Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[HennyPennyCO]

I've left my first two heaps/cages to do what they can until spring. They've been pretty much frozen since mid-December, though I know "stuff" goes on deep down inside.
My granddaughter has had two pygmy goats for about 6 months now, and they've brought me probably 80 gallons (300+ litres) of manure/hay which, with my own contributions, has got those bins filled to overflowing. Started a new bin in a sunnier place to see if I can coax more activity out of the microbes.
Inside the house the worms are reproducing happily and creating nice worm casting compost.
Life goes on, yea even in the depths of winter.
Penny

 

[vehve]

The worms would be interesting to try, but I doubt Karin would go for it...

My hot box is living up to it's name today, the thermometer isn't showing all that high readings, as it's quite far from the center and on the other side of the divider, but if I were to guess, we're getting close to 50C in the center. The steam rising up from it as I turned it was so hot that I did not feel like putting my hand in there at least (not that I would want to do that with all the poop in there anyway). But we're officially composting efficiently again.

 

[Bugseye]

Hail to you brave souls who persevere through the depths of winter! My compost is up a slope and under snow, on its own. I've taken to putting all my garbage into a bin on the back deck for the duration, and I'll get it heating up again in a few weeks. I'm so glad we're in the countdown to spring! My seeds are here, and I'm ready to go again. I'm also glad the days are getting longer. The darkness really got to me this year. It's time to get ready to heat up the heap again.

 

[vehve]

Hope you get it started soon! We're still far from being able to start next summers plants, but in a month or two I'll get my maters started.

 

[Bugseye]

Oh yeah! There's plenty of raunchy chicken bedding to put out, and even with more snow coming tomorrow, it won't last long. Compost heap, here I come.

 

[NanaKat]

Popping in to say Hello to all...happy gardening!

I'll begin moving the deep litter from the hen house to the raised garden beds now that we have a warm spell. I like to put three wheelbarrows on each 4 X 16 foot bed and turn it in to nourish each bed. Deep litter is a combination of droppings, ag lime, wood shavings, and leaves that accumulate spring to spring.
We also compost the hay and cow piles as well as the cage clean outs from the quail in the lot by the barn. These are turned and when aged are moved to the garden also.

Carrots, garlic and turnips planted in the fall are doing great.
Peas and onions will go in close to the end of the month. Potatoes in mid March.

 

[aart]

Popping in to say Hello to all...happy gardening!

I'll begin moving the deep litter from the hen house to the raised garden beds now that we have a warm spell. I like to put three wheelbarrows on each 4 X 16 foot bed and turn it in to nourish each bed. Deep litter is a combination of droppings, ag lime, wood shavings, and leaves that accumulate spring to spring.
We also compost the hay and cow piles as well as the cage clean outs from the quail in the lot by the barn. These are turned and when aged are moved to the garden also.

Carrots, garlic and turnips planted in the fall are doing great.
Peas and onions will go in close to the end of the month. Potatoes in mid March.

I didn't know you could plant carrots and turnips in fall.
Do they need protection from the cold?.....when do you harvest?

 

[vehve]

Carrots are actually biannuals, so they should survive winter well.

 

[NanaKat]

Popping in to say Hello to all...happy gardening!


I'll begin moving the deep litter from the hen house to the raised garden beds now that we have a warm spell. I like to put three wheelbarrows on each 4 X 16 foot bed and turn it in to nourish each bed. Deep litter is a combination of droppings, ag lime, wood shavings, and leaves that accumulate spring to spring.

We also compost the hay and cow piles as well as the cage clean outs from the quail in the lot by the barn. These are turned and when aged are moved to the garden also.

Carrots, garlic and turnips planted in the fall are doing great.

Peas and onions will go in close to the end of the month. Potatoes in mid March.

I didn't know you could plant carrots and turnips in fall.
Do they need protection from the cold?.....when do you harvest?

I seed them in late August. For carrots a 1 x4 board over the row cools the summer temps and stimulates seed sprouting. We begin picking turnip greens as soon as the leaf bodies are 6 inches long...pinching off the outer leaves. Young turnips peach sized are pulled to thin the patch in October....hard freezes will burn back the tops that act as a protective mulch until new leaves begin in early February. We pull roots about once a week for the extended family...while most are peach sized, some have been softball sized. I seed again in late February for an early spring crop.
Carrots will grow and store thru winter if mulched with straw. I plant the rows 12 inches apart and bump straw up to the tops...leaving the green tops exposed. Rabbits munch the tender tops if they aren't protected. We pull 4 to 5 inch carrots to thin the rows until November. The carrot will begin more growth in early spring.

 

[vehve]

Starting to be time to empty out the left side of my compost once again, it isn't really heating up anymore, and everything has turned nice and black. On the right side I've got some nice composting going on though. But I have to say, it surprised me how quickly I got everything to turn black with an average outside temp of about 30F, took just over a month.