Posted: 18/09/2012 at 07:49
Hi all,
im quite new to gardening and still learning so please forgive my ignorance.
My question is this....what does everybody do with the previous years compost ? I know that many put it on borders and raised beds but surely if you have a small garden, you can only do this so many times before soil levels reach there limits ? Is it ever possible to reuse it?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or answers.
Interesting point-take this as an example-if you added just an inch mulch to the beds each year in 12 years in theory you beds would be a foot higher-they are not and some add a good 2/3 inches-and there beds are not 2/3 foot higher
Or-if you consider that a farmer does muck spreading ever year and that bit of land may have been farmed for over 300 years we would all be living on our roofs by now.
Basically any compost or organic matter just gets worked into the soil and over time disappears much quicker than you can imagine so off you go again-so adding some spent compost to beds is not going to raise the level by any measurable amount
As regards re-using- some do just by adding fertilizer-I find that it is full off roots and not worth the hassle so spread that around or add to the compost bin and start afresh - the choice is yours
