A friend of mine has a turf farm and also*cuts and supplies wood for wood burning stoves etc, *consequently he has aproximately a 10 ton piles of grass clippings mixed with wood chips and sawdust, the*wood is a mixtute of both softwoods and hardwoods.

The *pile has been there for well over a year now and has produced a lovely thick black compost type material, *with only a small amount of larger blackened twigs/wood chips remaining.

Would this now be suitable to use as a multi purpose compost for my own garden or would I need to add any extra nutrients to improve it ???

I only intend to use several wheel barrow loads.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

On 22/01/2014 14:30, wrote:

A friend of mine has a turf farm and also cuts and supplies wood for wood burning stoves etc, consequently he has aproximately a 10 ton piles of grass clippings mixed with wood chips and sawdust, the wood is a mixtute of both softwoods and hardwoods.

The pile has been there for well over a year now and has produced a lovely thick black compost type material, with only a small amount of larger blackened twigs/wood chips remaining.

Would this now be suitable to use as a multi purpose compost for my own garden or would I need to add any extra nutrients to improve it ???

I only intend to use several wheel barrow loads.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Yes its fine. Just loose the bigger bits and take the nicer parts.

This time of year bulk stripping of felled pine produces big heaps of
hot composting pine needles that smell strongly of oil of wintergreen as
they steam away quietly to themselves. Big hot heaps tend to make really
good compost pretty quickly if they don't get so hot they catch fire and
smoulder internally - then you end up with wood/grass ash.

It has been too wet until recently for them to go felling in the woods.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Thank you for your advice, now looking forward to sieving it and getting it in to my garden. From what you say and if its as good as it looks I may never need to buy compost for some time !

Kind Regards.

On 2014-01-22 17:46:07 +0000, Shudderdun said:

Thank you for your advice, now looking forward to sieving it and
getting it in to my garden. From what you say and if its as good as it
looks I may never need to buy compost for some time !

Kind Regards.

If you have a spare corner, could you get more than your immediate need
and just make a tidy heap somewhere for future use?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

?? wrote
A friend of mine has a turf farm and also cuts and supplies wood for wood
burning stoves etc, consequently he has aproximately a 10 ton piles of
grass clippings mixed with wood chips and sawdust, the wood is a mixtute of
both softwoods and hardwoods.

The pile has been there for well over a year now and has produced a lovely
thick black compost type material, with only a small amount of larger
blackened twigs/wood chips remaining.

Would this now be suitable to use as a multi purpose compost for my own
garden or would I need to add any extra nutrients to improve it ???

I only intend to use several wheel barrow loads.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Excellent stuff especially as a soil improver on clay type soils, the
wood/sawdust takes longer to rot down so keeps the soil friable for longer
IME. If you do have a clay soil then get as much as possible. Check the pH
afterwards though.


-- Regards
Bob Hobden
Posting to this Newsgroup
from the W.of London. UK

Running out of spare corners as I have 3 bee hives in one ! and one on the farm where the compost is, but yes, I do have a spare corner, I also have one of those stack type plastic compost bins I was considering giving away as I never had much luck making my own compost in the past, its acting as a store for old plantpots, helps keep the garden look tidy ! Now I will have to find a new home for them !

Thanks for all the advice, not visited this great site for a while, nice to see some friendly names still here who have offered me advice in the past.

Kind Regards.