I don’t know about anyone else but for me composting brings me as much joy as gardening. The transformation of something that was deemed useless into something so valuable. Thanks for this update on your compost systems.
it really is! In addition to kitchen scraps and garden waste, I compost old cotton and linen dishcloths once they have too many holes, the contents of the vacuum cleaner canister (mostly cat hair and loose fibres from wool rugs), moth eaten things that are too far gone to darn...the contents of my paper shredder....everything! I even have a dedicated pile where I compost my cats' poo and their used straw pellet litter. It makes really good compost, which after 18 months I use at the bottom of planting holes or in sections of the garden containing only ornamental plants and perennial trees and shrubs.
@@clairemcconway6266 i toss my guinea pig’s straw and poop into the compost bin too! (Very safe as he is an herbivore therefore no danger of nasty bacteria being transferred into the compost.)
I can’t overstate how much I appreciate all I’ve been able to learn from your videos and books! Truly inspiring and it makes all my garden dreams and ambitions seem far more tangible and manageable. And of course, every garden starts with its compost! Thank you for being on this educational mission!
THE WORMS HAVE BEEN IS SUCH A HUGE ABUNDANCE EVERYWHERE IN OUR GARDEN DUE TO NO DIG !!!!!!!!!!! IT SERIOUSLY HAS US CONSIDERING WORM FARMING !!!!!!!!! IT'S AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig WOW !!!!!! THAT IS INCREDIBLY INTERESTING !!!!!!!!!! NEVER IN A MILLION LIGHT YEARS WOULD WE HAVE EVER THOUGHT THEY WERE TWO DIFFERENT ANIMALS !!!!!!!!! WE ARE GLAD THEY ALL GET ALONG AND ARE AS HAPPY AS THEY ALL SEEM TO BE !!!!!!!!!! WITH ALL THE LIFE IN OUR SOIL THIS YEAR, IT IS JUST ANOTHER REASON WHY NO DIG IS BY FAR THE MOST BENEFICIAL GARDENING STRATEGY THAT WE HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED ON THIS PLANET !!!!!!!!!! HEALTHIER, HAPPY SOIL.......HEALTHIER, HAPPIER PLANTS !!!!!!!! ROCK ON NO DIG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband actually went and got me about 10 pallets. We produce a lot of leaves in the fall, a mountain full! So we could make quite a bit of compost each year, plus a friend said he could get a lot of produce from the meals on wheels kitchen each day, if I wanted it. I have always loved making compost, it’s like black gold! Thank you, Charles for these lovely videos. I have learned so much.
Also have one of those plastic compost heap enclosures as well as a self-made heap made from old pallets. And I almost suffered from depression to see your temperatures rise to 60 degrees and above on your standard pile. What am I doing wrong I wondered.. But after seeing you here I got totally consoled. Even temperatures up to 40 °, like mine. And you said you didn't get them higher on this pile got me back to sleep ... But now I've discovered a trick: I mix coffee grounds from a restaurant with water from above with an iron rod, and ... wow ... 3 days later my thermometer reads 65 ° ... :-)
Love it! My husband gets a kick out of me putting every thing I can in the compost bays. Even after a good wind I am out there looking for sticks etc. We had to do a little tree management this year and now I am the proud owner of two very large piles of wood shreds and chips. I also have a very respectful heap of mushroom compost that was delivered this past week. It's like Christmas has come early. Finally the heat and humidity has broken and we are back to sensible weather so it is time to have some fun!! My husband was really surprised that the wood chips were steaming this morning. I had a chat with him about "eebie jeebies" and how they work, lol. He's an electrical engineer so I can forgive him : )
I love putting stuff in compost bin; It's like I am giving a little back to what I have got out. Mine is constantly full. Sometimes I do a little dance on top of it to compress it so I can get more in. :}
I'm naturally more of a hunter/fisherman in interest, practice and even personality, but I've taken up gardening just recently. I'm so glad I found this channel. So much great information and Charles Dowding is such a pleasant person to listen to.
The annual compost video from Charles Dowding. My favorite! After doing years of small to mid-sized compost piles, this year I ordered a 15-ton truck supply which you could put into the huge category. The driver was like "That's a lot of compost!" I had buyer's remorse for about a week but now am loving the decision. I finally have enough compost to spread it on think and block weeds, with enough to cover all the beds for next year! I think I'll still make a big pile of chopped grass and leaves this fall to stay ahead. Love seeing multiple ways to do it!
Charles - I am in awe of your compost sheds. I have tried many years ago and many times to create a working compost heap and have never had any success. The quantities of waste required for heating up efficiently are much more than the average garden and kitchen can produce. My method is to take all green garden matter, shredded paper, cardboard, and kitchen waste and bury it in a hole or trench at least a spit and a half deep. After a week of settlement, I can then plant a new crop on the ground. Any autumn leaves are just left on the surface of the soil and get broken down naturally during the winter months. I've never had any problems with nitrogen deficiency, no compost heaps, and a beautiful growing medium with worms in abundance. Yes, I still dig a bit once or twice a week but don't have to turn heaps or cart compost around - the work involved, I believe, balances itself out. My growing beds are 4' 6" wide and never stood on.
I have a small ish garden, and have more than enough waste, I've got a dalek composter, and two pallet composers. They're all pretty full. They take up space but it's worth it! Im sure I could fill that big one up quite quickly for Charles 😂
can I say before even watching -- Thank you!! I rabidly consume ALL composting wisdom you share .... now off to watch :-) Edit: Stomping on it ... nice tip, thanks.
I covered the compost for protection from too much sun, flies and mosquitos. The heat in Central MX is quite intense. This first week of this month of July the temps have been a bit milder. Thank you, Charles for your program. I'll keep you posted about my progress!
If you're doing hot composting, there is no such thing as too much sun (at least heat from the sun. You still need to keep the pile moist). Flies and mosquitos should not be a problem unless you have raw food or high nitrogen materials in your top layer. You can solve this by making your topmost layer carbon, eg papers, cardboards, dead leaves and brush... Nothing alive or recently alive and generally low moisture content.
As heat rises to the top of the compost pile, every little cracks and spaces within the compost becomes like a chimney. As hot air rises, it sucks air from the sides and bottom of the compost pile. And when it rains, the water droplets from the top, sucks air into the compost as gravity pulls the water down. That's why you don't even have to turn it if your feeling lazy.
I am suffering from compost envy here in sub-tropical Brisbane, Australia. I garden in the communal garden areas of my apartment complex and at my son's house nearby. I am not allowed to have compost bays like yours in either location so I have to make do with a three black garbage bin system. It gets hot but not as hot as yours obviously. I can never make enough. Thanks for the videos you release on UA-cam. I enjoy them as well as your books. Happy "no-dig" growing everyone!!
Thank you, Master Dowding! Your work with composting, growing, planting, etc. is more than inspirational - it is LIFE CHANGING for serious, avid gardeners! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your wisdom!!!
For 40 + yrs we have been gardening with various levels of success & failure. 2021 has been a challenge for germination of usual gimme's like cukes, & hybreds of super sweet corn. Yet we have blue ribbon winners in yellow & red onions...so many softball size and with such a bounty...gifts to friends and neighbors. My focus has been on composting so I can do less soils disturbance, less weeding and less work. We have a chipper [tractor driven] for farm hedgerow clearing and use chips for 02 retention in layers of our 6x6 bin. We shred lots of paper and cardboard and use fresh droppings from our 4 draft horses for a nitrogen ingredient. Your love of gardening with natural methods of recycling and keeping our precious soil covered is a no brainer. We are saturated with Utube vids on 'how to', '10 reasons why your ... '...bla bla bla. Yours are so easy to listen to and that you understand and teach that the basics are so simple and nature is not that difficult to understand and cooperate with. i
"No dig" certainly doesn't mean no work. There is still plenty of opportunity to develop muscles and raise the heart rate! Always love to watch a good compost heap video.
For those that haven't dared ask, I have found that if you find construction going on at houses near you, it's almost always the case that if you ask for any unwanted pallets, they will allow you to cart them away free of charge. I've built a 3m wide composting area using freebies from construction projects down the road. One of the bays is currently filled with woodchips I cadged from tree surgeons who were bringing a neighbour's rampant forest under control. Composting is almost always free! And much of my 'browns' nowadays comes from the pruning of our fruit trees, which I chop up into small little sections with secateurs and just make a pile in the winter to be cadged whenever I need to add some browns to a bin.
Love doing my own compost, lots of juicy weeds this year. Its reassuring knowing what's in it. Don't forget the Comfrey, its well worth growing and the Bumble's love it too. When the compost is ready its well worth sieving , to make the best seed compost, I reckon. Always a joy to watch, Thanks Charles.
I couldn't agree more... I was tempted to ask the neighbors if I could use things out of their brown bins and then got put off when I thought about the potential of other people using weed killers on their gardens.
Oh my chickens love comfrey! I harvest tender ends and dry and make warm tea in winter for them. Sounds silly but I think that and the dried stinging nettle tea helps them in winter with vitamins and minerals. And it does make lots of green for the compost lol.
I've been using weeds I get in my garden for the last three years and fermenting in buckets. I learned that by accident leaving a bucket of weeds for a couple weeks and rain filling it. I just used what was in it to water some plants then looked on yt and I guess it's a thing. I'm glad I found you because now I have a permanent way to improve my sandy soil.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig It's been driving me nuts since I started gardening here. Carrots are the worst, short and stumpy. Glad I found your channel, it may take at least a couple years but one way or another I will have a nice tiller for sale.
Thank you Charles, I followed your advise and and transformed 100sq MTS of weeds, including bindweed and nettle into an area needing only one hour a week of maintenance. Looking forward to the compost tower unveiling
I saw somewhere that people are now putting wood chips DIRECTLY into their their vegetable garden beds due to the way they either attract or already have fungi mycelium which is so important for soil health. My latest indulgence is a decent microscope and looking at all the greeblies and microbes in the soil is absolutely fascinating.
There are disadvantages to putting on pure woodchip, such as woodlice and the physical difficulty of sowing small seeds like carrots. I'm finding a huge amount of fungi in my soil thanks to the woody content of home-made compost, which is the most beneficial way of approaching this in my experience
Taking an idea from the Johnson-Su bioreactor, I used pallets for the sides of my composts, and put a complete pallet on the bottom as well. I cut round 6 inch holes in the bottom pallet and inserted white sewer plastic pipe, 5 feet long temporarily in the holes vertically. Once the compost box is completely loaded, I wait a week or two and then slide out the plastic pipe. The holes remain easily and a year later…beautiful compost. No turning required. Just leave it alone and it does the rest.
Built my three bay compost bin first of the year. It is a compost making machine. It's 3 ft cubed. The roof is the key. My friend Ed and I really enjoy your videos thanks.
When covering the pallet sides with large pieces of cardboard, I add several staples from my small staple gun to hold them up. Saves time and frustration from the cardboard falling into the pile all the time. 😉
I’ve used whole pallets to make my compost bins and the gaps inside the pallet are really handy for storing bean poles, canes, wooden stakes. I also have one side turned into shelves for putting odds and ends like cane caps, weed membrane pegs, etc.
Sir Charles 👌Great source of inspiration and information as to how we can make our own compost,,🍁🍂, it was nice to see different types of meterial for bins as well,,,stay safe 👍🇮🇳
During WWII it was popular to make square and sideless compost stacks by piling right up to the edge and stomping down. It is demonstrated in The Wartime Kitchen and Garden by Harry Dodson and l believe British Pathe uploaded the old how-to compost for victory gardening. I am keen to see this method tried although l haven't had the guts to do it myself!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig THANK YOU SIR !!!!! YOUR EXPERIMENTS, KNOWLEDGE, AND WORK (OR LACK THERE OF) HAS THE ABILITY TO GREATLY INCREASE THIS PLANETS FOOD SUPPLY !!!!!! WE TRULY BELIEVE THAT !!!!!!
Thank you so so much for all your fantastic videos, 5 year of cancer treatment i have use the time To learn from you, this year i practise for real and my first kompost is ready and à basket o vegetabilies👩🌾
So informative! Fills me with confidence. It’s almost an instinctive thing. I’m just a novice but I found myself doing quite a few of the things you suggest Charles. I just need to keep the rain off and get to that magic 50 degrees if I can. Compost is the ultimate upcycle/recycle.👌
Did I detect a ‘crikey’ in there? 🇦🇺😂 love it! The joy of creating compost must not be underestimated. I finished a pile in June (winter here in Melbourne) and had covered it with some hay I had on hand for some insulation, so it appeared that nothing was really happening. I don’t have a thermometer but a piece of steel I put in then check if it’s hot to the touch, it had been constantly cold. My husband started to turn it into the next bay while I watched on, lo and behold there was beautiful compost in there and because it had been cold, an abundance of 🪱! It’s given me faith to persevere even the pile doesn’t heat up ☺️
You add a certain mood to your videos by being in it. Describing what you have done and what results you get doing it. I feel like I am watching science being presented by a modest professor who happened to discover that process. And i enjoy it thoroughly. Thank you and thank you to your team of assistants.
Hola 🙋🏻♀️Gracias por compartir charles excelente abonado se ve fantástico y su huerto es maravilloso felicidades 😍 ,todo mis cultivos tienen mí propio abonado siento orgullo, mujer Trabajando la tierra y sola sin ayuda 💪 abrazo grande desde 🇦🇷 muchas bendiciones
I enjoyed watching that video. I have a two bay pallet bin setup down the allotment. Someone kindly mowed all the paths down at the plot so I had plenty of grass to fill the bins with. Maybe too many 'greens' and not enough 'browns' but better to put it to use rather than leave it to rot down on the paths. I did dispose of things like bindweed separately, now they'll go on the heap.
Dear Charles. I am about to get the pallets heap setup for 520 m2 of land. I am sure it will be enough and wonderful. Thank you for all the lovely advice and teaching.
it's amazing how simple it is, there are so many DIY vids that overcomplicates making of a simple pallet bin that throws people off of wanting to make them and yet here you have it - couple of pallets and a wire...
I am so envious! Here in the south of Spain I have a compost structure made of pallets like the second one in your video. Because we have so little rainfall each morning I transfer the water from my small geese ponds into the compost before filling with fresh water. The goose feaces in the water I hope helps with the decomposition process, but it still takes a lot longer to get good compost unless I turn and wet it completely every 3rd day. Only then does it heat up over 50degrees, and start steaming
I run a 3 bay pallet style system (old full sized pallet crates, used for bulk delivery of potted plants) and tried lining with cardboard inform the first year and found that the cardboard drew moisture from within the heap to the outer cardboard and then the cardboard dried whilst exposed to the wind. That was my theory. In response this year I dismantled pallet planks and lined the structure with planks leaving micro gaps and drainage and found the heap is retaining moisture. Forgot to add that the heap is off the ground (may have something to do with moisture loss) on as I have mares tail and have found that mulching with cardboard as I did for my greenhouses raised beds, does not get rid of it! Fantastic method on how to utilise the 3 bays effectively but starting 2 and then turning the 2 into the middle heap to make a full one!
Yes all slightly different for you! Dry cardboard cannot transmit / wick moisture so I'm unsure where it went; it works well here. Good luck with marestail.
I now have eight bins, four plastic and four pallet types, I am always amazed at how much compost is produced from rubbish. My biggest problem in summer is getting enough brown, even with the neighbours saving cardboard for me. Top tip, laithwaits wine boxes are perfect.
Last year I started composting after watching one of your videos. I found an old plastic dustbin behind the shed, I knew it would come in handy. I cut a hole in the bottom, turned it upside down on the grass. It's perfect for the kitchen scraps, topped with some grass clippings and mowed over hedge clippings and old compost from the flower pots. I leave over winter and it's ready to use in the spring.
After just rebuilding my composting area, your videos are superbly helpful. My compost hasn’t been going well; so I’m trying to learn as much as I can to hopefully save my compost bin before winter storms dump rain everywhere
@@CharlesDowding1nodig i admit i’m surprised and star struck a bit that you responded to me. Your no dig bed strategy I first heard from epic gardener and I’ve got my third bed up with sweet potatoes. I’m very excited
Hey Charles. Only issue with no dig this season is the carrots. I will have a dedicated bed next season. Snips are doing awesome in same compost same conditions. Carrots have split snips have a straight tap root.
Thank you !! We finished our first batch a couple weeks ago. We trialed it against "Premium" bagged compost and Premium compost from a local facility. We we're floored by the results. Turns out we can grow amazing produce. Glad we tracked and recorded it to prove it to our family and friends. We're expanding our compost area and will have it as our main priority as opposed to our last !!
Thanks for the very detailed video of your results with composting and your different bins and set-ups. The running commentary is appreciated as you explain the idea and thought process behind it and your opinions on the results of how it is progressing.
Such an inspiring teacher. I have a love for Charles Dowding, the kind of love you can have for a person without ever meeting them in person. Thank you sir for the really useful encouraging content you and your team produce. From central southern Virginia U.S.A.
Last year we had a garden that had been very unloved for a very long time, 0.02 of an acre of weeds, and I looked into how to make the area productive and stumbled upon your channel. This year so far we've cultivated onions, garlic, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, 1st & 2nd early potatoes, and cucumbers! Just about to harvest French beans and Bell peppers and about 14 metric tonnes of tomatoes (not quite, but it seems preserving will have to become an additional hobby). Also growing are a second run of beetroot and some autumn raspberries as well as Brussel sprouts and cauliflowers. All accomplished using the no-dig method. Have 3 "Dalek" style compost bins and this year will probably make a 3 bay, pallet system as it seems easier to manage and your super informative video has given me the inspiration to do this. Thank you Charles!
Thank you Charles. Great timing! I just got my first allotment and was wondering about how to start composting. The pallet system seems to be the OST suitable for allotment life ❤️
Sir Charles, you are educating the masses single handed. This lesson exposes us to the many options for composting as an essential measure to a successful harvest. My own composting on a tractor turning scale is just plain fun. So much to learn but almost impossible to not make a successful batch at some usable level for use in the garden. Thank you for inspiring us to keep trying.
Thank you so much for this video- such a great help! I commented about having solid sides right before the section showing your covered bins with solid sides :). You make composting feel a lot less stressful. And with a small budget and lacking handyman skills you have shown me things I can still do...thanks so much!
Thanks. I love your videos. You are the best garden channel on UA-cam, bar none. So I bought your book and so has my sister. BTW, I have a bin similar to the small plastic one you have. I like it, since I have limited space and it looks good and my HOA is picky. The bin works great for the Berkely Method. Every other day, I turn the compost onto the ground in front of the bin and then re-fill it. A month later, you have 20-30 square feet of compost. After the compost is finished, I pile it in a corner to cure and build a new pile, trying to gather material and fill it all in 1 to 4 days. Then it's lather, rinse, repeat.
I don’t know about anyone else but for me composting brings me as much joy as gardening. The transformation of something that was deemed useless into something so valuable.
Thanks for this update on your compost systems.
Well said Karen
I agree, I think composting can become addictive 😄
it really is! In addition to kitchen scraps and garden waste, I compost old cotton and linen dishcloths once they have too many holes, the contents of the vacuum cleaner canister (mostly cat hair and loose fibres from wool rugs), moth eaten things that are too far gone to darn...the contents of my paper shredder....everything! I even have a dedicated pile where I compost my cats' poo and their used straw pellet litter. It makes really good compost, which after 18 months I use at the bottom of planting holes or in sections of the garden containing only ornamental plants and perennial trees and shrubs.
@@clairemcconway6266 i toss my guinea pig’s straw and poop into the compost bin too! (Very safe as he is an herbivore therefore no danger of nasty bacteria being transferred into the compost.)
Couldn't agree more... always been a 'soil' gal. Love the book: "The secret life of soil".
I can’t overstate how much I appreciate all I’ve been able to learn from your videos and books! Truly inspiring and it makes all my garden dreams and ambitions seem far more tangible and manageable. And of course, every garden starts with its compost! Thank you for being on this educational mission!
I'm so glad to help Jana
Agree 100%
Yes!
@Jana which of Charles’s books would you recommend
@@paul_herts the Veg journal is the one I use the most, but also the Diary.
THE WORMS HAVE BEEN IS SUCH A HUGE ABUNDANCE EVERYWHERE IN OUR GARDEN DUE TO NO DIG !!!!!!!!!!! IT SERIOUSLY HAS US CONSIDERING WORM FARMING !!!!!!!!! IT'S AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's interesting that the worms in your soil, Lumbricus terrestris, are different to the worms which decompose material in a heap, Eisenia fetida
@@CharlesDowding1nodig WOW !!!!!! THAT IS INCREDIBLY INTERESTING !!!!!!!!!! NEVER IN A MILLION LIGHT YEARS WOULD WE HAVE EVER THOUGHT THEY WERE TWO DIFFERENT ANIMALS !!!!!!!!! WE ARE GLAD THEY ALL GET ALONG AND ARE AS HAPPY AS THEY ALL SEEM TO BE !!!!!!!!!! WITH ALL THE LIFE IN OUR SOIL THIS YEAR, IT IS JUST ANOTHER REASON WHY NO DIG IS BY FAR THE MOST BENEFICIAL GARDENING STRATEGY THAT WE HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED ON THIS PLANET !!!!!!!!!! HEALTHIER, HAPPY SOIL.......HEALTHIER, HAPPIER PLANTS !!!!!!!! ROCK ON NO DIG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband actually went and got me about 10 pallets. We produce a lot of leaves in the fall, a mountain full! So we could make quite a bit of compost each year, plus a friend said he could get a lot of produce from the meals on wheels kitchen each day, if I wanted it. I have always loved making compost, it’s like black gold! Thank you, Charles for these lovely videos. I have learned so much.
Wonderful Judy, and I wish you lots of success and black gold!
Also have one of those plastic compost heap enclosures as well as a self-made heap made from old pallets.
And I almost suffered from depression to see your temperatures rise to 60 degrees and above on your standard pile. What am I doing wrong I wondered..
But after seeing you here I got totally consoled. Even temperatures up to 40 °, like mine. And you said you didn't get them higher on this pile got me back to sleep ...
But now I've discovered a trick: I mix coffee grounds from a restaurant with water from above with an iron rod, and ... wow ... 3 days later my thermometer reads 65 ° ... :-)
Happy to help you Lukas, good tip on the coffee
Love it! My husband gets a kick out of me putting every thing I can in the compost bays. Even after a good wind I am out there looking for sticks etc. We had to do a little tree management this year and now I am the proud owner of two very large piles of wood shreds and chips. I also have a very respectful heap of mushroom compost that was delivered this past week. It's like Christmas has come early. Finally the heat and humidity has broken and we are back to sensible weather so it is time to have some fun!! My husband was really surprised that the wood chips were steaming this morning. I had a chat with him about "eebie jeebies" and how they work, lol. He's an electrical engineer so I can forgive him : )
Lovely description!
JUST USING COMPOST WAS THE GREATEST EXPERIMENT IN THE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION !!!!!!!!
I love putting stuff in compost bin; It's like I am giving a little back to what I have got out. Mine is constantly full. Sometimes I do a little dance on top of it to compress it so I can get more in. :}
Always happy to see you latest video
I never get tired of your compost making videos! Excellent tips, as usual.
So nice of you
I'm naturally more of a hunter/fisherman in interest, practice and even personality, but I've taken up gardening just recently. I'm so glad I found this channel. So much great information and Charles Dowding is such a pleasant person to listen to.
Thanks so much and that is an impressive change :)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Wow! You replied how cool! Not changing my ways, still love fishing, just expanding my horizons! Have a great day.
The annual compost video from Charles Dowding. My favorite! After doing years of small to mid-sized compost piles, this year I ordered a 15-ton truck supply which you could put into the huge category. The driver was like "That's a lot of compost!" I had buyer's remorse for about a week but now am loving the decision. I finally have enough compost to spread it on think and block weeds, with enough to cover all the beds for next year! I think I'll still make a big pile of chopped grass and leaves this fall to stay ahead. Love seeing multiple ways to do it!
Cheers Ken and yes it's often goes less far than you think!
Charles - I am in awe of your compost sheds. I have tried many years ago and many times to create a working compost heap and have never had any success. The quantities of waste required for heating up efficiently are much more than the average garden and kitchen can produce. My method is to take all green garden matter, shredded paper, cardboard, and kitchen waste and bury it in a hole or trench at least a spit and a half deep. After a week of settlement, I can then plant a new crop on the ground. Any autumn leaves are just left on the surface of the soil and get broken down naturally during the winter months. I've never had any problems with nitrogen deficiency, no compost heaps, and a beautiful growing medium with worms in abundance. Yes, I still dig a bit once or twice a week but don't have to turn heaps or cart compost around - the work involved, I believe, balances itself out. My growing beds are 4' 6" wide and never stood on.
Clever!
I have a small ish garden, and have more than enough waste, I've got a dalek composter, and two pallet composers. They're all pretty full. They take up space but it's worth it! Im sure I could fill that big one up quite quickly for Charles 😂
can I say before even watching -- Thank you!! I rabidly consume ALL composting wisdom you share .... now off to watch :-)
Edit: Stomping on it ... nice tip, thanks.
Talk about a change in weather!
Your videos are so informative, Charles, and listening to you talk feels like sitting down and catching up with an old friend. Thanks for sharing!
I covered the compost for protection from too much sun, flies and mosquitos. The heat in Central MX is quite intense. This first week of this month of July the temps have been a bit milder. Thank you, Charles for your program. I'll keep you posted about my progress!
If you're doing hot composting, there is no such thing as too much sun (at least heat from the sun. You still need to keep the pile moist). Flies and mosquitos should not be a problem unless you have raw food or high nitrogen materials in your top layer. You can solve this by making your topmost layer carbon, eg papers, cardboards, dead leaves and brush... Nothing alive or recently alive and generally low moisture content.
@@tonysu8860 Thank you for your advice, you are very kind.
As heat rises to the top of the compost pile, every little cracks and spaces within the compost becomes like a chimney. As hot air rises, it sucks air from the sides and bottom of the compost pile. And when it rains, the water droplets from the top, sucks air into the compost as gravity pulls the water down. That's why you don't even have to turn it if your feeling lazy.
Gracias Charles por la inspiración. Haremos pronto nuestra pila de compost 😘
¡Te deseo éxito!
I am suffering from compost envy here in sub-tropical Brisbane, Australia. I garden in the communal garden areas of my apartment complex and at my son's house nearby. I am not allowed to have compost bays like yours in either location so I have to make do with a three black garbage bin system. It gets hot but not as hot as yours obviously. I can never make enough. Thanks for the videos you release on UA-cam. I enjoy them as well as your books. Happy "no-dig" growing everyone!!
Cheers Peter, hope you have heaps one day!
You keep teasing us with that bioreactor. I can't wait for the review of that!
Thank you, Master Dowding! Your work with composting, growing, planting, etc. is more than inspirational - it is LIFE CHANGING for serious, avid gardeners! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your wisdom!!!
For 40 + yrs we have been gardening with various levels of success & failure. 2021 has been a challenge for germination of usual gimme's like cukes, & hybreds of super sweet corn. Yet we have blue ribbon winners in yellow & red onions...so many softball size and with such a bounty...gifts to friends and neighbors. My focus has been on composting so I can do less soils disturbance, less weeding and less work. We have a chipper [tractor driven] for farm hedgerow clearing and use chips for 02 retention in layers of our 6x6 bin. We shred lots of paper and cardboard and use fresh droppings from our 4 draft horses for a nitrogen ingredient. Your love of gardening with natural methods of recycling and keeping our precious soil covered is a no brainer.
We are saturated with Utube vids on 'how to', '10 reasons why your ... '...bla bla bla.
Yours are so easy to listen to and that you understand and teach that the basics are so simple and nature is not that difficult to understand and cooperate with.
i
Loverly to read this Bernard, I am heartened for you, and for my teaching work 😀
I got the pallets, glad I'm watching this again, next step is to knock the back of to get the frame. Brilliant.
"No dig" certainly doesn't mean no work. There is still plenty of opportunity to develop muscles and raise the heart rate! Always love to watch a good compost heap video.
Absolutely!
we have bindweed growing as part of out flower garden beds and in pots on balcony :-) there is loads growing around rail track
This is perfect timing, Charles! My first bin is full and I've been mulling over my compost arrangements for next season's growing.
For those that haven't dared ask, I have found that if you find construction going on at houses near you, it's almost always the case that if you ask for any unwanted pallets, they will allow you to cart them away free of charge. I've built a 3m wide composting area using freebies from construction projects down the road. One of the bays is currently filled with woodchips I cadged from tree surgeons who were bringing a neighbour's rampant forest under control. Composting is almost always free! And much of my 'browns' nowadays comes from the pruning of our fruit trees, which I chop up into small little sections with secateurs and just make a pile in the winter to be cadged whenever I need to add some browns to a bin.
Nice tips Rhys!
Thank you for the info. Especially in terms of proper temps to kill weeds.
Thank Charles and Crew
Keep Living The Earthway
I am from India and I agree with your farming style you're nice person
Cheers Praveen :)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thanks your reply 👍
Love doing my own compost, lots of juicy weeds this year. Its reassuring knowing what's in it.
Don't forget the Comfrey, its well worth growing and the Bumble's love it too.
When the compost is ready its well worth sieving , to make the best seed compost, I reckon.
Always a joy to watch, Thanks Charles.
I couldn't agree more... I was tempted to ask the neighbors if I could use things out of their brown bins and then got put off when I thought about the potential of other people using weed killers on their gardens.
Oh my chickens love comfrey! I harvest tender ends and dry and make warm tea in winter for them. Sounds silly but I think that and the dried stinging nettle tea helps them in winter with vitamins and minerals.
And it does make lots of green for the compost lol.
These comparison videos are priceless thank you ever so much
I've been using weeds I get in my garden for the last three years and fermenting in buckets. I learned that by accident leaving a bucket of weeds for a couple weeks and rain filling it. I just used what was in it to water some plants then looked on yt and I guess it's a thing. I'm glad I found you because now I have a permanent way to improve my sandy soil.
That's neat! Sandy soil is difficult for many vegetables
@@CharlesDowding1nodig It's been driving me nuts since I started gardening here. Carrots are the worst, short and stumpy. Glad I found your channel, it may take at least a couple years but one way or another I will have a nice tiller for sale.
Thank you Charles, I followed your advise and and transformed 100sq MTS of weeds, including bindweed and nettle into an area needing only one hour a week of maintenance. Looking forward to the compost tower unveiling
Super to hear Richard
I saw somewhere that people are now putting wood chips DIRECTLY into their their vegetable garden beds due to the way they either attract or already have fungi mycelium which is so important for soil health. My latest indulgence is a decent microscope and looking at all the greeblies and microbes in the soil is absolutely fascinating.
There are disadvantages to putting on pure woodchip, such as woodlice and the physical difficulty of sowing small seeds like carrots. I'm finding a huge amount of fungi in my soil thanks to the woody content of home-made compost, which is the most beneficial way of approaching this in my experience
COMPOST IS JUST A WILD ROCK N ROLL PARTY THAT WANTS TO EXTEND THE PARTY TO YOUR GARDEN !!!!!!! COMPOST IS A PARTY ANIMAL !!!!!!!! ROCK ON !!!!!!!
Taking an idea from the Johnson-Su bioreactor, I used pallets for the sides of my composts, and put a complete pallet on the bottom as well. I cut round 6 inch holes in the bottom pallet and inserted white sewer plastic pipe, 5 feet long temporarily in the holes vertically. Once the compost box is completely loaded, I wait a week or two and then slide out the plastic pipe. The holes remain easily and a year later…beautiful compost. No turning required. Just leave it alone and it does the rest.
Really good idea! Thanks for sharing
Compost is my favorite topic!!! I love the way it smells!
Built my three bay compost bin first of the year. It is a compost making machine. It's 3 ft cubed. The roof is the key.
My friend Ed and I really enjoy your videos thanks.
Cheers Brad and well done!
I did the online course during lockdown would highly recommend it. I nearly gave up on my veg garden until charles came along. 🙃
Thanks for your recommendation Keith, I'm glad you rediscovered the joy
Compost bin arrived yesterday, so perfect timing!
When covering the pallet sides with large pieces of cardboard, I add several staples from my small staple gun to hold them up. Saves time and frustration from the cardboard falling into the pile all the time. 😉
Nice tip!
Gracias Charles por los subtítulos en español, que suerte que los pusieron hoy, antes había que esperar dos días.
I have an enormous squash volunteer growing out of my compost. its fruiting really well.
I’ve used whole pallets to make my compost bins and the gaps inside the pallet are really handy for storing bean poles, canes, wooden stakes. I also have one side turned into shelves for putting odds and ends like cane caps, weed membrane pegs, etc.
Brilliant!
You are a king of compost!!!
Tanks you for give me many options and examples!!!
Sorry again for my english!!!
No worries and thanks1
Sir Charles 👌Great source of inspiration and information as to how we can make our own compost,,🍁🍂, it was nice to see different types of meterial for bins as well,,,stay safe 👍🇮🇳
I love the way you explain, i love your scientifict-practical approach: every your video Is interesting...thank you!
Regards and Thank you from Bulgaria you have opened my eyes
💚
During WWII it was popular to make square and sideless compost stacks by piling right up to the edge and stomping down. It is demonstrated in The Wartime Kitchen and Garden by Harry Dodson and l believe British Pathe uploaded the old how-to compost for victory gardening. I am keen to see this method tried although l haven't had the guts to do it myself!
Worth a try!
ROCK ON COMPOST EXPERIMENTS !!!!!!!!!!
I love your comments 😀
@@CharlesDowding1nodig THANK YOU SIR !!!!! YOUR EXPERIMENTS, KNOWLEDGE, AND WORK (OR LACK THERE OF) HAS THE ABILITY TO GREATLY INCREASE THIS PLANETS FOOD SUPPLY !!!!!! WE TRULY BELIEVE THAT !!!!!!
@@nickhammersonrocks Ah thanks. Quietly does it too, below corporate radar 😀
Genial, me ha gustado mucho la explicación 🌈👍🌹
Thank you so so much for all your fantastic videos, 5 year of cancer treatment i have use the time
To learn from you, this year i practise for real and my first kompost is ready and à basket o vegetabilies👩🌾
Well done you, turning difficulty to opportunity 💚
Dziękuję za ten film o kompastowaniu 👍👌🇵🇱
So informative! Fills me with confidence. It’s almost an instinctive thing. I’m just a novice but I found myself doing quite a few of the things you suggest Charles. I just need to keep the rain off and get to that magic 50 degrees if I can. Compost is the ultimate upcycle/recycle.👌
🎯
Did I detect a ‘crikey’ in there? 🇦🇺😂 love it! The joy of creating compost must not be underestimated. I finished a pile in June (winter here in Melbourne) and had covered it with some hay I had on hand for some insulation, so it appeared that nothing was really happening. I don’t have a thermometer but a piece of steel I put in then check if it’s hot to the touch, it had been constantly cold. My husband started to turn it into the next bay while I watched on, lo and behold there was beautiful compost in there and because it had been cold, an abundance of 🪱! It’s given me faith to persevere even the pile doesn’t heat up ☺️
Lovely to read this and well done Jennifer!
Thank you for teaching us all the art of composting and no dig! 🤗
You add a certain mood to your videos by being in it. Describing what you have done and what results you get doing it. I feel like I am watching science being presented by a modest professor who happened to discover that process. And i enjoy it thoroughly.
Thank you and thank you to your team of assistants.
Nice description!
Hola 🙋🏻♀️Gracias por compartir charles excelente abonado se ve fantástico y su huerto es maravilloso felicidades 😍 ,todo mis cultivos tienen mí propio abonado siento orgullo, mujer Trabajando la tierra y sola sin ayuda 💪 abrazo grande desde 🇦🇷 muchas bendiciones
Impresionante y te deseo lo mejor
@@CharlesDowding1nodig muchas gracias 🙌🙌
This is a true genius at work. Love all that o am learning from you, Charles. Thank you so much.
I appreciate that!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig it’s my truth. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and, of course, to millions of others.
I adopted the 3 bay system for my garden 2 years ago. I’m making good compost thank to Charles.
I enjoyed watching that video. I have a two bay pallet bin setup down the allotment.
Someone kindly mowed all the paths down at the plot so I had plenty of grass to fill the bins with. Maybe too many 'greens' and not enough 'browns' but better to put it to use rather than leave it to rot down on the paths.
I did dispose of things like bindweed separately, now they'll go on the heap.
The most enviable compost system I have ever seen!
Dear Charles. I am about to get the pallets heap setup for 520 m2 of land. I am sure it will be enough and wonderful. Thank you for all the lovely advice and teaching.
Sounds great. I wish you well 💚
Thank you Charles! That was very well explained! Many myths put to rest. Straight forward with no nonsense and charming delivery as always :-)
I think I'm on the right track, thanks Charles!
Wow, the pallet bins hold together by wires is brilliant. Definitely would need to bring outside source to build it up.
it's amazing how simple it is, there are so many DIY vids that overcomplicates making of a simple pallet bin that throws people off of wanting to make them and yet here you have it - couple of pallets and a wire...
It's very sweet listen to you, thank you
Great to see more tested methods of compost making and learning from an experienced gardener. Thanks for sharing.
Our pleasure
Thanks again Charles. Importing compost material as you have said before avoiding grass clippings from pyralid sprayed grassland
I made a three box system out of pallets last year. It works great! Will include the cardboard insulation next time I have an empty box! Thank you.
Thank you 😊 We’ve been building up compost for winter covering beds and found broccoli growing in a pile from kitchen scraps
Charles I’ve taken your advice over the past 2 years and my simple chicken wire mesh heaps are great, I put everything in it
Fantastic!
I am so envious! Here in the south of Spain I have a compost structure made of pallets like the second one in your video. Because we have so little rainfall each morning I transfer the water from my small geese ponds into the compost before filling with fresh water. The goose feaces in the water I hope helps with the decomposition process, but it still takes a lot longer to get good compost unless I turn and wet it completely every 3rd day. Only then does it heat up over 50degrees, and start steaming
Good luck! Sounds a challenge
Loved the Dalek reference
around :55.
This video is exactly what I needed! I was just planning my new compost area.
I run a 3 bay pallet style system (old full sized pallet crates, used for bulk delivery of potted plants) and tried lining with cardboard inform the first year and found that the cardboard drew moisture from within the heap to the outer cardboard and then the cardboard dried whilst exposed to the wind. That was my theory. In response this year I dismantled pallet planks and lined the structure with planks leaving micro gaps and drainage and found the heap is retaining moisture. Forgot to add that the heap is off the ground (may have something to do with moisture loss) on as I have mares tail and have found that mulching with cardboard as I did for my greenhouses raised beds, does not get rid of it! Fantastic method on how to utilise the 3 bays effectively but starting 2 and then turning the 2 into the middle heap to make a full one!
Yes all slightly different for you!
Dry cardboard cannot transmit / wick moisture so I'm unsure where it went; it works well here.
Good luck with marestail.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you, I definitely need it 🙃
I now have eight bins, four plastic and four pallet types, I am always amazed at how much compost is produced from rubbish. My biggest problem in summer is getting enough brown, even with the neighbours saving cardboard for me. Top tip, laithwaits wine boxes are perfect.
😀
Love your compost making very interesting thank you xx
I'm just starting out and I found this very informative, thank you
You are so welcome and many thanks John
This is wonderful to learn while I'm working to get my forever home. Thank you.
Hola!! Me encantan sus vídeos, lo sigo hace 2 años y me han ayudado mucho. Muchas gracias y saludos desde Chile
💚
Last year I started composting after watching one of your videos. I found an old plastic dustbin behind the shed, I knew it would come in handy. I cut a hole in the bottom, turned it upside down on the grass. It's perfect for the kitchen scraps, topped with some grass clippings and mowed over hedge clippings and old compost from the flower pots. I leave over winter and it's ready to use in the spring.
Nice work Stephen
After just rebuilding my composting area, your videos are superbly helpful.
My compost hasn’t been going well; so I’m trying to learn as much as I can to hopefully save my compost bin before winter storms dump rain everywhere
You can do it Doug and yes cover before Sunday I reckon
@@CharlesDowding1nodig i admit i’m surprised and star struck a bit that you responded to me.
Your no dig bed strategy I first heard from epic gardener and I’ve got my third bed up with sweet potatoes. I’m very excited
Thank you for your educational compost enthusiasm!
I have a terrace garden
Sir you Inspired me to make my own kitchen waste composting
Wonderful!
Hey Charles. Only issue with no dig this season is the carrots. I will have a dedicated bed next season. Snips are doing awesome in same compost same conditions. Carrots have split snips have a straight tap root.
Thank you !! We finished our first batch a couple weeks ago. We trialed it against "Premium" bagged compost and Premium compost from a local facility. We we're floored by the results. Turns out we can grow amazing produce. Glad we tracked and recorded it to prove it to our family and friends. We're expanding our compost area and will have it as our main priority as opposed to our last !!
Great job Clive, I'm happy to hear this 💚
Thanks for the very detailed video of your results with composting and your different bins and set-ups. The running commentary is appreciated as you explain the idea and thought process behind it and your opinions on the results of how it is progressing.
Glad you enjoyed it Randy
ROCK ON WORM FARMS OF THE WORLD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such an inspiring teacher. I have a love for Charles Dowding, the kind of love you can have for a person without ever meeting them in person. Thank you sir for the really useful encouraging content you and your team produce.
From central southern Virginia U.S.A.
Thankyou Dawn, I'm happy to help
Last year we had a garden that had been very unloved for a very long time, 0.02 of an acre of weeds, and I looked into how to make the area productive and stumbled upon your channel.
This year so far we've cultivated onions, garlic, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, 1st & 2nd early potatoes, and cucumbers! Just about to harvest French beans and Bell peppers and about 14 metric tonnes of tomatoes (not quite, but it seems preserving will have to become an additional hobby). Also growing are a second run of beetroot and some autumn raspberries as well as Brussel sprouts and cauliflowers. All accomplished using the no-dig method.
Have 3 "Dalek" style compost bins and this year will probably make a 3 bay, pallet system as it seems easier to manage and your super informative video has given me the inspiration to do this.
Thank you Charles!
Cheers Glen, lovely feedback! You need the 3 bays I reckon!
I just learn how to make black gold!!
Thank you Charles, God bless!
Sizi tanıyacak kadar şanslı oluşuma çok seviniyorum. Üstelik Türkçe çeviri de var. Sağlıkla yaşayın her zaman. Harikasınız!
Takdiriniz için teşekkür ederiz ve evet videoların tamamında değil bazılarında Türkçe altyazı için para ödüyoruz. Uzun olanlarda pahalı!
Nice one
Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
Thank you Charles. Great timing! I just got my first allotment and was wondering about how to start composting. The pallet system seems to be the OST suitable for allotment life ❤️
Sir Charles, you are educating the masses single handed. This lesson exposes us to the many options for composting as an essential measure to a successful harvest. My own composting on a tractor turning scale is just plain fun. So much to learn but almost impossible to not make a successful batch at some usable level for use in the garden. Thank you for inspiring us to keep trying.
Sounds fun and thanks 😀
Thank you so much for this video- such a great help! I commented about having solid sides right before the section showing your covered bins with solid sides :). You make composting feel a lot less stressful. And with a small budget and lacking handyman skills you have shown me things I can still do...thanks so much!
Wonderful!
Amo seus vídeos, sou sua fã! Moro no Brasil, e adoro suas dicas!
Obrigado Iva
Thanks. I love your videos. You are the best garden channel on UA-cam, bar none. So I bought your book and so has my sister. BTW, I have a bin similar to the small plastic one you have. I like it, since I have limited space and it looks good and my HOA is picky. The bin works great for the Berkely Method. Every other day, I turn the compost onto the ground in front of the bin and then re-fill it. A month later, you have 20-30 square feet of compost. After the compost is finished, I pile it in a corner to cure and build a new pile, trying to gather material and fill it all in 1 to 4 days. Then it's lather, rinse, repeat.
Nice to hear Leo, good tips!