Dear Vigilant Watchman:

I was looking for dung substitutes and came across a couple of interesting
items.  The first one makes me think of your idea of burying compost--


#1  Soil Conditioning Secrets for Gardening With Compost

To fertilize the soil for growing the best vegetables in the neighborhood,
some gardeners reach for commercial fertilizers.

Other seasoned gardeners [use] Sir Albert Howard's classic Indore
method of a layer of dry material, then a layer of succulent materials,
capped by a layer of soil, with the sequence repeated to a depth of three
to four feet.

****

#2  Coffee a Good Substitute for Manure in the Garden
Jul 17, 2008
Coffee grounds can be an excellent addition to a compost pile. The grounds
are relatively rich in nitrogen, providing bacteria the energy they need
to turn organic matter into compost.
About two percent nitrogen by volume, used coffee grounds can be a safe
substitute for nitrogen-rich manure in the compost pile, explained Cindy
Wise, coordinator of the compost specialist program at the Lane County
office of the Oregon State University Extension Service.
"A lot of people don't want to use manure because of concerns about
pathogens," she said.
Contrary to popular belief, coffee grounds are not acidic. After brewing,
the grounds are close to pH neutral, between 6.5 and 6.8. The acid in the
beans is mostly water-soluble, so it leaches out into the brewed coffee.
Since 2001, Wise has trained and coordinated OSU compost specialist
volunteers who have collected and composted nearly 200 tons of coffee
grounds from 13 coffee shops and kiosks in Eugene, Springfield, Florence,
Cottage Grove, and Veneta. That's the equivalent of about 25 large dump
trucks full of coffee grounds.


Lane County alone is estimated to generate 1 million pounds of used coffee
grounds per year, Wise said.
"Recycling this valuable soil amendment and compost ingredient makes sense
both economically and environmentally," she said.
Wise is encouraging gardeners and those that compost in other communities
to arrange to collect coffee shop grounds for composting. But be sure to
make prior arrangements with a coffee shop to collect grounds. Then, take
a clean five-gallon bucket with a lid, label it with your name and
telephone number on the bucket and lid and leave it at the shop and then
pick it up at the shop's convenience.
Here are some suggestions for using composted grounds in the yard and
garden from the OSU Extension compost specialists:
• Mix grounds into soil as an amendment. Make sure to keep them damp. Add
some nitrogen fertilizer if you do this, as coffee grounds encourage the
growth of microbes in the soil, which use up nitrogen. While microbes are
breaking down the grounds, the nitrogen will provide a source of nutrients
for your plants.
• Spread grounds on the soil surface, then cover them with leaves or bark
mulch.
• Add grounds to your compost pile, layering one part leaves to one part
fresh grass clippings to one part coffee grounds, by volume. Turn once a
week. This will be ready in three to six months.
• Or, put them in an existing unturned pile. Just make sure to add a high
carbon source, such as leaves to balance it.
• Grounds may be stored for future use. They may develop molds but these
appear to be consumed during the composting process. Or a large plastic
bag works for storage as well.
• Paper coffee filters may be composted with the grounds.
Keep in mind that uncomposted coffee grounds are NOT a nitrogen
fertilizer. Coffee grounds have a carbon-to-nitrogen ration of about 20:1,
in the same range as animal manure. Germination tests in Eugene showed
that uncomposted coffee grounds, added to soil as about one-fourth the
volume, showed poor germination and stunted growth in lettuce seed.
Therefore, they need to be composted before using near plants.
Wise and her composting protégés have been conducting informal research on
composting coffee grounds. So far, they have observed that coffee grounds
help to sustain high temperatures in compost piles. High temperatures
reduce potentially dangerous pathogens and kill seeds from weeds and
vegetables that were added to the piles. They have noticed that coffee
grounds seem to improve soil structure, plus attract earthworms.
When coffee grounds made up 25 percent of the volume of their compost
piles, temperatures in the piles stayed between 135 degrees and 155
degrees for at least two weeks, enough time to have killed a "significant
portion" of the pathogens and seeds. In contrast, the manure in the trials
didn't sustain the heat as long..
"We were amazed at the results we got with coffee grounds when we did the
trial," Wise said.
Jack Hannigan, an extension-trained compost specialist, is pleased with
the results he gets from the coffee grounds he collects from the Fast Lane
Coffee Company in Springfield to use on his farm in Pleasant Hill.
"I make hotbeds that run about 150 degrees," Hannigan said. "It kills the
weeds. I can get the piles hotter and break down the compost better with
coffee grounds than I can with manure. It works great."
Coffee grounds also can be added directly to soil but the grounds need a
few months to break down, Wise said. "We're not certain about how coffee
grounds act with the soil, but anecdotally people say they do dig it into
the soil," she said.
An additional benefit of diverting coffee grounds from the landfill is
that it helps cut greenhouse gas emissions, said Dan Hurley, waste
management engineer for Lane County's Short Mountain Landfill.
"To keep organics out of the landfill is a good thing for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions because organics decompose and produce methane.
Methane is about 25 times as bad as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas,"
Hurley said. Recycling coffee shop grounds also fosters interactions
between community residents and local businesses. The coffee grounds stay
in their communities, meaning that fuel isn't being used to truck them
from far-flung areas of the county to landfills.



Mephibosheth