- Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.
Today is more of a concept video
but I wanted to share it with you as you
so you can start applying it straight away.
And it's how we can turn our garden paths
into compost makers as well.
(upbeat music)
The concept for this video is actually heavily inspired
by Liz Zorab and her approach to wood chip.
So let's hear from her, how she uses that
and then we're going to build upon that idea
to actually create compost from our pathways.
- Back in 2015, 2016 when we moved to our previous home,
I wanted something really attractive on our pathways
but I also needed something very cheap
and I managed to get hold of a whole load
of wood chippings from a tree surgeon.
So I put them down on the pathway.
And within about six months,
I noticed that there are areas
that I had most heavy traffic where I walked the most,
it was starting to break down
and crumble into a deep, dark rather nice consistency.
And so with the action of the wind
and the rain and me walking on it
and also the ducks walking on it and pooping on it,
the wood chips very quickly started to look like compost.
And so once it got to a stage
where it started really looking like compost,
I would just scoop it up
and put it straight into the raised beds
and then replace that section with fresh wood chips.
- If for some reason you haven't come across Liz before,
definitely go say hello and check out her fantastic channel.
So in this garden, a lot of the wood chip
and the base layer is starting to break down
and this is kind of lovely rich compost
that we can start applying onto the beds.
But let's take this idea of using wood chip
but actually combine that with a hybrid of a compost bin,
so we can actually scale up the compost and fertility
that we can make on the paths surrounding our beds.
I've split this video up into very detailed chapters.
So you can make sure that you can cover
and go back to any particular things
because I just wanna give you a load of ideas
that you can cherry pick what you like
and apply in your own garden.
So this path in front of me
is what I'm actually going to use as the example
of turning it into a place to make compost
but still a path that I can use
to access the beds either side.
What I wanna say quickly,
is like you have four sides of a compost bin,
the sides for these compost pathways can be the beds.
So if you have wooden beds
you might want to line the outside with something
like old compost bags that have been cut into strips
just to help a bit with longevity.
I'm gonna be doing it using the recycled plastic bed.
So I'm not worried about that.
So in our other garden
we've got landscape fabric covering the ground
and then wood chip.
However, for this, I actually think
if you've got grass paths, this is ideal
because you're gonna put down a layer of cardboards
and that's just to stop the grass growing through.
However, it still allows contact for earthworms
and other microbes to actually come
and up from beneath and help with the compost process.
Now, if you've got say, just hard ground or something
you can absolutely still use this method.
I just think it's beneficial
to have that touching the ground,
just like a compost bin that's over the top of grass
or a lawn is going to get a lot more microbes much faster
helping to break down versus on a concrete pad.
That being said, if you do have hard ground,
one of the ways that you can add microbes
to either your beds or your composting systems,
is to make different biological amendments
such as Jadam microbial solution or lactic acid bacteria.
I've put down the first layer
and I just wanna talk a bit about working out
how much compost you theoretically could make from this.
So these two beds are three meters long
and the distance is around 55 centimeters wide.
And I'm gonna be filling this up to a depth
roughly a working depth of around 15 centimeters
after compaction of walking across it.
And if I did this on both sides of the bed,
it would give me the equivalent
of half a cubic meter of compost.
So that is actually quite a lot of compost
that we could then put onto the bed.
If we did four of these paths,
it would be same as a cubic meter compost bin.
So hopefully that can show you
how much you can actually make
from fairly narrow path spaces
and a cubic meter of compost for a small garden
goes a really, really long way.
So just to put this into context
with how beneficial this theoretically could be,
if this single pathway here between these two beds
was turned and it's made to about 15 centimeters depth
after compaction and then it broke down
that's quarter of a cubic meter
to mulch a three by 1.2 meter bed
like the one next to me with three centimeters
which is on the higher side of compost
you already need a 10th of a cubic meter.
So theoretically one pathway
could mulch both beds either side,
or you could actually create a shallower path
and just mulch one of the beds.
So each path translates
to mulching one of the beds with compost.
So again, very theoretical but I think this will work.
This is a potential way to actually
do away with compost bins,
which take up a lot of space for small space gardens.
So the first thing I'm gonna do,
is I've got some wood chip here,
and this is going to act as kind of the base layer
just like a normal path.
Well, what this wood chip is also gonna do
is connect with the ground and help contribute
in terms of carbon and also the fungi
to help with the breakdown.
So I'm just gonna add a light layer of this
on top of the cardboard.
(gentle music)
So this wood chip has actually come from the clearing
of trees that came down during the winter storms.
It's great because they actually add a bit
of their pocket at the base
because now this is where the fun begins.
Where we actually start treating this like a compost bin.
So the first way to start filling up these composting paths
is actually with the weeds that you get from the beds.
Just chuck it on top.
So just like a compost bin,
you start bringing your materials to this path.
And so I've been putting down cardboard, grass,
clippings, weeds, et cetera.
And also one of the core parts
of the compost is actually water.
So if it's really dry like this and you're setting one up,
it's a good idea to give it a good soaking.
(gentle music)
(water pouring)
I also thought I'd use some inspiration
from the Korean Natural Farming
by using some of this leaf mold soil here
to actually inoculate the compost pathways with biology.
If you don't have access to this,
a well broken down home with compost will also do the trick.
One of the ways to actually speed up the composting
for the system is actually by walking over the material.
The reason why is that your weight
is going to help break up the organic matter
on the organic material,
and then further help with the breakdown.
So whenever possible, walk over this
whenever you visit the garden, add small material
and it's almost like a lasagna that you keep building up,
but you try and walk over it as much as possible.
My plan for this compost pathway is to keep
on adding stuff to it for the next three weeks
and then turn it every two weeks
obviously continuing to add material
but the turning does two things.
The first thing is add oxygen which is vital
for so many of the microbes that help with the breakdown.
But also just for me to see how it's progressing
because it might come to a certain stage
where it's almost fully broken down
but it's near the end of the season
and then I'll be more than happy to mulch my beds with that
as it'll be fully sorted by springtime.
I want you to actually go out
and designate a bit of pathway to turn
into a compost pathway and just have fun.
Test out different things, see how it goes,
treat it the same way as you would.
As a compost bin, it's just the actual size is different.
And let me know how it goes.
If you're struggling to find material
to both fill up your compost bins
but also your compost pathways,
this video right here will give you
eight free examples of materials
that you can add to help bulk it out.