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Hi I am the culprit in the night that stole precious organic ingredients and am currently brewing them into one of the most incredible soil improvers known to man.<br><br>This message is being sent to paul and Greg and is intended to inform anyone else who may be worried about the big beautiful compost heaps that I have started. By the way my name is TOM KELLY and I would like to be directly asked if there are any questions or concerns about my paths that slow the onslaught of grass in the gardens and my soil building compost heaps, thank you.<br><br>Now I'm sorry greg that you had issues with woodchips in your garden I think that perhaps initially woodchips need some excess nitrgen to start breaking down, woodchips that have started breaking down, the only ones that were layered into the compost heap, are actually taking some and giving some nitrogen and carbon back as by-products. Not to mention the fact that as one would have noticed if they had actually dug into the piles that built the compost heap, there existed a layre in the woodchips that was about 4" thick, 2" below the surface chips that was wet and teaming with microbial activity. Now the fact that some but not many woodchips were added on top of green material that is high in nitrogen that sat on top of brown straw and such that sat on top of black finished compost in layres means it was not only an activator but also a balancer of the system.<br><br>The other point I wanted to make (yes I have thought a lotabout it) was that the compost heap was not built with modern science in imnd because that would make this simple task more confusing than it should be. I was thinking about older science you know the one with 4 elements. The heap needs 4 things, earth, air, fire, water, and all are supplied in balance in many ways. First, earth now most of the pile is of earthy material, but there is the physical earth on the bottom, then layres of earth in the form of black compost within. Next you get air from the pile of dead and decomposing tree branches that are stacked log cabin style on top of the earth and below the compost heap next is brown and green material which is layred into the rest of the pile to provide air which is necessary for life to flourish, and on the original pile air was provided with air from pallets on the sides and woodchips on top. Air is now comming from all sides and I think the centre may be getting less than it could for good health, I will attempt to fix the issue next time I turn it, with some more green and brown materials, hopefully they will magically appear if I keep a positive attitude. Now fire in this pile comes in the spark of life that is present in every layre of the compost in one form or another, bugs, spores, wood, green leaves, brown leaves, black compost, and of course many tiny mircoorganisms. Water is in my opinion out of balance now that I have turned the pile and buried the woodchip and pallet mulch that it once had, but the element enters the pile from the pit that is in the ground catching rain and soil moisture where the sticks are, and once was kept from evaporting from a protective coating of woodchips as mulch on top.<br><br>My father has been a fine carpenter for 30 years now and we have always had woodchip mulch as walkways from his business, making caones, then yokes and seats. Our garden has had raised garden beds surrounded by 4+ inches of sawdust walkways that were virtually weed free walkways, and is one of the most productive gardens I have seen and managed by mom and dad. The organisms necessary to break down the woodchips are already in this garden and the new and improved paths are being broken down into humus along with the grass that the mulch covers. Greg had problems because these organisms take time to colonise but once they are present, they maintain equilibrium. If the walkways make you feel like they will adversely affect the garden then find eddible mushrooms like chantrel and inky capp and throw the dead ones onto the path, you have just added edible mushrooms to your grocerie list in the future. Alternatively rake offending path back then add manure of any sort, perferrably fresh to the walkway, then cover manure with woodchips. The nitrogen can "fix" he suspected deficiancy and build soil, perhaps though I feel it is unnecessary.<br><br>Ok I must go on no more but please remember our favourite Jamaican phrase, No Problem man!<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>TK<br><img src="http://gfx2.mail.live.com/mail/11.00/updatebeta/emoticons/island.gif"><br>(613) 267 5388<br><br><br><br><br>> Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 11:12:43 -0400<br>> From: gcmichal@envmail.uwaterloo.ca<br>> To: garden@lists.wpirg.org<br>> Subject: [Garden] Our compost may be unusable<br>> <br>> I just noticed an email in the stream mentioning that layers of <br>> woodchips had been placed in the compost heap. Sorry, but that means <br>> that the compost probably isn't worth using now, and in fact could <br>> seriously reduce soil nutrient levels if added to the garden.<br>> <br>> I learned this the hard way. We had a tree cut down in our yard and <br>> the tree removal firm used a chipper to reduce the twigs and small <br>> branches to coarse sawdust and small chips. I thought this would be <br>> excellent compost for the garden and worked it into the soil a couple <br>> of weeks before spring planting. I planted the garden and watched the <br>> seeds come up. The plants sprouted very well -- and then stalled, <br>> didn't grow any more and started turning yellow. I then took a <br>> sampling of the seedlings, rinsed the soil off the roots, and <br>> replanted them in a different part of the garden that had received no <br>> wood chips. After just a couple of days those seedlings took off <br>> again and regained their health. What had happened? A proliferation <br>> of denitrifying bacteria had been stimulated by the presence of the <br>> wood chips and used up the available nitrogen in the soil, releasing <br>> it as gaseous nitrogen molecules. The seedlings made it okay on their <br>> seed reserves in the cotyledons, but quickly exhausted that and then <br>> had to rely on soil nitrogen. That's when the trouble began. The <br>> garden was dead for the year - even adding fertilizer wouldn't help <br>> very much because the bacteria, still busily engaged in decomposing <br>> the wood, would "burn it up".<br>> <br>> Aliciah's soil tests (although the figures were reported without some <br>> reference to accepted numerical standards for growing plants) came in <br>> as "low", which sounds like a situation that would be vulnerable to <br>> nitrogen depletion from mixing wood chips into it. Sounds like a new <br>> compost pile should be started and the one with chips in it just left <br>> alone to rot for a few years.<br>> <br>> I did mention this earlier when I expressed my concerns about how much <br>> of the garden is now being given over to paths and the problems that <br>> overuse of wood chips can present. I apologize if this is <br>> repetitious. I was over at the community garden at the Lutheran church <br>> on Willow street. Paths there take only 5% of their total garden <br>> area. When I last calculated ours, it was over 34% and may now be <br>> approaching 40%. In most community gardens it's 10-15%.<br>> <br>> - Greg Michalenko<br>> <br>> Quoting Britton Jenner <britton.jenner@gmail.com>:<br>> <br>> > Hey everyone, I volunteer with Food Not Bombs and we have lots of surplus,<br>> > slightly rotten veggies that we don't want every saturday. I told them that<br>> > they could put them in the community garden compost, but if food services is<br>> > also giving us compost maybe this wasn't a good idea. Anyways, I only told<br>> > them about it today, so if it was a bad idea someone tell me and I can<br>> > rectify matters.<br>> ><br>> > Britton<br>> ><br>> > On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 2:32 PM, Paul Nijjar <paul_nijjar@yahoo.ca> wrote:<br>> ><br>> >> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 05:41:08PM -0400, wendy michaud wrote:<br>> >><br>> >> > Since this may influence your decision... I finally got in touch<br>> >> > with the appropriate person in Dining Services and they've agreed to<br>> >> > give us stuff for compost!! So I'll be bringing buckets of<br>> >> > nutrient-rich goodness over to the garden every tuesday and<br>> >> > thursday.<br>> >><br>> >> That's excellent.<br>> >><br>> >> ><br>> >> > I'm happy to take care of that myself while I'm around, but I will<br>> >> > be gone from June 13th 'till the 28th. So if someone can handle<br>> >> > pick-ups that week let me know, otherwise there will just be a two<br>> >> > week lull in rotting food excitement while I'm away.<br>> >><br>> >> At what time do the pickups need to happen? Where do we do the<br>> >> pickups?<br>> >><br>> >> > Did we work out some sort of system for rotating the compost bins?<br>> >> > Sorry, I haven't had a chance to do much gardening lately :( If not<br>> >> > maybe I can just find something to tie onto the bin for new stuff<br>> >> > and rotate to the next bin when the first gets full?<br>> >><br>> >> Unfortunately, now we have to make some<br>> >> decisions. Two of our composters are filled with layers that include a<br>> >> lot of woodchips. I am guessing that if we wait for those woodchips to<br>> >> compost we are going to tie up those two composters for years (after<br>> >> all, we put woodchips on paths precisely because they don't rot<br>> >> quickly).<br>> >><br>> >> So now we have the following choices:<br>> >><br>> >> 0. Undo the layering work that was done.<br>> >><br>> >> 1. Somehow build more composters (where?)<br>> >><br>> >> 2. Restrict the amount of compost material we get from Food<br>> >> Services pretty drastically.<br>> >><br>> >> 3. Something I am not thinking of.<br>> >><br>> >> I definitely think that you should collect compost while you can,<br>> >> though.<br>> >><br>> >> - Paul<br>> >><br>> >> _______________________________________________<br>> >> Garden mailing list<br>> >> Garden@lists.wpirg.org<br>> >> http://lists.wpirg.org/mailman/listinfo/garden_lists.wpirg.org<br>> >><br>> ><br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Garden mailing list<br>> Garden@lists.wpirg.org<br>> http://lists.wpirg.org/mailman/listinfo/garden_lists.wpirg.org<br><br /><hr />One at a time or all at once? Get updates from your friends in <a href='http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9660825' target='_new'>one place.</a></body>
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