Do You Prefer To Compost Your Soil Or Buy Soil?

goodnessatlanta

goodnessatlanta

Well-known member
Do you prefer to compost your soil with all of the microbes in it or do you prefer to buy the soil and add nutrients to the soil like osmocote plus, azomite, lime, egg shell, bone meal etc?
 
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i make what i can at home, but i don't have much resources to put in so i end up buying a lot too.
i prefer my own compost out of the two.
i reuse soil too and amend as needed.
i add egg shell (ground in the soil and sometimes chunks on top as a mulch), home made bone meal, fish blood and bone, wood ash, my own pee, dried and ground sweet potato peels, dandelion flowers and whatever else i can get my hands on freely. nothing goes to waste at my house :)
 
I do a range of composting options, from my vermicomposter (top grade), to compost bins for kitchen scraps and yard waste/weeds, to various piles of autumn leaf mulch and grass clippings. I try to not let anything go to waste. I pulverize egg shells in a cheap coffee grinder, give some to the worms and the rest in the compost bins. Nearly all the leaves I mulched last year (it was a lot) were used as top mulch or soil additive.
It's still not enough for all my needs. Last year I put in a bunch of beds, and potted plants mainly get commercial potting mix. I do hope in coming years it will settle into something more self-sustaining.
 
DavidNC said:
I do a range of composting options, from my vermicomposter (top grade), to compost bins for kitchen scraps and yard waste/weeds, to various piles of autumn leaf mulch and grass clippings. I try to not let anything go to waste. I pulverize egg shells in a cheap coffee grinder, give some to the worms and the rest in the compost bins. Nearly all the leaves I mulched last year (it was a lot) were used as top mulch or soil additive.
It's still not enough for all my needs. Last year I put in a bunch of beds, and potted plants mainly get commercial potting mix. I do hope in coming years it will settle into something more self-sustaining.
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Remember that the bees, snakes, frogs and salamanders overwinter under leaves, so collect them early fall or collect them late spring.
 
Great figs are essentially priceless. They can't be bought. The same is true of healthy soil. Once you learn how to hot (not cold) compost, you'll never stop. The clean smell of healthy hot composted soil is one of the best smells on the planet. Every plant thrives in it, and like figs, it's priceless.
 
Spectrum said:
Remember that the bees, snakes, frogs and salamanders overwinter under leaves, so collect them early fall or collect them late spring.
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No worries, the leaves I collect are from the yard, which gets mowed regularly anyway. This year's leaves have just begun to fall here, so early autumn is not an option. Neither is late spring if I want to keep any of my lawn, or the mossy area way in the back. I want to take care of the critters as much as I can, but obvious habitation must be out of sight at the far end of the property, as my neighbor has made his disdain for snakes known.
Bit of an off-season now, but when spring comes creeping, I'm sure I will be journaling all the flora and fauna that call my garden home, or use it as a rest stop. It's half the reason I grow things.
 
I buy compose and mix my own soil. Here in Maryland the state has a composting program, the product is available retail at Lowes and Home Depot but you can go to the facility and buy it by the yard, so for $18 a yard it doesn't make much sense to put the effort into making the volume of compost I use.
Leafgro is the branded product name
 
DCallahan said:
I buy compose and mix my own soil. Here in Maryland the state has a composting program, the product is available retail at Lowes and Home Depot but you can go to the facility and buy it by the yard, so for $18 a yard it doesn't make much sense to put the effort into making the volume of compost I use.
Leafgro is the branded product name
Click to expand...
Great price. I think I pay around $30 a yard.
 
I started a leaf bin a few weeks ago roughly 7’x4’x4’ and added 20 trash cans full of leaves, then shredded with a weed whacker. I’m raking neighbors yards and collecting piles from the street and it’s still only ~30% full. You need an enormous amount of leaves or other material to make enough compost or leaf mold/mulch for use the following season.

My vegetable garden is topped with garden debris and spent plants, some mustard, carrots and beets still growing and my neighbor throws his flowers and plants over the fence when he’s done with them to cover the soil for Winter.
 
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