How long until I can use it?

Hi,

I need compost/manure to put in my raised beds. I cant find any well rotted locally but have plenty of sources of fresh at home. I can collect the droppings from our pony paddock and I have a bucket full of poo from our pigs! Also the chickens and ducks need a clean so the shavings/straw and muck from their houses can also be used. Is all of the above suitable for veggie gardening (I know horse poo is but not sure about the rest) and how long will it have to rot down before I can dig it into the beds. They are ready to fill with top soil so want to plant in them asap. Should have thought about compost much earlier in the year! A lesson learned! Is there a good ratio for composting of poo from the animals and grass cuttings? Thanks for reading.

 

Basically poo from vegetarian animals is fine. So not Dogs and Cats, but Rabbits, Guinea pigs, Chickens, Horses, Cows, Pigs etc is fine.

If you have relatively small quantities of animal poo I would put it in your compost bin with the other garden material. It will help accelerate the process, and increase the heat (which will help kill weeds / seed)

Grass clipping needs to only be put in in small quantities - otherwise the compost healp will become a soggy, smelly mess. If you have more grass clippings than that jsut put them in their own heap and let them become a slimey mess This year's grass clippings pile will be ready to pu on the garden by next Spring. Do not include any grass clippings for a period after you apply selective weed killer, or weed & feed, to your lanw (see the herbicide instuctions for "how long")

If you can get your compost heat hot enough it might be ready in six weeks [during the Summer months]. Either way, I think it would be OK to add this Autumn or early next Spring.

If you are just going to stack fresh animal manure then 6 - 9 months before you can use it. Turning it periodically [once a month, say] will speed the process up

Start a new heap when the first one is full - otherwise you will have ready-compost at the bottom, and fresh material at the top, of course.

 

Thanks Kristen. Thats great info. Have ordered a compost bin from the local council and have my own heap made out of pallets. We have loads of grass cuttings which we currently put in the bushes around the field. Is it worth keeping them all in one place? Will they be of some use in a year or so when well rotted, even if it is only cuttings?

 

Kristen I have never seen grass cutting becoming a slimy smelly mess and I put them all on my heap. Mind you it is well layered up with kitchen waste, paper and poo. Of course leaves in the autumn too. I must be doing something right. It all rots down very quickly.Worms in their millions and really hot in the middle. I turn it every couple of months. I never seem to have the time to do it more frequently. I don't cover it either because my covers kept disappearing over the hedge. I always have really good black rich compost. Is it just in a bin this happens to grass? I dislike the idea of bins because the contents tend to go yukky and there just isn't enough room.
Oh I also compost the stuff from my shredder too. I don't shred all my prunings but stack some branches and wood behind the hedges for the wild life.

Pallets are the thing to surround the heaps unfortunately mine are beginning to compost too:hehe:

 

"Mind you it is well layered up with kitchen waste, paper and poo"

That will make all the difference

"Is it just in a bin this happens to grass?"

Its when the layer of grass is too thick. My bins work just fine