My wife and I are planning on extending our garden plot next season. My question, the edge of the new garden will be about 15 feet from our existing compost bin (this season the garden edge was about 50 feet away), will this be too close? My wife thinks that if the bin won't pose any problems with the garden, it would be more convienent 15 feet away. Your opinions please.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 06, 2000

Answers

Jay: I don't see a problem with having your compost bin smack bab in the middle of your garden for convenience. It's not like it leaches out anything harmful.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 06, 2000.

I like the compost pile to be right IN the garden! Then you don't have to move it much, and also, any runoff or seepage from it won't be wasted- it'll go right where it belongs, into the soil of the garden. I actually plant things in fresh compost piles, such as squash, sunflowers, and pumpkins. These plants seem able to handle the richness of the new soil, and help to break it down, while thriving and producing a LOT of squash or pumpkins! Of course you can't turn the pile while they are growing in it. I make our piles in long oblongs about 4 feet wide, and as long as they need to be, about a foot or two high. By fall they have broken down and can be turned a bit to clear out any weeds. In spring, you have a very nice raised bed without all the work of digging it!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), September 06, 2000.

I like mine to be right in the garden, too. I have several raised beds that I alternately use for compost piles and it has done wonders with my heavy clay soil.

-- Doreen (liberty546@hotmail.com), September 06, 2000.

Thanks, I'll tell Lynn.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 06, 2000.

I expand my garden by composting a new spot. It kills the sod underneath, encourages earthworms and any leaching helps nearby crops. I leave a residue of compost to raise the level of the soil for the new bed.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), September 06, 2000.

Same here, when I extend the garden I just put a wagon full of stuff from the barn right where I want it be be, the row, real deep. We have about 12 long raised wide rows and we just do sheet composting, right in the rows we are not presently using. But I keep the rows and the paths covered deep in mulch, hay in the paths and grass clipping in the rows. Fresh grass clippings will make a spot anywhere, deep enough. Just don't spray your grass with anything. We have a separate little garden for greens and stuff where the dirt is not covered.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 07, 2000.

We've always had our compost piles either right at the edge of the garden, or right in the middle. And we use them to expand the garden, too. The shorter the distance you have to carry stuff, the better!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 07, 2000.

The old composting area is 20-30' away but i am startinga alrger one that I can turn with the tractor loader, it will be on one end of our flat garden.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), September 08, 2000.