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pfrollin

Is it ok to practice "slob composting" - or am I just kidding myself?

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For the past year, I've been skipping the trips to take our family's compost to a farm, and I've just dumped the stuff (eggshells and raw veggie-parts only) in rotating sections of my small veggie garden. I smash the eggshells with a trowel (fun!), throw some dirt to mostly cover, and leave it alone. In a few months, I stir the mostly-decomposed mix around and plant some veggies there.

From the bit I've read about proper composting, this is not even "slow" composting, and certainly not hot. So I'm just calling it "slob composting." Is it even composting, though? It's probably not doing the whole microbe thing and getting to good humus. That said, my veggies are growing ever-more-beautifully on top of this stuff.

What do you think?

antonis

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 12:46

I think this is one of the best things You can do!That's what happens on a forest floor; and that's what happens to mulch.People have called it surface composting,and it was used solely by Masanobu Fukuoka in his unplowed grain fields.He composted the straw of the previous crop while growing the next one.And he did so successfully for about 50 years!.And his yields were equal or better than those of the industrial agriculture advocates around him.As for myself,I collect fallen leaves from alley trees and shallowly hoe them in after Christmas. Greetings,antonis.

pfrollin

Sun, 10/14/2012 - 22:33

Ah, Antonis, it's very cheering to hear that my lazy methods are time-honored and effective! Thank you.

antonis

Mon, 10/15/2012 - 14:19

Laziness and wisdom are first cousins!