HOW I MAKE KWALITY GARDEN COMPOST

At present, I use a boxed type heap, a small front loader is used to turn the compost at intervals. Water is added until the right moisture content is achieved. I don’t aim to make my compost in a hurry, but if I achieve completion in 12 weeks I’m happy. I use gypsum for cation exchange (metabolism).     

Any Lignin (woody) material I use, I try to keep it around thumb nail size, this helps keep the compost mix open. I like to let the micro-life do the work, and then if necessary screen any coarse material and put the coarse material into the next batch of composting (the micro-life eventually breaks the coarse material down). One of the reasons, I like to cure my compost for long duration,I try to encourage a micro-life called Actinomycetes,it helps with the antibiosis reducing pathogen bacteria. 

Special Organic Soils Kwality Garden Compost

According to Laurie; “The greater the variety of organic feedstock that is used in composting the better the compost will be in maintaining the essential micro-biological life and essential elements in the soil it is added to.”

It took Laurie many years of trial and error to find exactly the right combination of materials needed to create the correct c/n ratio in his compost so conditions in the heap would be right, and for the micro-biological life to do the rest. The process isn’t simple, but it isn’t hard either; 3 important things make the compost work. 

1] The C/N ratio (carbon/nitrogen)    2] The right moisture content  3] Air-flow

At present Laurie creates his compost in small batches as this allows him to monitor it carefully and completely control the quality. The compost heap is turned with a front end loader at intervals and goes through a reasonable term of composting.

Although composting can be completed in less than the two months, the longer the better. Laurie takes more time  to produce Kwality Garden Compost, Laurie believes the short period form of composting cannot guarantee the end product will be completely free of disease and be of a high enough quality to be consistently safe and usable.

After considerable trial and error Laurie has elected to cure his compost for a period of no less than 13 weeks. At the end of this time the compost is screened. Screening removes fully composted material and returns coarse material for further composting. The fine material is then bagged ready to sell.

Laurie does not include any form of putrescible waste in his compost mix in order to avoid having to deal with contamination and toxins.

Wooden stakes or steel star droppers are used, at intervals, to let air into the compost heap and keep a close eye on the temperature within the heap. This allows Laurie to ensure the entire heap is subjected to the heat process during the composting period.