I appreciate how concise, focused, and clear this is. There are some great gardeners on YT, but a video will be titled “How to start a no-till garden” and then turn out to be a guy wandering around his garden, talking about whatever he stumbles up on the way. It’s not helpful at all when you want to learn something specific. Subscribing!
We could virtually eliminate 1) trips to the gym, 2) so many trips to the grocery for high priced, low nutrient dense veggies, 3) illnesses, 4) stress induced mental issues, etc. if we all participated in the soul lifting activity that is organic gardening. Just the sheer benefit of being outdoors, watching mother nature perform, increasing one's self confidence, and not to forget that earthy fragrance of mature compost are worth every second spent. ORGANIC GARDENING IS DOPE! Kuddos for all the tips and tricks. I never tire of learning more about my favorite hobby.
Beautiful video Ben and partner in the garden, your sketches are fabulous, as is your garden. Wishing you all the best for your career! I hope you get to help other people build useful and beautiful spaces as you have done xx
Excellent video. I have started collecting cow dung and donkey droppings in the bush near where i live for just over a month now. I collect anywhere from 2 to 6 buckets a day within a radius of 500m from my home - there is way more further afield. I have a small pile composting already(with kitchen scraps), which I turn once a week and keep it covered with a spare roofing sheet. I intend to start another composting pile next week. In the meantime, I make cow dung compost tea which I use for watering my garden once a week. i will add some leaves to the 2nd compost pile, and possibly add rabbit and chicken droppings too.
Sounds like you're very resourceful! And that sounds like a great source of fertility. Compost tea is a great way to stretch the use of compost, well done!
@@ben.strong Thanks. I learned that one can add a few things to the compost tea like urine, borax, activated charcoal and Epsom salts, etc. I had a plot that spinach was struggling to grow on last year,. I applied this mixture added to goat manure tea on the plot a few times last year. This year, the spinach is growing so much quicker and bigger on the plot. I am now preparing the mixture for application all over the yard where i intend to have plants.
Like your system, just a couple of tips from an old fella who's been inI.Horticulture for 40 years. You can buy online an Oregon bushcutter blade called a mulching blade. It's got downward wings that chop. Not for the faint hearted but fantastic for shredding prunings to 25mm to compost size, and unlike an expensive mulcher can handle wet material. And way better than trying to use a mower. A mulch fork is also handy if you've got the strength. It's like shovelling with a front end loader . Finally, when it comes to turning your commy try a post hole auger. You can get battery ones these days that are really light to use. It's super quick once you get the action right. Personally l don't make much commy these days. Just get the mulching blade on my Sthil kombi brush cutter. Shred the crop residue and rotary hoe it all back in.
thanks so much for these tips! I'm very interested in using the mulching blade because I don't have a mulcher (so expensive) and have a lot of woody prunings that I don't know what to do with. I suppose you'd need to do it within a compost bay or something so the prunings don't go flying everywhere?
@@timmcintyre3066 to note, you need the brushcutter as well, not just the blade. That could be expensive (mines second hand). Then there's the question, do i need to burn fossil fuels to run this mulcher or can i afford to be a patient?
Great video im here watching this for the 5th time bro i have a house in south africa similar to yours but working on my garden and chickens its a plan in the making but great video i really learn alot
Excellent Video Ben. I am an old gardener with no much strength. (So your Nonna’s idea works for me.) Keep your ideas coming, I always like to hear of alternative methods.
I'm a city dweller. My dream is to afford a house one day to work on that beautiful cycle of life. The idea of creating a self sustainable system that is not exploiting nature is very appealing to me. Not to mention that being an office worker, having activities outside would work wonders for mental health.
That’s a great dream! I can personally say that moving from an inner city apartment to where I am now has been very rewarding, particularly in being able to, as you say, participate in the cycle of life :)
Great video! One good thing to mention would be the measurements of the compost piles/spaces that you are using to get your 10 cubic yards of compost. Thanks!
Thanks! Yeah for sure, the space I have is about 6x8m, but probably about a third of that is not used for making compost. Each pile I make is roughly 1 cubic metre and I make about 10 per year. The piles you saw on screen were a little smaller than usual, but you get the idea :)
It's been a long time since your last video, so it's great to see you back. Really appreciate the local content, I'm in the SE suburbs. I've just started composing a pile of woodchips layered with horse poo & old straw. It's only a couple of months old, so a way to go yet. Thanks for the video 👍
Nice video. Very interesting. I couldnt bothered to keep moving the compost heap around though. I let nature do all the hard work. Vermicomposting. I supplement my compost with loads of leaf mold. A great soil conditioner even though its not high in nutrients. I make a fertiliser compost tea and so far my plants, shrubs and trees are responding well.
if you have friend who work in beverages cafe you can ask them for the pineapple waste from press juice machine. this fruit waste will boost your compost breakdown.
Wonderful video with a very cheerful young man with great drawing to make it so easy to understand. a lot of work though. Thank you for sharing your plan and know how.
Hi Ben, we’ve just discovered your channel and I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed your video. We’re also backyard gardeners in Melbourne with a love of compost, and your style and delivery of video is exactly what we appreciate. Please keep up the good work and we’ll tell all our like minded friends to subscribe too.
I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this video. This should up my composting and encourage my use of my little chicken turners in the process. I have always worried that the coffee grounds and the molds in this process would make the chickens sick if they got in and dug around, yet yours look fine. Starting the process change this week. Thank you!
I knew you were Australian just from the word "heaps" in the title 😅🤙🏼 thanks for this incredibly informative video! Just started our gardening/composting/homestead journey 😌
Who knew the chickens had a 'tireless work ethic'. Very funny. Thanks for the great content. I personally would take the chunks that you sifted out and leave them on top of the good soil. That can act as mulch to keep moisture in the garden beds if it stays on top.
This is identical to my system. A few variations. My sifter is twice as long - I lean it against the fence. I never sift for the garden - it actually likes the large bits. But do for pots. I make piles that are twice as big - a full load of coffee, plus a trailer of wood. I also use a trailer of horse manure which is easily sourced. For seedlings try breaking down autumn leaves in large wet piles - I use cages of wire, watered. Takes 12 months and produces leaf mold which is incredible and fine.
Thanks for all your very thoughtful comments! A lot of knowledge and experience there. Also cool to hear that you have a similar composting setup! I am experimenting with a bed covered in wood chips this summer so we’ll see how we go. My only concern at this stage is that on hot days the wood chips get a lot hotter than straw mulch but maybe they’ll keep moisture in the soil for longer.
@@ben.strong Give it a go!. The wood chips act as a giant sponge - they will soak up huge amounts of water and release it as needed. Its actually really quite cool as the heat can not penetrate to the soil. They also provide a permanent source of fresh food as they break down. Just ensure that the wood chips are not encouraging thermophillic bacteria. I started down the wood chips route after watch this guy called Gauchi almost 15 years now.
@@ben.strong Also I keep bees and they will go after you if they do not know who you are. The more you deal with them the less they worry. Buy a "half suit" known as an observers suit.
Here is the guy. He is a religious preacher which I struggle with, however his work is good. I think he got PTSD or something. He released all these videos called back to Eden, but they are missing now behind a paywall. ua-cam.com/video/MCy0B5eW74I/v-deo.html
I like your "A" frame sifting. I have the same screen set up, but I put the screen over a wheel barrow and sift the material into the wheel barrow. The items that are too large to fall through the screen I have to dump. I place this material into the beginning pile to be recycled.
Yeah nice, I used to do it that way too, but I found it too slow and hard work having to shake the frame to get everything to pass through. The angle of the A frame really helps with that. Thanks for watching!
I make slightly over 12 yards of compost using 0.8 acre of grass. You can do it but you need a subcompact tractor with a grass-catcher & a loader to flip the pile.
Loved this video, Ben. I'd love to become buds with you if possible since we're both around the same size garden youtubers. If not, I totally respect it, but you have a cool thing going on here and I love the vibes.
Hey thanks mate! glad you enjoyed it, and nice to hear from a fellow youtuber/ gardener :) I've subscribed to your channel and look forward to following your journey!
You could upgrade your sifter by putting it only at a slight angle and adding a wood shoot at the one end and attaching a cement mixer motor at the other end. Much of what’s falling into your basket may have been able to be sifted further. This type of motor can withstand the forces. My only issue now is that it’s so powerful that sometimes the metal wire shears.
Sounds like a fun project! I actually find that if I get the compost the right moisture level and the A frame at the right angle I get a really good sift. Thanks for watching :)
Это очень интересно и дает понять, как можно использовать куриц в подготовке компоста. Это не всегда поможет, если их нет. Но мне нравится Ваше желание разобраться во взаимосвязях различных процессов. И я рад, что Вы этим поделились.
Amazing video! Very clearly explained. I just have a tumbler composter and you've made me realise I need something like this. How do you avoid rats though ?
Thank you! Rats can be a tricky one to exclude completely. I see one or two around every now and then, which doesn’t bother me. Unless you’ve got mountains of food scraps, I wouldn’t expect that they would become a big problem. If you have chickens they’ll eat a lot of the scraps before any rats can get to them.
Hi, thank you so much for the information. Really help me to understand more about composting. I have a question. Is sifting important. I mean, is it possible to use the compost without sifting. And another question is what you do to the unbroken material that come from the sifting process, did you compost it again with new raw material? Thank you so much for your time answering my question. Keep it up sharing good information. Have a nice day
Thanks for the question :) I was actually going to talk about this in the video but it was getting too long. You don't have to sift, it's perfectly fine to use the compost as is. The first reason I sift is because I often have large sticks left in the pile that I don't want to put on my garden beds. The second is that I use my compost to start seedlings in trays, for which you need a really fine compost. The material that gets sifted out either goes back to the start of the composting process, or I spread it on garden pathways as a coarser much.
Love the A-frame idea. I would love to compost like this but space limits me and I am not keen on rodents so can't give chickens too many scraps. We do have deep litter in our run though and we use that to top up beds when it needs replacing.
Thanks for watching! One thing I didn't say in the video is that I think you could do a similar system in a smaller space by turning the piles back and forth rather than in one direction, but it all depends on what works for you :) A deep litter system is also a good way to make compost. Happy growing!
Hey Ben. Thanks for the awesome video. What do you do with the large bits of compost that didn't fit through the sieve? Add them to the next compost heap? Thanks
Thanks so much! It’s two very simple timber frames (four pieces of timber) with welded mesh (also called hardware cloth depending on where you’re from) screwed onto them. If you pause the video you’ll see I used some thin bits of timber on top of the welded mesh to clamp it in place. Then I just used a door hinge to join the two frames together. I would recommend using two hinges to make it more stable.
It's a journey! And in my opinion you only learn it by doing it! It's trial and error to find the right balance of materials, moisture etc, and soon enough you will find what works :)
Great video thanks. Where did you get your mesh and how much did it cost? I’ve priced mesh at Bunnings and it was sooo expensive. Perhaps I only looked at the expensive gear.
I’ve bought mesh from Bunnings and mitre 10, I can’t remember which one I bought it from for the sifter, but yeah it’s a bit of a rip off. I think I probably bought 2 600x900 sheets for 50-60 bucks
In the video, it looks like the material being "sifted" by A frame mostly just slides down in a pile on the non shifted side. Would a horizontal shift angle work more efficiently? I must not be understanding the benefit of an A frame over just shifting horizontally?
Hey, understandable that it looks that way, but actually a lot of the material goes through. You can change the angle of the A-frame to tweak this as well, the steeper it is the more it will run off, the shallower the more that will go through. A flat sifter usually needs to be agitated in some way to get the material to go through, which usually involves shaking it, which can be very laborious. This is how I used to do it.
I'm in NW Melbourne. I'm on a 1/4 acre block and my growing space is about 1/2 that. My compost area is now about 5x7m (have recently shrunk it). I'll be releasing a compost Q&A video soon so subscribe if you want to be notified when I release that!
Are the chickens only scratching through it in the first phase? Can you clarify how they are reacting after you cover it? I guess I am confused at what stages the chickens are involved when I see you covering the piles. Great video though! Thanks for the insight!
Thanks for the question :) The chickens get access to all the material when I first dump it into the area, and they can eat what they want. Then when I build a pile with that material, I cover it with a tarp. at which point they can no longer access it. They don't mind because I give them areas to free range. When I turn the pile, they get really excited and scratch through it whilst I'm turning and usually find worms and bugs. But I cover it again once I have finished turning, so that it can decompose (and so that the worm population can grow). When the pile is finished, I let them scratch through it one more time to pick out worms, I don't need the worms in the compost at that point, and they just get in the way when sifting and using it for seedlings. So the chickens are an integral part, but their involvement needs to be controlled to get the best results. Hope this helps!
Hey Ben, I'm slowlyyyyy making headway in prep of my garden for next year including compost. I've got a big plastic bin doing most of the work but I wondered, with your method how do you deal with rats, if at all? Maybe the chickens are doubling up as security?
There are many ways to deal with rats, if they indeed become a problem at all. I do not actively deal with them, and whilst I see one or two every now and then, they aren’t causing any issues, and I don’t really care that they’re there. I believe their population is managed in my backyard for a few reasons: - chickens, eat all the tasty food scraps that rats would otherwise go after. Chickens will also eat rats and mice if they catch them. - neighbourhood cats. - hot compost piles quickly decompose any remaining food scraps. Rats and mice do like to make nests in compost piles which does happen for me from time to time. Never more than 1 or 2 mice for me though, and the chickens make short work of them.
Good question! I pretty much add it whenever I have time 😂 it usually ends up being mostly in spring because I make most compost in winter, but also between crops.
Great video! I have access to plenty of manure, but am worried about broad spectrum herbicides have been used in the feed. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thank you!
Thanks! Yeah that’s a tricky one, given this seems to be such a prevalent issue. If you can’t verify what the animals have eaten or what bedding has been used then I would be careful, you can always do a test with a small area or in containers to test how plants respond
It’s a good question! It doesn’t really take them that long to scratch through and pick out all the worms, so you might get a tiny bit of manure here and there but nothing that would cause any issues
Great video! My compost style is lazy composting. It attracts too much mosquitoes, flies and particularly gnats. Is that normal? Besides, do you use special chemicals in your garden to avoid insects and pests? Because i never see them in garden videos on UA-cam.
Hey thanks! I think gnats and flies are pretty normal, especially if some of the material is still fresh. Mosquitoes I only usually find to be a problem if there's a body of water around, however small (a bucket of water for example), because they need it to breed. A compost pile shouldn't be attracting them unless it's really wet. No I don't use any chemicals for pests in my garden, I use physical barriers (like netting), and try to create the conditions for my plants to be as healthy as possible so that they can naturally resist pests on their own.
Wanted to clarify: after you pile it up and cover it with the tarp, do you leave it covered with the tarp for 1-2 months until you are ready to turn it?
When you start looking for 'free' organic material, keep in mind that if you're in an area with lots of gardeners, most of the 'free' sources will be tapped out, and you may be in the position of buying organic inputs. Hope is not gone, but you will have to scrounge and be ready to jump on free offerings, while also being prepared to do a lot of hand labor to collect those offerings.
great point! It can also take a while to find free sources of organic material, it took me ages to learn about the free mulch and coffee ground services.
Hey happy to help! The company I have used for the coffee grounds is called Reground. I get wood chips from my local transfer station in Moonee Valley, but you have to live in the area (they ask for ID). But Merribek council have a mulch pile out the front of their transfer station on the street where I've gotten mulch from too.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I appreciate how concise, focused, and clear this is. There are some great gardeners on YT, but a video will be titled “How to start a no-till garden” and then turn out to be a guy wandering around his garden, talking about whatever he stumbles up on the way. It’s not helpful at all when you want to learn something specific. Subscribing!
Thanks so much for this feedback, this is what I'm trying to so I'm glad this is how you feel!
And here's another subscriber for you! @@ben.strong❤
@@ben.strongI agree! Such a well structured informative video! Also I love finding a fellow Aussie garden UA-camr. 🌱 subscribed!
Agreed.
my man Charles Dowding for sure haha
We could virtually eliminate 1) trips to the gym, 2) so many trips to the grocery for high priced, low nutrient dense veggies, 3) illnesses, 4) stress induced mental issues, etc. if we all participated in the soul lifting activity that is organic gardening. Just the sheer benefit of being outdoors, watching mother nature perform, increasing one's self confidence, and not to forget that earthy fragrance of mature compost are worth every second spent. ORGANIC GARDENING IS DOPE! Kuddos for all the tips and tricks. I never tire of learning more about my favorite hobby.
Couldn't have said it better myself!
Yes but you really have to go outside and do it!
Well said!! 👏🏻👏🏻
０．０
I could watch the sketching all day
Naw thanks Jess!
Looks great! Oh to be young and energetic again.
Thanks for the great info mate 👍 just got yourself a new sub👌👌
The A-frame is a fantastic idea! Thank you for sharing.
Also, as a fellow architecture comrade, your sketching style is beautiful 👌
Great to hear from a fellow architect! No worries and thanks for your kind words!
The best composting video on the internet. THANKS
Wow! Glad you enjoyed it thanks so much :)
The best, I agree!!
Very good explanation - we've also had great luck with chicken composting. Good work gathering those "waste" materials for the garden as well.
Thanks so much David! Love your channel so means a lot!
Great to find some awesome Aussie content 👌 😊🌱
Hey thanks very much! We do what we can, glad you enjoyed it :) happy growing!
Great video! Thanks for showing us your system!
Beautiful video Ben and partner in the garden, your sketches are fabulous, as is your garden. Wishing you all the best for your career! I hope you get to help other people build useful and beautiful spaces as you have done xx
Thanks very much for your kind words Cindy! Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Excellent video.
I have started collecting cow dung and donkey droppings in the bush near where i live for just over a month now. I collect anywhere from 2 to 6 buckets a day within a radius of 500m from my home - there is way more further afield. I have a small pile composting already(with kitchen scraps), which I turn once a week and keep it covered with a spare roofing sheet. I intend to start another composting pile next week. In the meantime, I make cow dung compost tea which I use for watering my garden once a week. i will add some leaves to the 2nd compost pile, and possibly add rabbit and chicken droppings too.
Sounds like you're very resourceful! And that sounds like a great source of fertility. Compost tea is a great way to stretch the use of compost, well done!
@@ben.strong Thanks. I learned that one can add a few things to the compost tea like urine, borax, activated charcoal and Epsom salts, etc. I had a plot that spinach was struggling to grow on last year,. I applied this mixture added to goat manure tea on the plot a few times last year. This year, the spinach is growing so much quicker and bigger on the plot.
I am now preparing the mixture for application all over the yard where i intend to have plants.
Great to see some organic gardening videos made in Melbourne! I'd love to see a video on your irrigation set up.
Glad I can deliver on the Melbourne content! You’re not the first person to ask about irrigation, so I’ll see what I can do
Like your system, just a couple of tips from an old fella who's been inI.Horticulture for 40 years.
You can buy online an Oregon bushcutter blade called a mulching blade. It's got downward wings that chop. Not for the faint hearted but fantastic for shredding prunings to 25mm to compost size, and unlike an expensive mulcher can handle wet material. And way better than trying to use a mower.
A mulch fork is also handy if you've got the strength. It's like shovelling with a front end loader .
Finally, when it comes to turning your commy try a post hole auger. You can get battery ones these days that are really light to use. It's super quick once you get the action right.
Personally l don't make much commy these days. Just get the mulching blade on my Sthil kombi brush cutter. Shred the crop residue and rotary hoe it all back in.
thanks so much for these tips! I'm very interested in using the mulching blade because I don't have a mulcher (so expensive) and have a lot of woody prunings that I don't know what to do with. I suppose you'd need to do it within a compost bay or something so the prunings don't go flying everywhere?
@ben.strong no worries, you'll find the blades on Aus. Amazon @$70. The three wing is better than the twin.
@@timmcintyre3066 to note, you need the brushcutter as well, not just the blade. That could be expensive (mines second hand). Then there's the question, do i need to burn fossil fuels to run this mulcher or can i afford to be a patient?
Great video im here watching this for the 5th time bro i have a house in south africa similar to yours but working on my garden and chickens its a plan in the making but great video i really learn alot
That’s awesome glad it’s been helpful for you! All the best with your plans
Excellent Video Ben. I am an old gardener with no much strength. (So your Nonna’s idea works for me.) Keep your ideas coming, I always like to hear of alternative methods.
Thanks so much! I will try to keep the ideas coming :)
Subscribing just because I can see the effort put into the video.
Thanks a lot :)
Great to see your set-up Ben, looks awesome. Great editing as well; love the diagrams and behind the scenes footage, you're a trooper! 😂
Thanks so much! Haha yes it was a struggle but we got there, thanks for watching!
I'm a city dweller. My dream is to afford a house one day to work on that beautiful cycle of life. The idea of creating a self sustainable system that is not exploiting nature is very appealing to me. Not to mention that being an office worker, having activities outside would work wonders for mental health.
That’s a great dream! I can personally say that moving from an inner city apartment to where I am now has been very rewarding, particularly in being able to, as you say, participate in the cycle of life :)
Great video! One good thing to mention would be the measurements of the compost piles/spaces that you are using to get your 10 cubic yards of compost. Thanks!
Thanks! Yeah for sure, the space I have is about 6x8m, but probably about a third of that is not used for making compost. Each pile I make is roughly 1 cubic metre and I make about 10 per year. The piles you saw on screen were a little smaller than usual, but you get the idea :)
It's been a long time since your last video, so it's great to see you back. Really appreciate the local content, I'm in the SE suburbs. I've just started composing a pile of woodchips layered with horse poo & old straw. It's only a couple of months old, so a way to go yet. Thanks for the video 👍
Hey that’s great to hear! thanks for watching and all the best with your pile!
Nice video. Very interesting.
I couldnt bothered to keep moving the compost heap around though. I let nature do all the hard work. Vermicomposting.
I supplement my compost with loads of leaf mold. A great soil conditioner even though its not high in nutrients.
I make a fertiliser compost tea and so far my plants, shrubs and trees are responding well.
Thanks for watching :) I agree that letting nature do the hard work is the way to go! Happy growing :)
if you have friend who work in beverages cafe you can ask them for the pineapple waste from press juice machine. this fruit waste will boost your compost breakdown.
Thanks for an excellent and practical video
You’re welcome! Hope you got something out of it :)
Wonderful video with a very cheerful young man with great drawing to make it so easy to understand. a lot of work though. Thank you for sharing your plan and know how.
Hi Ben, we’ve just discovered your channel and I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed your video.
We’re also backyard gardeners in Melbourne with a love of compost, and your style and delivery of video is exactly what we appreciate.
Please keep up the good work and we’ll tell all our like minded friends to subscribe too.
Wow that’s so nice, great to hear from some Melbourne gardeners too! Thanks heaps for watching and for spreading the word :)
I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this video. This should up my composting and encourage my use of my little chicken turners in the process. I have always worried that the coffee grounds and the molds in this process would make the chickens sick if they got in and dug around, yet yours look fine. Starting the process change this week. Thank you!
Awesome! Yes I haven't had any issues with the coffee grounds, its a great resource if you can get your hands on some!
I knew you were Australian just from the word "heaps" in the title 😅🤙🏼 thanks for this incredibly informative video! Just started our gardening/composting/homestead journey 😌
Haha, I didn't realise that was such a giveaway! No worries, glad you found it helpful :)
Who knew the chickens had a 'tireless work ethic'. Very funny. Thanks for the great content. I personally would take the chunks that you sifted out and leave them on top of the good soil. That can act as mulch to keep moisture in the garden beds if it stays on top.
Thanks for watching! Yeah that's definitely a good way to do it too, I'll often do that on my perennial beds.
Excellent stuff! This is great inspiration for our new chicken coup. Keen to see more videos from you!
Glad to hear it! more videos are on the way!
Great system. Multiple systems. Well thought out.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for all the good info and keep up the good work!
Thank you!
Great video and really enjoyed the summary at the end. Thank you!
Thank you! glad you liked it :)
This was very helpful!
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
This is identical to my system. A few variations. My sifter is twice as long - I lean it against the fence. I never sift for the garden - it actually likes the large bits. But do for pots.
I make piles that are twice as big - a full load of coffee, plus a trailer of wood. I also use a trailer of horse manure which is easily sourced.
For seedlings try breaking down autumn leaves in large wet piles - I use cages of wire, watered. Takes 12 months and produces leaf mold which is incredible and fine.
Thanks for all your very thoughtful comments! A lot of knowledge and experience there. Also cool to hear that you have a similar composting setup! I am experimenting with a bed covered in wood chips this summer so we’ll see how we go. My only concern at this stage is that on hot days the wood chips get a lot hotter than straw mulch but maybe they’ll keep moisture in the soil for longer.
@@ben.strong Give it a go!. The wood chips act as a giant sponge - they will soak up huge amounts of water and release it as needed. Its actually really quite cool as the heat can not penetrate to the soil. They also provide a permanent source of fresh food as they break down. Just ensure that the wood chips are not encouraging thermophillic bacteria. I started down the wood chips route after watch this guy called Gauchi almost 15 years now.
@@ben.strong Also I keep bees and they will go after you if they do not know who you are. The more you deal with them the less they worry. Buy a "half suit" known as an observers suit.
Here is the guy. He is a religious preacher which I struggle with, however his work is good. I think he got PTSD or something. He released all these videos called back to Eden, but they are missing now behind a paywall. ua-cam.com/video/MCy0B5eW74I/v-deo.html
Great tips thank you, I am new to this channel, but subscribed and thumbs up 😊
Thank you sir! Glad you got something out of it :)
I like your content style. Your channel will grow quickly Im sure. Best of luck
Thanks so much!
I like your "A" frame sifting. I have the same screen set up, but I put the screen over a wheel barrow and sift the material into the wheel barrow. The items that are too large to fall through the screen I have to dump. I place this material into the beginning pile to be recycled.
Yeah nice, I used to do it that way too, but I found it too slow and hard work having to shake the frame to get everything to pass through. The angle of the A frame really helps with that. Thanks for watching!
Love it bro! Love your vibe too thanks for sharing!
Glad to hear it! thanks for watching :)
Excellent presentation.
Thanks very much!
Brilliant video! Cheers from Norway
Thanks very much! Happy gardening from across the globe :)
Nice one! Love moving the compost down the hill, great content!
Hey thanks so much! Yeah moving it down the hill certainly makes things easier :)
I make slightly over 12 yards of compost using 0.8 acre of grass. You can do it but you need a subcompact tractor with a grass-catcher & a loader to flip the pile.
Woah that’s a lot of compost!
Loved this video, Ben. I'd love to become buds with you if possible since we're both around the same size garden youtubers. If not, I totally respect it, but you have a cool thing going on here and I love the vibes.
Hey thanks mate! glad you enjoyed it, and nice to hear from a fellow youtuber/ gardener :) I've subscribed to your channel and look forward to following your journey!
Great video! Very informative 😊
thanks very much!
You could upgrade your sifter by putting it only at a slight angle and adding a wood shoot at the one end and attaching a cement mixer motor at the other end. Much of what’s falling into your basket may have been able to be sifted further. This type of motor can withstand the forces. My only issue now is that it’s so powerful that sometimes the metal wire shears.
Sounds like a fun project! I actually find that if I get the compost the right moisture level and the A frame at the right angle I get a really good sift. Thanks for watching :)
Terima kasih telah berbagi, aku suka caramu berkebun, saya dari Indonesia salam satu hobi
Thanks for watching!
amazing quality content keep it up
Thanks, will do!
Это очень интересно и дает понять, как можно использовать куриц в подготовке компоста. Это не всегда поможет, если их нет. Но мне нравится Ваше желание разобраться во взаимосвязях различных процессов. И я рад, что Вы этим поделились.
Thanks very much! I think you can do a similar system without chickens, but they certainly help :)
The chicken is super Helpful! ❤🎉
They really are!
good video!
very informative
This video is really well done! Only thing that disappointed me was when I went to your channel and only saw 5 videos😂! I hope you keep making more!!!
Wow, I couldn’t ask for a nicer comment, thanks so much! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. And yes, plenty more videos to come!
Lovely!
Geoff Lawton produces 1 cubic metre of compost per week using cickens
great stuff man ! keep it up
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it :)
That is really great
Thanks :)
Watching from Bangladesh ❤
Thanks for watching :)
Amazing video! Very clearly explained. I just have a tumbler composter and you've made me realise I need something like this. How do you avoid rats though ?
Thank you! Rats can be a tricky one to exclude completely. I see one or two around every now and then, which doesn’t bother me. Unless you’ve got mountains of food scraps, I wouldn’t expect that they would become a big problem. If you have chickens they’ll eat a lot of the scraps before any rats can get to them.
Thanks for the video.
No worries Jane, thanks for watching!
Hi Ben, awesome video! Have you done any courses in permaculture or sustainable living?
Thanks! Yes I have done a permaculture design course :)
Such an awesome content, subbed!
Kindly, reduce the background music further on.
Best wishes from India!
Hi, thank you so much for the information. Really help me to understand more about composting. I have a question. Is sifting important. I mean, is it possible to use the compost without sifting. And another question is what you do to the unbroken material that come from the sifting process, did you compost it again with new raw material? Thank you so much for your time answering my question. Keep it up sharing good information. Have a nice day
Thanks for the question :) I was actually going to talk about this in the video but it was getting too long. You don't have to sift, it's perfectly fine to use the compost as is. The first reason I sift is because I often have large sticks left in the pile that I don't want to put on my garden beds. The second is that I use my compost to start seedlings in trays, for which you need a really fine compost. The material that gets sifted out either goes back to the start of the composting process, or I spread it on garden pathways as a coarser much.
@@ben.strong thank you so much for your response. Have a nice day.
Love the A-frame idea. I would love to compost like this but space limits me and I am not keen on rodents so can't give chickens too many scraps. We do have deep litter in our run though and we use that to top up beds when it needs replacing.
Thanks for watching! One thing I didn't say in the video is that I think you could do a similar system in a smaller space by turning the piles back and forth rather than in one direction, but it all depends on what works for you :) A deep litter system is also a good way to make compost. Happy growing!
Hey Ben. Thanks for the awesome video. What do you do with the large bits of compost that didn't fit through the sieve? Add them to the next compost heap? Thanks
Correct! Either that or I spread them on paths in the garden :)
I’m reminded of Edible Acres
Yep! he has a similar system albeit on a larger scale. Love that channel
❤❤❤Watching South africa, doing mine too
That was great. Thank you! Can you show how you made the sifter? Just subscribed.
Thanks so much! It’s two very simple timber frames (four pieces of timber) with welded mesh (also called hardware cloth depending on where you’re from) screwed onto them. If you pause the video you’ll see I used some thin bits of timber on top of the welded mesh to clamp it in place. Then I just used a door hinge to join the two frames together. I would recommend using two hinges to make it more stable.
Great video mate! New sub here
Hey thanks very much! Great to hear from you, I've also been loving following your homesteading journey, all the best!
Do u mulch over it on garden?Work it in? Im "confused" not completely buying the N doesnt gas off uncovered
Great videos. We haven’t managed to crack the compost code yet
It's a journey! And in my opinion you only learn it by doing it! It's trial and error to find the right balance of materials, moisture etc, and soon enough you will find what works :)
Cool video :)
Thanks very much glad you enjoyed it :)
Brilliant!
Thanks Tim! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Where'd you get or how'd you make those wattle partitions
They're fence extensions that I had lying around :)
I believe they sell them at bunnings if you're in australia
Great video thanks. Where did you get your mesh and how much did it cost? I’ve priced mesh at Bunnings and it was sooo expensive. Perhaps I only looked at the expensive gear.
I’ve bought mesh from Bunnings and mitre 10, I can’t remember which one I bought it from for the sifter, but yeah it’s a bit of a rip off. I think I probably bought 2 600x900 sheets for 50-60 bucks
But actually I was just looking on facebook marketplace and saw someone selling it for much cheaper.
Thanks heaps - where did you get those low woven barriers?
search for 'fence extentions bunnings' and you will find them :)
@@ben.strong thanks heaps.
In the video, it looks like the material being "sifted" by A frame mostly just slides down in a pile on the non shifted side. Would a horizontal shift angle work more efficiently? I must not be understanding the benefit of an A frame over just shifting horizontally?
Hey, understandable that it looks that way, but actually a lot of the material goes through. You can change the angle of the A-frame to tweak this as well, the steeper it is the more it will run off, the shallower the more that will go through. A flat sifter usually needs to be agitated in some way to get the material to go through, which usually involves shaking it, which can be very laborious. This is how I used to do it.
@@ben.strong ah, thanks for reminding about the need to agitate if the sifter is more horizontal. I understand better now. Thank you!
nice
Great video! I'm gonna start soon with making own compost
Where do you get the coffee grounds from in melbourne
Thanks
Thanks! The coffee grounds comes from a company called Reground. you can contact them to request a delivery :)
What area in Victoria are you in? I have just started my garden and this is so inspiring to me. How much space are you working with? Thank you
I'm in NW Melbourne. I'm on a 1/4 acre block and my growing space is about 1/2 that. My compost area is now about 5x7m (have recently shrunk it). I'll be releasing a compost Q&A video soon so subscribe if you want to be notified when I release that!
Are the chickens only scratching through it in the first phase? Can you clarify how they are reacting after you cover it? I guess I am confused at what stages the chickens are involved when I see you covering the piles. Great video though! Thanks for the insight!
Thanks for the question :) The chickens get access to all the material when I first dump it into the area, and they can eat what they want. Then when I build a pile with that material, I cover it with a tarp. at which point they can no longer access it. They don't mind because I give them areas to free range. When I turn the pile, they get really excited and scratch through it whilst I'm turning and usually find worms and bugs. But I cover it again once I have finished turning, so that it can decompose (and so that the worm population can grow). When the pile is finished, I let them scratch through it one more time to pick out worms, I don't need the worms in the compost at that point, and they just get in the way when sifting and using it for seedlings. So the chickens are an integral part, but their involvement needs to be controlled to get the best results. Hope this helps!
@@ben.strong Super clear. Thanks! You've earned a subscriber...
Hey Ben, I'm slowlyyyyy making headway in prep of my garden for next year including compost. I've got a big plastic bin doing most of the work but I wondered, with your method how do you deal with rats, if at all? Maybe the chickens are doubling up as security?
There are many ways to deal with rats, if they indeed become a problem at all. I do not actively deal with them, and whilst I see one or two every now and then, they aren’t causing any issues, and I don’t really care that they’re there. I believe their population is managed in my backyard for a few reasons:
- chickens, eat all the tasty food scraps that rats would otherwise go after. Chickens will also eat rats and mice if they catch them.
- neighbourhood cats.
- hot compost piles quickly decompose any remaining food scraps.
Rats and mice do like to make nests in compost piles which does happen for me from time to time. Never more than 1 or 2 mice for me though, and the chickens make short work of them.
@@ben.strong thanks Ben! Makes sense
@@tomjoy1109 no worries :) hope it helps
Very good ❤❤
Thanks so much!
Do you add your compost directly back to the garden when it is done or store it to spread in the fall or spring?
Good question! I pretty much add it whenever I have time 😂 it usually ends up being mostly in spring because I make most compost in winter, but also between crops.
"I'm an architect" 🎉🎉🎉
Gotta use what you got ;)
mantap.. luar biasa #banksampahmajubahagia
Great video! I have access to plenty of manure, but am worried about broad spectrum herbicides have been used in the feed. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thank you!
Thanks! Yeah that’s a tricky one, given this seems to be such a prevalent issue. If you can’t verify what the animals have eaten or what bedding has been used then I would be careful, you can always do a test with a small area or in containers to test how plants respond
@@ben.strong Thank you!
Proses pembuatan kompos yang tanpa biaya salam dari Indonesia
Selamat datang! Terima kasi
@@ben.strong sama sama friend's
Having the chicken come through again, as you are sifting - doesn't that introduce manure too late in the process?
It’s a good question! It doesn’t really take them that long to scratch through and pick out all the worms, so you might get a tiny bit of manure here and there but nothing that would cause any issues
Hey brother cheers for the vid. Im.also based in Melbourne. Whats thr name of thr mob to get the free coffee grounds?
No worries :) They're called Reground
Agreed the no till mob are a pain on the butt!
Great video! My compost style is lazy composting. It attracts too much mosquitoes, flies and particularly gnats. Is that normal?
Besides, do you use special chemicals in your garden to avoid insects and pests? Because i never see them in garden videos on UA-cam.
Hey thanks! I think gnats and flies are pretty normal, especially if some of the material is still fresh. Mosquitoes I only usually find to be a problem if there's a body of water around, however small (a bucket of water for example), because they need it to breed. A compost pile shouldn't be attracting them unless it's really wet.
No I don't use any chemicals for pests in my garden, I use physical barriers (like netting), and try to create the conditions for my plants to be as healthy as possible so that they can naturally resist pests on their own.
Genious.
Wanted to clarify: after you pile it up and cover it with the tarp, do you leave it covered with the tarp for 1-2 months until you are ready to turn it?
Yep that’s correct!
Nice
Sourse waste streams?
Water falls from the sky where you live? Seems like magic to me
Hi. Which suburb in Melbourne are you? I live in Townsville North Queensland and just came across your channel. Yes i like lazy gardening. 😊
I’m in the north west suburbs. Thanks for watching :)
I tapped the thumbs up 👍 button to feed the algorithm monsters....
Haha thank you!
When you start looking for 'free' organic material, keep in mind that if you're in an area with lots of gardeners, most of the 'free' sources will be tapped out, and you may be in the position of buying organic inputs. Hope is not gone, but you will have to scrounge and be ready to jump on free offerings, while also being prepared to do a lot of hand labor to collect those offerings.
great point! It can also take a while to find free sources of organic material, it took me ages to learn about the free mulch and coffee ground services.
How do you get coffee beans? I also live in Melbourne and would like to get some too and from which tip can you get woodchips for free?
Hey happy to help! The company I have used for the coffee grounds is called Reground. I get wood chips from my local transfer station in Moonee Valley, but you have to live in the area (they ask for ID). But Merribek council have a mulch pile out the front of their transfer station on the street where I've gotten mulch from too.
@@ben.strong Thanks a lot!
Can we activate the Turkish subtitle option?
I don't believe I have any control over that sorry! I think youtube automatically generates them
@@ben.strong I thought it was set by you. Thank you for your interest.