How to STOP Buying Compost (Tips For Compost Self-Sufficiency)

Compost is obviously crucial for a successful garden, but it can be one of the things that are holding us gardeners back from getting the most out of our space as once we run out, we either may have to wait a while or we buy in compost. I want to be self-sufficient in compost by 2024 (I explain exactly what I mean by this in the video) and so I share some tips, ideas, and thoughts that I have had around how I am going to make this happen. I also share how to calculate what your target compost quantities will be for your garden.
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[@ohiogardener4019]

A great summer cover crop is Buckwheat. If you have an open bed that won't be needed for a few weeks, sow Buckwheat on it. It will grow very fast, and when it starts blooming cut it off at the soil level and leave it on the ground for mulch. It really enriches the soil.

[@PaulSaxbyPhotography]

As an allotment holder (3 plots shared with my wife) we have always tried to produce as much of our own compost as possible, initially to reduce cost but also to reduce the amount of material being brought into our growing area. These days we have become much more aware of persistent herbicides that remain in manures and survive the composting process, so we try to avoid bringing in as much foreign material as possible. This isn't always possible, as we have inherited extremely poor soil, so we have reluctantly invested in several loads of farm manure to help reinvigorate and energise the poor soil, but hopefully we will not need to do this so much in the future. Luckily we have enough growing space to allocate an area to specifically growing biomass. This year we have started to grow Sorghum Sudangrass, which we grow alongside Borage and Comfrey as our main bulking agents for the compost heap. We also have access to bracken and free coffee grounds. Yet again a well produced and highly inspirational and educational video. Thanks Huw, you are a genius.

[@Tr1ckster100]

Are you not contributing to allotment waiting lists?

[@PaulSaxbyPhotography]

@@Tr1ckster100 nope, we were asked specifically to take on two plots because they were in such a bad way no one would take them on. The council were threatening to close a section of the site because so many plots were abandoned, we actually prevented several plot holders from losing there plots. I agree in some parts of the country there is a shortage of allotment plots but that is only because councils are closing so many to sell for property development. In many areas, like mine, there are plots available if you are prepared to travel to a site, most of the people who complain want a plot on a specific site, so have to wait.

[@Plot79B]

@@Tr1ckster100 If you having trouble getting a plot now is the time to contact your local sites and ask again. As this is around the time most check the plots to make sure they are being used, be polite and be keen.

[@raymondjoebarwick8995]

Good morning

[@jimosrs9414]

If people have the time and the space, composting big piles of wood chips for a couple years is the easiest way for free compost. Granted it will take a while but if you plan on gardening long term it’s rather easy.

[@WilsonsWanderings]

I’ve found, if you’re composting on a small scale (kitchen gardening etc), chopping up empty toilet roll tubes to add a great source of carbon to your compost is a great idea. 👍🏻

[@anniehosking2408]

I don't chop them up any more. I use egg boxes opened out and complete toilet tubes in a layer between kitchen scraps. I find they break down just fine and they create space for air in the bin.

[@chomastiarnoldo1892]

Newsprint is also often overlooked as a carbon source; its carbon:nitrogen ratio is 400-800:1, which makes it one of the best sources available. If worried about potential contaminants in the ink, rub a page with your thumb. If it doesn't smear, it's probably good to go!

[@julianikonova9026]

Det gör jag med !

[@sura2047]

I have 10 chickens and in their enclosure I use a combination of wood chip mulch for the ground, untreated wood saw dust and straw. I clean up their manure droppings every day, and as I do, I grab a (gloved) handful of this bedding with the poop. I walk out with a bucket full each day that goes into the compost bin. It’s amazing how it accumulates as a regular daily addition/layer to the compost, and then every week I replenish the coop with more clean bedding, and so the cycle goes. But chicken bedding/manure mix makes a great, nutrient rich addition to boosting compost piles. Love your videos, thank you for what you do. Cheerio from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@coquinjany]

too much work mate, must be a tiny enclosure

[@sura2047]

@@coquinjany it’s not tiny at all! There’s only 10 chooks.. not 100. It’s not hard.

[@coquinjany]

@@sura2047 tiny for 10 chooks, every day clean, silly bunny.

[@j.reneewhite915]

I love how you condense everything down and provide tangible smart steps to making an amazing garden. You've come a long ways in a short amount of time! Thank you for all your hard work and dialing it in. It knocks about 10 years of learning off the average gardeners experience and ensures we have more success and bounty in our gardens. Bravo.

[@johnransom1146]

Integrate more livestock. If you’re going to grow green manures, you can let the chickens loose on that. It will replace some feed, they thoroughly remove the cover crop, add manure, aerate the soil, and if you use clover for instance you have a lot of nitrogen in it between the nitrogen fixing clover and the chicken manure. Free of weeds.

[@YKKY]

I literally gasped when I calculated I need 10 cubic meters of compost with the buffer... and then you went into talking how much I can produce and how and I managed to catch my breath again :D thank you :) wonderful video again!

[@Firevine]

Oh man, two of my favorite garden channels crossing over. David the Good is awesome. I've picked up a couple of his books and they're great. He's a really funny guy too.

[@davidthegood]

Great video as usual. Thank you for the mention. The sheer biomass we've been able to get from some of the cover crops has been quite encouraging. Also... I miss being near a source of seaweed!

[@ibrstellar1080]

What ever happened to The Ice Age Farmer?, by the way I love your channel as well.

[@GreenSideUp]

Great video Huw, I too have started on my new compost strategy just recently because without peat in the sytem (as it needs to be) the following years peat free compost is going to be even more rubbish than presently available and at an increased cost too. Making your own compost is going to be the only sensible way forward for most I feel, so it is back to basics and back (for me) to what we did before we had garden centres with pallets of compost waiting for us, back then the only compost was specialist stuff for houseplants and maybe cactus etc. So I will be digging out my old seed and potting mix recipes out from the back of my mind for future use...Steve...🙂

[@ohiogardener4019]

I recently purchased a heavy duty chipper/shredder with a chute on it that blows the shredded plants, leaves, etc., directly into the compost bin. Has really improved the speed of making some great compost.

[@thebirdartistscottage]

Cool! A chipper is on my wish list. Which one did you get?

[@ohiogardener4019]

@@thebirdartistscottage I bought a DK2 Chipper/Shredder. Home Depot had them on sale with free shipping, and it was too good a deal to pass up.

[@StreetMachine18]

i brought in 10 yards of horse compost this year to build new beds. i own a trailer and am physically fit enough to shovel it myself without needing specialty equipment. lucky the farmer said its free if you move it yourself and he doesnt need to use a tractor to load it. FYI it takes me 20 mins to load a yard of compost onto my trailer with a single hay fork

[@jonathanravenhilllloyd2070]

My mum used to run an art shop. Lots of glossy paper, as opposed to packaging, is made glossy with clay in the paper.

[@happyliving8823]

I have a 10 rod allotment and I can never make enough compost.. there’s just not enough materials around unless I source it from elsewhere. It’s definitely not easy to be self sufficient in composting in an urban city setting. But I love making compost no matter how much volume it gives.

[@smas3256]

If you can drive around a near by town, you will see many home owners or renters that rake fall brown leaves and put them in a tall paper sack and put them by the curb for pick up by the town. USA. Check local papers or search online for leaf pick up in your area.

[@MartinaSchoppe]

Great video! What I don't "get" is: why not use more of the "raw" materials directly as mulch as opposed to composting it first? I hate transporting stuff around repeatedly and use almost everything I cut down directly as mulch. Except weeds with seeds. Okay, I don't grow many annuals but almost only perennials, but i know a lot of gardeners who chop'ndrop almost everything "in situ" or at least as close by as possible. So in actuallity, I often even use the "weeds with seeds" for direct mulching. They have a hard time sprouting below a thick layer of mulch around tightly planted perennials that have established root systems and cast a lot of shade 😉If I discover seedings, I just pull or cut them (leaving the root in the gound to rott down right where they are) and put tem on the mulch or Io cover them over with woody mulch (wood chips, saw dust, wood shavings Sometimes I "shred" bigger stuff (like the damn nettles) down with the lawn mover - that size is suitable for vegetable beds just as grass clippings are. And so my "cover crops" for mulching or for the compost heap are also mostly perennials. I grow a "hedge" of comfrey around my food forest (that does double duty as a rhizom barrier to stop the lawn from invading the food forest). Comfrey is a great plant for composting, it composts so fast, that it makes no sense to me to "waste" it on a compost pile. Put it directly on the beds. I use stinging nettles almost exactly the same way. Unless they have seeds.... And I just love Aegopodium podagraria as a living mulch/mulch producer/perennial edible - no idea, why people hate it so much 😂 And I also use ornamental (perennials) to produce mulch/compost material: i have a wisteria, that I need to cut back about every other week - it is way to vigorous for the arch trellis - but it is a nitrogen fixer - ideal muliching material, totally for free. I like to compost card board. That is difficult to use as mulch. And I use the compost heap for everything I want to use in the garden but don't want in direkt contact with food plants, like doggy poo. I'm also considering humanure, but am not quiete there, yet 🤣

[@jarmovec]

I really like how you are not bothered by the rain and keep on filming! :)

[@HuwRichards]

Never let a bit of rain stop us in Wales :)

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

I also need to learn how to make seed starting and potting soil. Garden compost is easy. This past spring I tried making my own seed starting soil and I failure in getting healthy starts or even germination. Another way to express 100 liters is five 5gal buckets full. Any branches over 7cm here goes to firewood. I reduce the amount of trees I need to cut to keep my house warm. WRT cover crops to bulk up compost. Many can be used instead of grass of places one wants kept mowed.

[@HuwRichards]

Sorry gallons aren't really a big thing where I live

[@etiennelouw9244]

I started my veggie garden in August 2021 and my bed size is 1,4 by 1m. I harvested about 10% of my veggie needs last year, did not buy a tomato for 4 months. Still digging out the tough Kikuya grass in patches and putting in concrete barriers and have made a plan for one raised garden bed. Made a lot of mistakes along the way, big learning curve. This year I want to try getting 20% of my needs. Compost still far down on the list of self sufficient. Cape Town, South Africa has a mediterranean climate and easy to grow almost anything. You are doing well, nice job.

[@kerrywatson8581]

Hello. Here in NZ we also have Kikuyu grass....it grows rampant in Northland and it's a constant battle to keep it from getting into the garden. It's the one thing I use spray for!

[@ibrstellar1080]

I have various types of raised beds but the ones with the least work is the recycled water tanks as the plastic ones are maintenance free but you can make them more attractive with wood planks.

[@StSdijle]

Actually this was quite an eye opener. I realized that I need much less compost than I thought (never really did the math)

[@rosemaryogilvie6842]

I recently spent two excruciating days shredding seven years of (small) business/tax records. It was worth the tedium as it produced - to my surprise - about two cubic metres of fill for my newest raised beds.

[@danpoxon2425]

I do a very small scale chicken compost system using 3 laying hens in a 7x10ft run literally anything compostable goes in there run for them to scratch about in I clean the run out every 3-4month we’re i put in to compost bin holding stores for 3month it brakes down super fast I’ve got 2 full bins ready now an one half done I’m due a clean out the end of the month the bins are ready to empty on my beds perfectly timed with autumn here an loads of bulk material going to be available. I think chicken compost systems are over looked they definitely seem a asset keeping chickens with a veg garden

[@GARDENER42]

I went 'no dig' four or five years ago & sufficient compost to cover my actual growing area & potato containers has almost become an obsession. I need sufficient to cover 80m² which at 2.5cm depth is 2m³ plus another 0.9m³ for the potatoes, though the latter was mostly a 'one off' as 90% remains to be used on the beds or to riddle as seed & potting compost. Annually, I've 300m² of lawns, collect around 300kg of cardboard, two cuts of 20m long privet hedge, one cut of 40m cotoneaster hedge, all my own vegetable & plant waste, plus my neighbours, 20+ bags of racing pigeon loft muck & anything else I can scrounge. Believe me: It's barely enough by the time it's all broken down. As for wood chip/shreddings: I apply 5cm to my interbed paths annually, including in the 6x3m polytunnel (no Terram - just straight on the soil) & that's roughly 1.5m². Thankfully I can get all that from helping out at my local fishing club when they do their annual willow cutting & the stuff's surprisingly fast to break down. Interestingly, brassicas seem to love whatever comes from the decomposing wood chip, as the root systems under the paths are more than double the density of those in the beds themselves. Having said that, I've harvested more than 400kg from that 80m² so far this year & it's all (apart from the broccoli, which was a draw) been better tasting than commercially grown.

[@christianerardt3705]

Thanks for your so much good advice, Huw. 👍🏻💚🌱 Last spring i was so proud when i used my own compost i made on my little balcony for the first time. I got more than 120 l. Unfortunately i don't have much space for making compost and can only use some jute bags for collecting cuttings from my balcony and from bought organic fruits and vegs. Additional i collected some beech leefs from the wood behind the house. These are also a good starting push for the soil life in my compost bags and underlayer for my raised beds. My this years compost is not ready yet, so i had to buy 2 20 l bags for filling up my new little balcony raised beds from spring and pots to plant and sow my winter greens. Next spring i will have 2 big bags of my own compost to fill up the beds again. Chicken would be great but not practical on the balcony. Instead i'm going to collect some sheep manure next week. We just had a huge sheep herd coming along on the meadows near by. I'm just waiting a little till the pills are a little dryer to collect it easier. I will mix it into some almost ready compost and leave it over winter. This was my second balcony garden year and it worked pretty fine. I learn something new every year and it grows. Already looking forward for the next one ... ☺️💚🌱

[@UrbanChickenMomma]

In the States, once a year in spring a store called Fred Meyer which part of the Kroger brand has an event called fuchsia days. If you buy at least one plant, they will fill up to 5 of your pots with free soil. It’s a brand called Black Gold that is really good. I have 4 stores near me so I visit all of them and stock up on whatever plants I need and get so much soil which add to my compost and top off my raised beds. Maybe other places do something similar!

[@lindasands1433]

Lucky you!! 👍

[@mgt74]

That's amazing. I live in the PNW and hadn't heard of this. The announcement from last year said up to 8 planters of 15" diameter max! That's a lot of great soil cheap! Did you buy flowers at Freddie's or just bring pots? I'm definitely going to keep my eye out in April next year

[@UrbanChickenMomma]

@@mgt74 I bought fuchsia starts this year for my plant sale. I brought the biggest grow bags and pots that I have and let them fill them as much as they thought was appropriate. Some stores are more generous than others. Last year I just bought baby flower starts. I mostly start my own plants & veggies from seeds. I’m in South King County. About 30 minutes south of Seattle.

[@freedombug11]

Of all your videos, I think I get most excited about the ones on creative composting.

[@highlandscommunityclub1160]

You and David the Good are both awesome! Thank you for the information on about cardboard glue.

[@Gabi-lt4mx]

Don't forget Edible Acres.

[@TheFunctionalForce]

Can’t wait to see how you do the chicken compost! It was one of my favourite parts in your new book but I’d love to see it actually being done :) Thank u Huw!

[@JulieDempsey-kl8kx]

😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@federicofoglietta7635]

In my case i'm composting everything i can find, leaves in a pile, my owm Home residues in bokashi bins, and cofre grinnds from a local coffee shop, i have like 10 buckets, it is a challenge

[@HannaARTzink]

Very important point - making our own soil builder. Thank you for emphasizing this.

[@sarahjohnston1576]

Great video! My yearly struggle is to create enough compost. This year, was my best growing year yet, and I credit it to supplementing my homemade compost in a tumbler with basic chop and drop at the bed of the season. After chop and drop I topped with lawn-moved leaves. My inspiration came from a video if yours to put your bed to sleep. Throughout the year, I made liquid feeds similar to you. I’ll be taking this approach again this fall until I can create more compost.

[@hin_hale]

There's one resource that we produce a whole lot of throughout the year and literally just flush down the toilet. Makes great compost if treated the right way! I'd love to see you do a video about that! Maybe have a chat with Joe Jenkins?

[@Concojone5]

Right on! This is the compost leak in the veg garden!

[@chefcon1]

Awesome video! There are so many great ideas which I'll definitely be utilising in the future. This week's project is to make a little wormery and gte the high-nutrient vermicular compost ready for next year. I'm also resting the tomato bed this year, shredding cardboard, dead tomato plants, and leaf litter and leaving it under black tarp over winter. I've been letting tomatoes fall off in the hopes they will self-seed year-on-year.

[@alexdoessports]

I've got a wormfarm set-up combined with 2 bokashi bins. It works very good but it's not enough so I'm also going te buy a compost bin. 😃

[@quantafitness6088]

Leaf mould + bokashi compost made with leaf mould + sterilised old compost from pots worked for me as compost for seed starting. Adding FPJ to the mix made plants grow like crazy!

[@dainty_af]

How did you sterilize the old pots compost?

[@juliewoodman2439]

What is FPJ?

[@quantafitness6088]

@@dainty_af In the oven, 150 degrees celcius for 30-40 min. Less fungus gnats in that compost than the ones you buy.

[@anastasiachery5874]

You always seem to post a new helpful video whenever i'm struggling with a specific subject !! Thanks Huw :)

[@ForestMaster]

Thanks for demonstrating our machine, Huw. Very informative video as always!

[@HuwRichards]

My pleasure!

[@ioanaconstantin7151]

That's a very important topic. I spent tones of money on compost, plus good quality one can be really expensive. Not to mention the risk to get some rubbish compost that will ruin your plants. My garden is on top of clay-sandy soil, so basically after years of failing to grow anything really in this soil, my only option are raised beds filled up with compost. Do you have some tips on small gardens, when you have to place beds quite close to trees and hedges? I end up with tones of roots in the beds and they suck out all water and nutrients. It's a struggle for me to keep those roots out.

[@christinamoxon]

Have you tried lining the beds? It's the only thing I can think of to keep roots out. Otherwise, you risk damaging the trees and shrubs. I save the bags the compost comes in. They make great liners for baskets too.

[@emberstonequest]

I have a small garden too. For the roots, I tend to just just cut them if I find them (as long as they aren't one of my little fruit trees). As for growing more in a small space, I use those small greenhouse towers (plastic ones, usually with four shelves). They're less than a metre long, and about a foot or two deep. I use mine for salad stuff I'd otherwise buy, and to winter my blueberry plants. I keep them near the fences so there's protection from wind, but I usually have a bag of compost (homemade or otherwise) on the bottom shelf to secure it. For composting I use those ones that you have to turn every day (like what the lotto balls are rolled in - I forget what the composter type is called) for garden waste and bokashi composting for food scraps. I've been looking at converting 2/3rd of what's left of my grass into a cheapish larger / more normal greenhouse and raised beds, and then on the patio bit I've been using fabric growbags since 2020.

[@ioanaconstantin7151]

@@christinamoxon This year I dug out two of my beds, got out all the roots and then layed some landscape fabric at the bottom of the bed. I hope that will keep the roots out for a least a year, hopefully two. To be honest, I'm not fan of the landscape fabric, it's plastic and will become microplastic over time, but I cannot have another growing area and I cannot cut the hedges and trees around. So I have to compromise.

[@agnieszkaking3814]

Incredibly helpful. Thanks so much!

[@patriciahogg5763]

Excellent video!!!! Thanks!! 🌻🌻🌻

[@mekashealingjourney]

I totally agree with this. My idea of compost self sufficiency is the same. I still need to work out how to perfect my seed compost

[@kahzinger]

Love that you filmed some of this in the rain. Thank you for the timely video. My garden needs to be cleared of the spent plants this month, I've been too busy with the kids!

[@louise2209]

I have several wild buddelia in the garden, which grow massive very quickly and I’ve mostly given up on trying to uproot them. The past couple of years, I dead head them, cut the things right back and leave the long branches/shoots to dry out. Then I compost the dry leaves and chip the wood that this produces (as well as from the self seeded sycamore and other trees, massive bushes around the garden). The wood chips are currently planned for paths, but may be added to the compost in the future.

[@prasanthim3930]

Very informative and helpful. Thanks for the video

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

Its always great to have your own compost! specially everything is going so expensive. Thanks for all the info,

[@kathya739]

Informative vid AND comments. Three day old comfrey tea for plants. Black strap molasses is a wonderful addition to milk as a spray for garden or pasture. Added in equal amounts to weighed fish scrapes/waste(no smell/flies and ready in 3 weeks); can use raw brown sugar (Jaggery), and diluted with a minimum of water. I prefer a combo of fish, kelp, seaweed, and molasses to sweeten the deal.

[@tracycroft6655]

So glad to hear you're finally getting there

[@philomenabrabazonobroin5236]

Excellent advice

[@victoriagolmehdi8506]

I source spent hops from a local brewery and old hay and straw that is not fit for animal feed or bedding. Last year I posted on my local village face book page offering to take away any pumpkins that were not wanted after Halloween and people left loads of them on my drive.

[@growyourvegetablekitchen2818]

Thank you so much, have a lot of ideas from your video 🥰❤️

[@hadassahhaman7550]

Loved this video too! Thank you Huw!!!!

[@anna-kajsaschippers4547]

Amazing videos! Thank you for adding the seaweed part ! :)

[@lysmalls658]

Huw I Love your Dedication bring us this video while it’s Raining

[@deborahcaldwell9775]

Very helpful and supportive

[@lindasands1433]

Brilliant & very inspiring. Thanks Huw. On this rainy day my gardening will mostly be watching videos and also quickly ducking out to pick food 😁

[@lii1Il]

Perennial cover crop is an excellent idea!!!

[@drmarikaheblinski7199]

I love your videos and I’m so keen to get more compost happening. I’m curious about your view on the potential issue of PFAS in paper and cardboard?

[@ceedee2570]

great presentation, inspiring. Edible Acres is in my area, informative videos, too.

[@AmzBackyardOrchardandVineyard]

Greetings from Arizona. Thanks for the tips and tricks. We use similar techniques in our backyard Orchard and Vineyard. This time of year we have accumulated many cubic meters. We are waiting for our summer heat to end. As soon as it does we will be laying down our fall homemade compost and mulch. Cheers 🥂

[@growingcrazy4481]

I’ve been wanting to set up a chicken composting system for a couple of months now but haven’t had the time, so this is great news. I’ll keep watching as always and look forward to see what you come up with

[@sheharbano7381]

As usual very informative and beautifull video. I alwas admire your aesthetic sense, as much as your brilliant garning skills and precise frofassionalism. I simply can't stop watching your videos. Thanks alot for sharing your lovely garden with us

[@fayprivate7975]

Thank you, Yuw. This is a priceless video.

[@HuwRichards]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mikeross4]

My allotment site gets frequent deliveries of wood chips from local tree surgeons. In early Spring this year I filled four of my Dalek style compost bins with wood chips and when I looked at them last week they have decomposed nicely and will be ready for use in the Autumn. If you can mix grass mowings with them it also hastens the decomposition process.

[@zoestanisstreet8058]

great video, you have given me enthusiasm you gather the abundance of free materials we have on the farm. I may need to go on a pallet forage first. thank you

[@micaela6915]

This is my goal also! I’m getting there little by little. I’m getting another compost bin from my county. I plan On using it for collecting leaves in the fall

[@gardenofglory8275]

Love the video I'm trying at some chicken compost hope it breakdown so I don't have to keep buying

[@moirawhite8042]

Very interesting, lots of ideas 🙂. You didn’t mention spent hops, not sure if they can go straight on top of soil or need to be composted first?

[@squange20]

Excellent video Huw. You are right when you say we have to work with what we have to save on shop compost. I will try growing cover crops. We have already got some comfrey growing, and am also going to plant yacon tubers. Yacon grows quite tall with huge leaves which I believe are also edible, but great for composting. The tubers are like sweet potatoes but without the starch. They are crisp and sweet and are excellent roasted, eaten raw and in salads. The best part is that the rhizomes can be planted again to form new plants. I guess that the plants will have to be protected with frost cloth in the winter in the UK.

[@lynnlovessoil]

Those orange colored beets are gorgeous 😍

[@anniehosking2408]

Using just fruit and veg scraps, coffee grounds and tea leaves, cardboard egg boxes and tubes plus total neglect for a couple of years made amazing compost. That was in a smallish plastic bin. I'm currently filling a second larger plastic bin and including more green matter from the garden and layers of torn cardboard.

[@amiladybug9526]

Great video I have plastic bin compost but am also doing path compost which has been going well . I suppose clover will be a good source for compost as I have quite a lot of this growing. I even collected leaves from when I am out walking but have been carefully doing this.

[@prettyboy54321]

I love that you have Jesse's book. I am buying a copy for myself for Hanukkah. His videos are amazing.

[@axiomcurbcommunity]

Never mentioned hedges my green bin produces some of the best black sludge you can get !

[@aquarianfirehorse667]

I didnt realized that I subscribed here, but never get any notification, thr bell is even pressed.

[@gaylegutierrez3864]

I love watching you. You are adding so much "green" to bulk your compost. What do you add to keep up with all the "brown" you need?

[@farmyourbackyard2023]

Animal manures are also an excellent source for compost, as long as you know the source doesn't contain aminopyralids. This video style suits you. I enjoyed it and learned a few things.

[@terachuu4077]

My garden is very small, using many various pot on cemented block and about 12 m² raised garden in tropical country. I have 250 ltr plastic composter and 3 pieces 25 ltr one, compost in situ. It's overkill really😁. People always commenting why I accumulate dry leaves and not burn it 😅. In tropic, we need much more compost cause we never stop planting😊. Glad to see your video since early days. Even on different climate, still enjoying it. Good job👍🏻

[@lindasands1433]

I've never heard of 'overkill' on compost before! Good work! 👍

[@terachuu4077]

@@lindasands1433 it looks overkill as my only available plot land is on front yard. Every body can see that big composter and seeing leaf/ wood mulch as messy/ disorganized garden😅. Gardening in city is complicated.

[@jamesfoster4469]

Great video! It’s always a goal of ours to get enough compost to mulch. Although the part about harvesting bracken worries me. Bracken is an important part of whichever ecosystem is in and if everybody in one area did this, it could be very damaging.

[@exeterbeekeeper]

The last two years I collected leafs from woodland beekeeping allotment. I can get almost 1.5 cubic meters of sived leaf mould for my rased beds

[@ninemoonplanet]

I am right in the city centre, and have neighbours who are extremely squeamish about insects, worms and any smells of rotting foods, so I chose to do vermiculture, worm compost. I also had to keep my bins indoors, fortunately as long as I don't allow the food scraps to become anaerobic and smelly, I can get a lot of compost. I have made both the extract (rain water poured through a small amount of the compost (worm castings) or tea using a 20 litre bucket, aerator and rain water plus some food for the microbes. Outdoor compost is severely limited to only tree leaves, grass clippings, and twigs or there are calls about the smell of "dying animals". Large open compost bins won't work, so the one I have is sold by the city, upright, plastic and stuck away in a corner.

[@pennythompson4790]

Very interesting i'm trying to make as much of my own compost as possiblex

[@HuwRichards]

Great best of luck with it :)

[@pennythompson4790]

@@HuwRichards Thank you Huwxx

[@christinamoxon]

Brilliant. This has been extremely helpful Huw. It's given me a few great ideas for our small garden composting. Thank you! And now, I have motivation to get caught up on the (embarrassing) pile of paperwork needing shredding.

[@anna9530]

Thank you so very much for all of your lovely content and education! One thing I have yet to find, from any sources, is advisement on how the heck to store all the tools, resources, materials, etc needed to build and maintain such a great garden and compost. Would you be willing to share the not-so-glamorous side of the logistics of garden storage, organization, and what to expect to need for space? Thank you!

[@Picci25021973]

I annually need at least 1.5 cubic metres of finished compost, so I fill five ICB tank cages with organic material (5 cubic metres more or less) across the year. I obtain the material collecting fallen leaves, hay, straw, manure from my neighbours (free of charge, of course, as they are happy to get rid of them). Hard work, but fun!

[@HuwRichards]

Brilliant! Great system and well worth the work! :)

[@christineruddy9215]

Also which model of wood chipper are you using please?

[@Supwiyaman]

Wow,have you had a new camera? Or lens? Really nice video

[@lbf5984]

I'm trying to use cilantro as a cover crop, only because I had SOOOOO much coriander from my last crop, then I'll do some chop and drop action.

[@gerry3275]

Would you compost bramble. I have bought a number of acres. Lots of areas over run with brambles. I have used a brush cutter and piled the stems. Do I add them to my newly made compost bays? have a bay just for the old stems? Burn them?. Don't have a municiple green collection. Obviously know it won't compost fast, wondered if I could layer with grass cutting from the meadows? new to this, don't want to waste resources.

[@jesseibarra5539]

I make my no seed soil compost by using any cacti time aloe vera plant mixed with comfrey and a little bit of leaves mulched up it works perfectly

[@philomenabrabazonobroin5236]

What’s that beautiful purple plant in the background? At the very beginning of the video.

[@trolleyjnr]

Chipping in summer will give you a natural green vs brown mix. Seaweed (if you're near the coast) also a great compost additive/material if terrestrial plant material is scarce.

[@the_green_anna]

I really wanted to watch the video you mentioned about different sorts of compost, but I can't find the link... Is it just me or did you miss it? 😄💚

[@eve66able]

Have you considered adding biochar?

[@de_woldtuin]

for my 500 m2 of bed space i'll need to make about 15 cubic meters annually, quite a challenge :0 Luckily I've got 3 x 3.5 m3 compost bins, and i'm bringing in lots of fresh horse manure, plus we've got 50 cubic metres of half-decayed reed from the farm's old roof to recycle...

[@georgiaatkinson5273]

Hi Huw. Can I just check, is it ok to take seaweed from beaches? I have been thinking of doing this too but I am not sure if it is strictly ok to take seaweed from a beach or not.

[@aquarianfirehorse667]

What is the difference bet having putting directly the plant directly to the bed soil, and with that cage.

[@BattlingApathy]

Great video Huw! Have you found a good shredder for leaves? The lawnmower isn't efficient for several cubic meters of material. I have a Forest Master mulcher (the electric one), and it makes short work of garden trimmings, but it only shreds small amounts of leaves - slowly.

[@cherylhowker1792]

I’m using my strimmer and a bucket or pot that it fits in. And strumming them down to about 3mm in size. Hope that helps.

[@Rena0Dawn]

Hi there! I have an important question. At the start of the season we bought bulk compost and stored it in lidded trash cans. Then forgot about it. Well now we want to use it in a new rose garden bed and it smells vile because there was no air holes 🙈 is this now not safe to use? Will it damage my new roses?

[@carlwadley1175]

Hi Huw, I live in Orkney and our island has no trees due to the wind here, so we don’t have access to leaves to use as brown material. Will this effect the quality of compost we can create, or are we ok to just replace them with other brown materials?

[@Concojone5]

Also, if you think about it, it would be logical to try and recycle the veg we eat back into compost, e.g. by using a composting toilet. I believe this is sometimes done and can be done safely. Without it, the garden essentially has a big compost "leak" that needs to be plugged somehow, and as your video implies it's a challenge.