Compost is a superb mulch for no dig beds, an inch or so / 2.5cm annually, for two crops. The compost feeds soil organisms, whose activity and excretions improve soil structure, and provide nutrition for plants.
00:00 Intro
00:25 How to assemble the pallets, very quick and easy
6:45 mid April to end of May (fill 1st heap)
6:50 Start 2nd heap in June
6:55 early July turn 1st heap into middle
7:00 in august turn last into middle
I show you a quick, simple and cheap way to enclose compost heaps. Also how you can add all garden wastes, including roots of perennial weeds, and late blight on tomato plants.
See also this video of July 2020 for more simple ways to balance your additions of green and brown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtMsEylZvqw
This recent video explains more about heap options, including the three pallet heaps in July https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Aa525oW34
Learn more from the composting guide we have created with Retrieve https://charlesdowding.retrieve.com/store/#/general/compost-making-guide
Filmed and edited October 2021 by Alessandro or @spicy moustache who has a no dig garden in London https://www.youtube.com/c/SpicyMoustache, also on Instagram https://instagram.com/_spicymoustache_?igshid=qhkz85b36z1l
More from Charles:
CD 60 Module Trays
In the USA you can buy these via https://allaboutthegarden.com
In the UK you can buy these via https://containerwise.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-60-cell/
or via https://www.refillroom.com/product-category/garden/
In Europe you can buy these via https://thefarmdream.com/product-category/propagation-trays/
To buy video garden guides with a unique search function https://charlesdowding.retrieve.com/store/#/
To buy one of my online courses https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/online-courses/
To buy a signed book https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/books/
To join an in person Day or Weekend course at Homeacres https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/courses/
This is the dibber I recommend https://www.gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463
To buy t-shirts and hoodies with my exclusive no dig designs, use this link https://charlesdowding.teemill.com
Excellent video as always, Charles…thank you kindly for the wisdom provided. A quick question…I have recently begun securing almost 2 full 5-gallons buckets of coffee grounds each week…how best should I use this resource in my no dig garden? Just add straight to my bins, top dress crops in the garden, or some combination? Thank you again, and keep up the terrific work!
I love it x
Good morning,
Thank you for all the knowledge you are sharing!
Is a pleasure to watch your channel and read your books.
I took over a plot that I am now transforming fallowing your priceless advices.
I have built a 3 bay compost system, one bay is already full, since February, with mostly weeds that I pulled from around the plot.
The temperature is constantly at 15*C, even if I am not bothered by not reaching high temperature, this makes me think that maybe there was too much soil in the weeds roots, so there is no balance in the brown and green materials?
If that’s the case, can I add more green materials at the moment of turning the heap over?
Is a good idea collecting waste from the restaurant kitchen where I work? I am concerned with the possibility of pesticides and weed killers that might be present in commercially grown vegetables.
Thank you Charles!
Sandro
This Man is a kindred Spirit. I love your show. I would have to agree about the do’s and don’ts. I have an enormous amount of Plantain and curly Dock. So I use them as my Greens. Not enough Vegetable waste, so have to think outside the square. I was watching a Video the other day where a Lady used a lot of fresh Horse Manure to heat her Greenhouse as she lives in a very cold part of UK. I have 3 Ponies and 5 Chickens, so love recycling and utilising all that I can get my hands on.
The main photo for this video shows you IN your compost bin. Another video I watched recently of your discussion of composting, you briefly mentioned tramping down the compost pile. I’m trying to find more info about this: when to do it, how often and when not to. Do you have more info on this somewhere or a book just on all about composting? I’m in the USA. I’ve looked on your website, Amazon and didn’t see any books specifically about the compost. Or do you cover details about composting including when you would smash/compact the pile in another of your general gardening books?
I’m just trying to fine tune my composting. Thanks so much!
I Love your garden!!!
Hello
I have plastic compost bins and find the bindweed growing around and under it what can I do about this I don’t want to use weed killer as it might contaminate the compost,but I can’t seem to control the bindweed
Hello Charles. The cardboard often contains toxic parts. Especially the paint that is on the cardboard is mostly toxic. I would never use it in my garden.
love this video and your attitude… keep the basics in mind and think of it as cooking.
Hi, what a life changer your videos are, I have a question, my plot is covered and I then built beds and filled with manure, soil and mostly compost, will this effect the growing of my crops. Thanks in advance.
Very informative, thank you Charles. I have alot of hay here but i'm not sure wether its considered as brown or green, some say brown and others green. It's well dried and i want to use it in my compost but i'm not sure how to mix it with other ingredients
hi Charles, $20k sterling/yr, how much is that in weight ?
What if your compost gets roaches? I'm considering moving away from open, aerobic compost and seeing if anaerobic might be better. I'm concerned roaches will get into my house. I wonder what Mr. Dowding thinks and how he would resolve this issue. I know aerobic is better, maybe there's a way i could balance it out, like getting chickens.
Middle of UK/England. Should I have my heaps in shade (under a tree) or out in open sun?
Please could you advise me. If I leave a piece of cardboard or hay or anything on the ground in my garden, when I pick it up it is heaving with woodlice underneath. My compost bin which is a mixture of hay, apples, veg and fruit peeling ashes and cardboard is heaving with woodlice and fruit flies. Could you suggest what I can do about this please?
I have a question. Have you seen the Lomi Compost? I see sponsored people loading it up with green scraps in the evening and taking out dirt by the morning… How is that possible? Black magic? Do you know? Have you heard anything about it?
I have 2 compost bins made of 5 pallets on my allotment. I put green and brown waste in and empty one completely into the other on the first weekend of every month. Then I reverse this procedure the next month. Am I aerating too much
Can you put English Ivey leaves and vines in compost?
Got any tips for eradicating couch grass?
I've always wanted to ask-would placing composted material under "pressure" accelerate its breakdown?
Heat and pressure breakdown proteins/organic structures, would placing compost under weight accelerate the process of composting?
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Is 4'x4'x4' size good enough for composting?.
you must give up the use of cardboard. you are accumulating toxins in your soil by doing so, especially because recycled cardboard is accumulating those toxins itself by constant remanufacture, have some meaningful tests done, millions of people are learning from you, you have a responsibility to them, a duty of care.
Charles, may I ask if you have to cover the bin with the tin after it has been filled from the other 2 bins?
Hi Charles, any thoughts on chemicaks leaching out of pallets used for compost bins?
Hey Charles, I’ve been filing up my compost here in Australia and I am really unsure if I should be watering it or not. I bought a temp gauge and it was reading 55 degrees but then it went down. I don’t know how long it was at 55 for because I only recently got the temp gauge. Is there any signs that I can look for that would tell me I should water it? Someone told me it should be 50% water to allow the microbes to travel around and start breaking it down.
I'm wondering if I can put a heap in the shade or sun? I'm guessing it does not matter and can be done either way. Does the sun help it break down?
Really useful advice as always thank you x