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#1
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worm bed/ composting question
hi- well it's been about 5 years since I posted here, I am just
getting started trying to reestablish my veggie garden. This time rather than tilling up an entire yard ;-) I have made a raised bed- we have had to get some new retaining walls, and the untreated sleepers that we're replacing are perfect for this sort of thing. Unfortunately, my veggie bed is in the top part of the yard, and the dirt pile I'm filling it up with is in the bottom yard so it's going to be a process of shifting a few barrows a day until it's full. Which brings me to my question. I've laid thick newspaper on the bottom of the new bed, and am dumping dirt on it as I go. Would it be a stupid idea to also start burying vegetable scraps up there? Maybe even under the newspaper layer? Just that it's there and it would be so easy... the reality is I might not get the bed filled with dirt til it's time to plant for spring, so would using it as a worm bed/compost bed be a good idea or just plain disgusting? Any suggestions? Hope Gosford NSW |
#2
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g'day hope,
reckon i'd be getting some mushroom compost and adding it in as i go get it from the farm or partly decomposed from some landscape centres. aalso add anything like vegetable scraps and shredded pruning as you go, you will need plenty of organic matter like the mushy and sredding eetc.,. to keep the worms going. now having said all that the worms aren't at their best in winter they tend to hyberbate a bit. but if you sort of rough mix the dirt etc as you go that stuff will break down by itself anyway, keep it covered with a good layer of mulch hay, lift the hay each time you want to add more. other things to consider cow, horse, sheep manure all will go to help. len snipped -- happy gardening 'it works for me it could work for you,' "in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/ my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send. |
#3
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On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 17:21:05 +1000, len gardener
wrote: g'day hope, reckon i'd be getting some mushroom compost and adding it in as i go get it from the farm or partly decomposed from some landscape centres. aalso add anything like vegetable scraps and shredded pruning as you go, you will need plenty of organic matter like the mushy and sredding eetc.,. to keep the worms going. now having said all that the worms aren't at their best in winter they tend to hyberbate a bit. but if you sort of rough mix the dirt etc as you go that stuff will break down by itself anyway, keep it covered with a good layer of mulch hay, lift the hay each time you want to add more. other things to consider cow, horse, sheep manure all will go to help. len thanks len, that's the kind of thing I was thinking of doing. I wasn't sure if uncomposted food scraps should go in, but in they go :-). Just before I gave up my garden last time, I had about 10 bags of unrotted chook poo stacked under the tree- well the bags have decomposed and it's all turned into the most delicious black soil FULL of worms- needless to say that was the first stuff that I shovelled into the new bed- the worms gave me the idea of the food scraps. good to see you still posting here :-) Hope |
#4
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One day Hope got dressed and committed to text On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 17:21:05 +1000, len gardener wrote: g'day hope, reckon i'd be getting some mushroom compost and adding it in as i go get it from the farm or partly decomposed from some landscape centres. aalso add anything like vegetable scraps and shredded pruning as you go, you will need plenty of organic matter like the mushy and sredding eetc.,. to keep the worms going. now having said all that the worms aren't at their best in winter they tend to hyberbate a bit. but if you sort of rough mix the dirt etc as you go that stuff will break down by itself anyway, keep it covered with a good layer of mulch hay, lift the hay each time you want to add more. other things to consider cow, horse, sheep manure all will go to help. len thanks len, that's the kind of thing I was thinking of doing. I wasn't sure if uncomposted food scraps should go in, but in they go :-). Just before I gave up my garden last time, I had about 10 bags of unrotted chook poo stacked under the tree- well the bags have decomposed and it's all turned into the most delicious black soil FULL of worms- needless to say that was the first stuff that I shovelled into the new bed- the worms gave me the idea of the food scraps. good to see you still posting here :-) Hope AFAIK the worms will enjoy packets of food scraps wrapped in newspapaper, avoid citrus skins etc. Thats how I recall the feeding instructions from a worm pack I once bought and put into our garden. Also AFAIK snail killer pellets are also toxic to our "Garden Buddies". -- Regards ..... Rheilly Phoull |
#5
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On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:35:10 +0800, "Rheilly Phoull"
wrote: AFAIK the worms will enjoy packets of food scraps wrapped in newspapaper, avoid citrus skins etc. Thats how I recall the feeding instructions from a worm pack I once bought and put into our garden. Also AFAIK snail killer pellets are also toxic to our "Garden Buddies". thanks, I'll leave citrus peels out of my worm-treats. I don't bait or poison anything anyway so they're safe from that :-). Is there a reason to wrap the scraps in newspaper? Hope Gosford NSW |
#6
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One day Hope got dressed and committed to text On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:35:10 +0800, "Rheilly Phoull" wrote: AFAIK the worms will enjoy packets of food scraps wrapped in newspapaper, avoid citrus skins etc. Thats how I recall the feeding instructions from a worm pack I once bought and put into our garden. Also AFAIK snail killer pellets are also toxic to our "Garden Buddies". thanks, I'll leave citrus peels out of my worm-treats. I don't bait or poison anything anyway so they're safe from that :-). Is there a reason to wrap the scraps in newspaper? Hope Gosford NSW Keeps it tidy :-) and the wrigglers soon get into the package. Other than that I dont think theres any technical reason. -- Regards ..... Rheilly Phoull |
#7
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Hope wrote in
news On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:35:10 +0800, "Rheilly Phoull" wrote: AFAIK the worms will enjoy packets of food scraps wrapped in newspapaper, avoid citrus skins etc. Thats how I recall the feeding instructions from a worm pack I once bought and put into our garden. Also AFAIK snail killer pellets are also toxic to our "Garden Buddies". thanks, I'll leave citrus peels out of my worm-treats. I don't bait or poison anything anyway so they're safe from that :-). Is there a reason to wrap the scraps in newspaper? Hope Gosford NSW I chuck just about everything into my worm bin (even though the "instructions" gave me a big list of things not to include) and it doesn't seem to be doing the little fellows any harm at all! They are quite happy to eat onion, capsicum and chilli, citrus etc... That's my experience with worms for what it's worth To answer your question regarding newspaper, it provides a carbon source for all that nitrogen that you're putting in - this, of course, speeds up decomposition ("composting") which gives the worms more food more quickly. HTH, Ivan. |
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