Hello newbie Peter T here from beautiful downtown Burbank. I live in the city and am working on learning how to grow my own. I've been going through different categories here for a couple of weeks and am planning to start with simple small growing beds and before that composting. What I don't understand is the "ratio", nitrogen to carbon. Different web sites have different #'s. ie 10:1...? does that mean (in lbs) 10 lbs browns to 1 lb green? and how does one figure out whats the right ratio for fruits n vegies? 🤠
It's not as critical at they say. If you have access to brown (leaves, hay, straw, bedding chips, etc), use that (about 2" deep" over each layer of kitchen scraps (green). You'll learn how much you need to keep it from getting stinky.
Just run your table scraps thru a couple backyard chickens first and they'll do all the math for you...and you can enjoy fresh eggs in the meantime.too.
I don't know if chickens are allowed in the city of Burbank.
There are several methods of composting where ratio of brown to green doesn't matter. Vermicomposting and pit composting are probably the most popular methods.
WOW, thank you everyone for the replies and advice. Chickens in Burbank....my lot is too small for chickens however one day I'll name my farm "Down Town Burbank" haha. With a statu of Johnny Carson. This composting project is the beginning of my exodus from California.
I composted tree leaves (mostly oak leaves) that I bagged with my riding mower in the fall for several years. I built 3 large bins, stirred the contents every few months, and moved the contents from one to the next after a several months.
The end result was great compost which I used in my raised bed garden.
But after a few years my vegetables started looking bad. I checked the soil in my beds and the nitrogen content was 0.
I think composting only dead tree leaves depletes the nitrogen.
I bagged leaves after I had run over them several times with a mulching blade but I bagged my grass clippings with a snapper high vac and added them to the garden as they were cut and added a fair amount to the compost pile.
I didn't have a problem with nitrogen. My soil test suggested I add gypsum only.
I put a thin layer of green grass clippings in the walking path between the rows and they are walked into the ground and some are pushed up to the plants when they are dry. I have a large worm army.
My wife used to watch this channel. I believe the woman lives in California (LA?) and gardens from her condo patio? She has a disability and has new episodes infrequently but we found her interesting. https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAbledGardener/featured
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You can get the cheap testers at any garden store. There are 2 kinds, the kind that has a meter on a metal rod that you stick into the soil and the test that has the little tubes with a color chart. I can't verify the accuracy of either but those don't cost much and you get instant results. Then there is the option of sending a soil sample to a lab to get a complex soil diagnosis including several elements and minerals and a chart of how much and what to add to make your soil more productive. Those are expensive and some places are rip-offs. You find soil diagnostic test services through your county extension agent or a google search.
About the rip-off services, my mom used a testing service that she found through the extension agent. The service charged her a couple hundred dollars and her results said she didn't have enough sodium chloride in her soil. I read it and saw they suggested she apply SALT to her soil! There were several other values that they gave that didn't match what she was seeing regarding plant growth issues.
@Peter T, do you mean flies in the compost? You won't have the big bottle flies (shiny blue or green, sometimes red) flies if you don't put meat or animal carcasses in your compost. You will have little fruit flies if you leave vegetable or fruit waste uncovered. If you cover your produce waste with soil or paper or leaf material you won't see very many fruit flies either.
Re; Vermicomposting, does the bin need to be completely enclosed? I was considering building 1 with wood slats on the sides with slotted openings and having the open ground being the bottom. The top completely open as we don't much rain (and no snow) in CA.
Are you talking about having a bin on open ground outside? Yes, that can be done but it should have at least a hardware cloth bottom to keep worm predators from digging in and a cover to keep worm predators and compost raiders out.
This is how I did one last year. It filled up very quickly. I had planned on making a couple more but life got in the way. I haven't even checked it this year.
Sycamore leaves don't compost well either. They are large enough to smother Canada thistle patches and take years to break down, even after being shredded. I have found a solution to that issue but it takes quite a bit of work. As the leaves fall I gather them and shred them using the bagger on the mower. The leaves and grass get dumped in a wire collection bin and left for a year. Through the spring and summer some pulled weeds and dirt get added to the bin. I was going to plant melons in the bin this year but didn't get around to it. You have to make pockets in the leaf pile to hold potting soil so the melons can get a good start before sending their roots into the leaf pile. If you plant a crop in the pile you need to add a balanced fertilizer or the plants suffer from nutritional deficiencies. After the crop dies back from frost you pull the plants, move the old leaves into the garden and fill the wire bin with new leaves.
Even though I didn't plant melons or pumpkins in my leaf pile this year, it will still be moved to the main garden in a few weeks.
My bin is made from some heavy duty wire fencing with, I think, 1 inch square spacing. This stuff is very sturdy, almost like cage wire. I'm not sure what it really is, it was given to me. It's about 4 feet tall and the piece makes about a 3 foot diameter circle. I'll have to check the dimensions tomorrow.
Ok, so here it is. My free composting bin from the City of Burbank Ca. It took a couple of wks to get to it and I got it....don't laugh just because I don't need an excavator to fill it. I will get there 1 day as I'm "working on a better way of living". In a few months it should be ready to extract some good stuff. Can hardly wait.
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