Compost Heap
A good compost heap is fundamental to any organic garden and is likened to a giant digestive system.
Once fully broken down, it supplies the right combination of slow-released nutrients and beneficial soil organisms, provides organic matter to the garden which improves the structure of the soil and helps to retain moisture, which all contribute to increased health and resilience to any plants.
The Springs compost heap was only established about six weeks ago but is already a considerable size, approximately three and a half metres long by one metre wide by one and a half metres high. Before it was established, a percolating drainage pipe was laid (for aeration) on the tilled bare soil and then added green-waste on top of this, with the ends of the pipe sticking out.
Ingredients added include anything that takes too long to break down in the worm farms including hard vegetation from the garden such as roots, plant stems, flower plants, small branches, dead plants, tree leaves any old plants from in the greenhouse, old potting mix, bark mulch, a little bit of existing compost, lawn clippings, peat moss from the kiwi brooders and a considerable amount of horse manure. Added to this are lime, blood and bone, gypsum, vegetable meal, rock phosphate and actizyme, which is composed of natural enzymes and beneficial bacteria. The heap is then watered and covered with old carpet (woollen side down) and left to break down, turning and adding new material as required. The compost should be ready in early spring when it will be applied to the garden and the cycle repeats itself.