planting on compost heap

[nitiram]

Can I plant a squash plant ontop of my compost heap? I have seen other compost heaps around the site with plants on but can it be a 'raw' compost heap or one that has been standing a while?

[nitiram]

[sawfish]

I think you should dig a bucket sized hole on your heap, fill it with some shop bought or rotted compost and manure then plant your plant in that. Thats what I'm intending doing.

[Hyacinth]

I grew a bountiful crop of courgettes in exactly the same way as saw...

Go for it! 8)

[nitiram]

Does it matter how big the heap is as this is a fairly new one so stuff not rotted down much yet

[Grant]

Get lovely courgettes by digging a trench and filling with the manure well rotted or not, cover back over with the soil and plant the courgettes or squashes through the soil.

[sawfish]

Dig a few holes in your heap and put a bucketful of rotted stuff in then plant a few courgettes, squashes.

I'm going to lay newspaper around the plants to cover the rest of the heap. I want to see if it will act as a mulch and stop weeds between my squashes and courgettes. Being paper I'm thinking it will let moisture in yet keep it insulated.

[Tee Gee]

These are on my compost heap;



If you feel the compost is insufficiently rotted gouge out a hole 2-3 time the size of the container your plant/s are in, and fill with any old well rotted compost, then plant your plant/s.

The plant/s will do the rest.

[nitiram]

Wow  :o :o  Is it a very big compost heap?   Mine is just three palletts that I nailed together to make a three sided open compost heap type thingy..Should  I plant one or two plants?

[Tee Gee]

You would probaly get away with planting 3 on the high side and letting them trail down!

[flowerlady]

Interesting 'globe' there Teegee ... what variety ??  :D

[Mouseski]

thanks for posting this question nitiram I was about to ask the same myself.
We have a couple of the bid black darlek compost bins would that be too risky to put a squash in - worried about tumbling?

[carolinej]

WIll there be a problem with the compost level dropping through the season?

cj :)

[Tee Gee]

Will there be a problem with the compost level dropping through the season?

You did say you compost heap was three sided meaning the compost will slope from back to front or downhill if you like.

Pumpkins grow triffid like runners so what is likely to happen is the runners will run downhill, if not you can help them to do this.

The fist pumpkin quite often forms about a 1-2 ft from the planting hole and the next possibly another 1-2ft away from that so it is likely to be at the bottom of the pile.

It is up to you but I would restrict the number of fruits to two per plant.

But don't be too hasty to stop the plant, allow the plant to produce the two fruits before taking restrictive measures.

Sometimes fruit can abort so if you are too quick in removing the tip and any abort you will have lost out.

You might be required to do the sexy bit to get fruit i.e. pollinate the flowers.

This is how it is done; http://tinyurl.com/2fcra6  click on pictures to enlarge, and this some more info on growing them; http://tinyurl.com/27wzrz

Regarding the variety! as I recall these are 'Hundredweight'

ps; when the fruits form you can form a ledge in the compost for the fruit to rest on whilst it grows!

[tim]

Funny lot. I use my compost on the garden!!

[Columbus]

Hi all,

If I have a heap of anything (leaf-mould, compost, turves, muck) with or without pallets I plant squash in it.

I start my squash off in pots so when I`m ready I just turn the root ball out
of the pot and plant that. Close by I bury a pop bottle with the bottom cut
off to water through. On one occasion I added a piece of pipe stuffed with lime
and watered through that when the plant looked a bit yellow.

Last year I had big pumpkins hanging over the edge of pallet bins, pushing themselves into corners of bins and one turned up high in the middle of the
brambles growing nearby.  ;D

I figure I`m just using the space the bins take up, hiding them in a useful way
and the heaps of stuff are really warm in the middle, which helps the squash to grow. Any spare water in the heap, which retains it really well, helps the composting process. I don`t see that theres any loss in trying.

Col

[hazelize_uk]

what do you do when they have finished fruiting then? chop all the foliage up and dig it in to the heap a bit?  ???

[carolinej]

I would have thought that by then, the compost should be ready to use on the plot, and you can use the old plants to start a new heap. But then again, maybe I'm wrong.

cj :)

[nitiram]

This is fascinating stuff. Many thanks once agin for all the helpful suggestions.

[sawfish]

Yes once its grown just dig it in. Next year grow peas and beans on it or something then just dig them in.

A lot of the old men just dig everything in to the soil and dont bother with compost heaps, it just rots down anyway. I seem to remember Bob Flowerdew saying something about that too.

Did anyone see him (Bob) telling you how to grow lemongrass?
He just took one of the stems you get in the supermarket and as long as it had a small piece of flat root attached to the ball at the base he just stuck it in a pot of compost and it grew. I'm doing that this year in June directly on to my compost heap in front of my squash under individual coke bottle cloches.

As far as growing squash out of those 'dalek' composters Mouseski why dont you just surround each of the plastic bins with some sort of cheap trellissing and give them something to hang on to thus making your bins warmer and more attractive as well as functional.

[carolinej]

I saw that program too. I went out and bought some ginger to try that. It's now nice and cosy in a propagator ;D

cj :)