Wow @moose71, your chickens will eat comfrey. That is one of the few things my chickens just won’t touch, but maybe they are spoiled…
3 Likes
I don’t know the reason but here the town will not pick up grass clippings so the free compost is mostly leaves and brush. Now that I think about it all the lawn services I’ve seen use mulching mowers so the cuttings stay on the lawn.
1 Like
The only environmental problem with this approach is that mulching mowers use up much more gas grinding down the clippings. I keep the shoot of my mower open so the mower spits out the grass before grinding it and the mower goes much faster. The only slight drawback is when walking on the wet grass in the morning your feet pick up a lot of it. I only mow once every couple of weeks and the mowed grass doesn’t look bad and disappears into the lawn rather quickly even though I let it get pretty tall between mows- especially this wet year.
2 Likes
when they free range they will eat it. they also prefer bocking 14 over bocking 4 comfrey for some reason. they much prefer their feed and mealworms than any greens if given the choice.
2 Likes
How many chickens do you have?
2 Likes
20 laying hens. getting some laying ducks next spring. bigger eggs and don’t scratch up everything. more cold hardy too. my chickens have endured -30f in a unheated uninsulated coop but don’t lay when its really cold. i put a water proof heat mat under their nests to keep eggs from freezing and encourage them to lay all winter .
4 Likes
I have read from several sources that rabbit manure is really great stuff.
John S
PDX OR
5 Likes
There will usually be a small amount of grass in with leaves that were picked up with a mower, it’s not much but enough to make it unsuitable for protecting fig trees because it rots faster.
3 Likes
chickens and rabbits have the best manure but needs to be composted first or it’ll burn your plants.
4 Likes
I thought rabbits was fine, but chickens you have to compost for a year.
2 Likes
chicken manure is a little stronger but i would compost both of them 1st. ok to top dress in between rows in fall. just don’t turn in till spring .
3 Likes
Moose,
I just kept the chicken manure back a ways without composting and didn’t use a lot so it worked great on heavy feeding plants like corn and tomatoes! Kitchen scraps are what I use for a starter on a new compost piles. I have lots to compost so the system works great here. Once in awhile I bring in new cow manure but I think that’s more out of greed for greater harvests than necessity on established ground. The ground that’s been farmed out needs compost desperately and it takes years to get things made right.
3 Likes
I totally agree - feed the soil to feed the plants. But it will probably come down to ‘all composting is local’. If I put out kitchen scraps I attract rodents and raccoons. So I pick up and compost all dropped fruit & produce. And I don’t generate as much as I would like to feed the garden soil and make potting soil (which is why I am looking to import safe compost).
So currently I feed much of the kitchen scraps to a flow through worm bin which I keep inside in a ‘mud room’ so to speak.
For outside garden debris I’ve developed my own ‘compost capsule’ technique which I don’t need to turn. I trialed it last winter and it produces really nice textured result. Basically I use a large contractor trash bag supported by a large trash can which I fill, layering shredded newspaper if too much green stuff is going in. Amazing how it composts down in a few weeks and I keep adding to it until it is full. (I don’t embrace the idea that decomposition needs to be aerobic. Anaerobic is just as good and in actuality both types are helpful.) I keep the bag closed up w/weight on top. When no more can fit in I tie it up and set it out for 6-8 months where it composts down even more - w/o turning. Thankful it is producing good stuff b/c turning compost is extra (and as it ‘turns’ out, unnecessary) work. 
4 Likes
i line in between rows in the fall and on top of my raised beds. the rows , i leave one top till’ spring then till in and the beds i turn it in right away and by spring its ready to plant. great free fertilizer! i also save my fire pit ashes and add a little when i lay the chicken manure in the fall. makes a good balance.
3 Likes
I like to turn my compost piles not for the aerobic respiration, but rather for the opportunity to expose weed seeds to light to initiate germination that then gets killed when next turned. This, of course isn’t really necessary if you don’t have a lot of weed seeds in there.
3 Likes
bought a used 05’ 24 hp diesel mahindra tractor with a dump last year so moving soil/ compost is a snap. best $5000 I’ve ever spent!
2 Likes
Nice.
I’ve given up struggling with a tiller long ago, or any heavy equipment, BUT, happily I have found that distrubing the soil in such a manner is not necessary at all. In fact, undisturbed soil may be better for plants in that the underground nute highways like mycelia, are left in tact. One of my gardening gurus has been doing ‘no dig’ for 25 years in his market garden too with good results. In fact, in some of his videos he compared a dug and an undug garden bed and saw no dif in yield over many years. He doesn’t fertilize but rather only adds compost on top each year. Have a look.
3 Likes
once i get my clay soil amended properly i will go that route. right now it compacts pretty bad even under the 3in. of sawdust i put down every spring to keep weeds down. i only till in between rows once in the spring. then i remulch the whole berry patch . i have winecap mushrooms that come up everywhere as i put spawn in there 3 yrs ago and as long as i feed them sawdust they keep coming up. they love the chicken manure too! the sawdust is free from a firewood business and makes for weed free gardening. almost never need to water.
3 Likes
Nice. I’d like to do the winecap mushrooms this year but I’m waiting for some woodchips to come my way. If Irma comes this way there will be many.
Charles Dowding did his market garden on clay while he was in France I believe, just adding compost on top and not disturbing the soil and had good results.
3 Likes
Compost that has a high percentage of livestock manure can have high levels of salts. Plants growing in highly saline soils will often time have stunted, curled growth similar to herbicide exposure. Most soil labs can do an EC test that will show the salinity levels in your compost or soil.
3 Likes