets for the hauling - something about a broken water tank and bags of this stuff not being stored off of the floor or some such. Wonderful mulch that decomposed into much yummies for the plants.

-- " 70K?? I think you could build a house for that! " --

Not around here you wouldn't!

My brother's looking for a house in our hometown back east, and he's figuring on spending $35K-$45 for a modest one bedroom house. So, yeah, there are places where you can.

$70K for landscaping still just blows me away, though. I don't think I can afford $700.

Usually the way the 70K breaks down is this:

5k for materials

15 K for labor

10K to pay off someone for something

40K pure skim

now, since our landscaping committee is all-volunteer, and we don't have to pay anyone off, our estimate is much lower naturally. But we have to go through the bid process to prove it.

Our landscaping committee is all volunteer, too - me! And whomever I can coerce into whatever is too big for me to scoot into the tractor bucket (if you help me, I will shut up and stop whining...if you help me I will shut up and stop hanging around your shop...if you help me I won't tell your friends about when you were just a little squirt...)

September -- oooh, oooh, almost tree planting temps again! And I'm soooo much stronger than when we got here last year - so I am deluding myself with thoughts of planting even MORE trees than I did last year... God Bless Drip Irrigation!

Greenjay,

Just started reading the forums here so was not here last month when you were hunting bulk compost. But have a couple of ideas anyhow:

1) Check out some cattle feed lots. Those big piles of dirt in some of the large pens arn't dirt and they have to haul it to somewhere.

2) Check out some of the hay growers in your area, sometimes with as wet as its been this fall they might have truckloads of spoiled bales or maybe last years stuff that has gone south.

Cow poo + spoiled hay + some time and worms = compost.

P.S. around here $70K + judicious shopping could get you two houses. 'Course with the drought the last few years water might be optional. :)

oldklingon

This is for White Hydrangea. This is way late but hope you get the message. I haven't tried this idea but have read several articles and you can go online and get pictures and lots of instructions.
Old used tires, which are free and they would be glad to get rid of them, stacked up as high as you want is the method used. Start with one tire and fill the bottom with 6' of well rotted manure. Then just keep adding your compost material and keep adding tires util the desired height is reached. After 3 to 4 weeks start with the top tire and lay it on the ground and reverse the process removing all the compost inside the tires as you go. That way the compost at the top is now at the bottom of your new stack.
The article recommends you cut the sidewqll of the tires to about 1" or so from the tread. This is so the compost doesn't fill the inside of the tires making it heavier and messier to restack the tires. You can start as many piles as you want and its all free. I am going to try that this spring. I've already contacted the business and they said take as many as you want. After looking at their pile I could fill my entire garden with them.
Just go online and type in 'used tires for composting' or something like that and you will see lots of examples. Hope this helps and hope you get this message.