Direct composting to improve soil in a problem area

Will you not have a problem with rats ? And, once the vegetables are in the ground if you do have a rat problem it will be difficult to remove all the vegetable scraps if you need to.

In the early spring, before we plant the raised beds, I cut up all the banana skins and citrus peel, crush the eggshells and burry them in the beds. No problem with rats, or anything else digging up.
We follow the no dig method, so before we start the veg plot we put a very thick layer of horticultural manure ( it’s pure, so no weeds) all over.
You should encourage worms they are good for the soil, as leaves and other impurities pass through them.

What is horticultural manure?

I've just Googled it and couldn't find any info.

How big is your garden? Try and site a compost heap as far away from the house as possible.

We use horse manure on our empty raised beds in the autumn/winter - mixed in with home-made compost but we always cover each bed with a layer of terram to prevent weeds from germinating. We still get some but they're much easier to remove.

jeanie sounds strange to me that you have so many different types of soil. Has your land been used for building in the past?
I agree about clay soil which we had in our last proper garden. Difficult to work but very fertile.
Another good source of manure - if you have room for a few chickens, their soiled bedding helps to improve compost.
Another idea - husband got some cow muck from a local farmer, put it in a large dustbin and covered with water. Eventually he used the fluid to water our strawberry beds (in an etangere) and the results were good.

use only well rotted horse manure (at least one year old) and make sure it comes from a yard that has not had aminopyralid sprayed on the grass/hay - otherwise your legumes and other veg will die. Chlorapyralid is the same - its been a real concern.

Another gardener here with heavy clay soil. I've tried a few different methods to improve soil quality:
digging in farm manure; this provided better drainage but the soil became more acidic and so some of the plants in that area suffered and had to be moved. Manure was possibly not rotted enough, in hindsight.
Laying a compost mulch; kept weeds down and increased fertility but actually worsened drainage.
Digging in mushroom compost; this was the best option. Improved overall soil quality, drainage and fertility. And was inexpensive too.

We've used very well rotted horse manure which had turned to soil and yes, we do have a lot of weeds!
Also well rotted compost of vegetable peelings and garden waste which is now soil.
The soil was very poor when we moved in and is limestone with heavy clay, green in places.

This year we seem to be getting some better results, however we also bought bags of manure from the garden centre as we couldn't get our usual source due to the very wet winter followed by lockdown.

We no longer keep chickens and I miss the fantastic results we used to get from their manure.

When I cleaned out the coops I would put the dirty straw in old compost bags because they stand upright when full so easy to stack. I would use them in a 'no dig lasagne' (Charles Dowding) layered with old newspapers and comfrey leaves.

The horse manure we pick up from a friend is also put in old compost bags. We then tip them on a section of our large compost area where it rots until we need to use it.

Jeanie the horticultural manure is from garden centres p, in large bags under different names, often sold as soil improver.

I also spread chicken pellets on the flower beds in the spring.

I have clay soil and use horse manure on it because we have horses... Yes, it's weedy but they're easy to hoe off when they're small. It's improved the soil hugely over the years.

Is 'direct composting' where you dig a trench, put in your waste and then cover it over? Unless it's a small patch I think it would take a lot of kitchen waste to be effective. But you could add shredded paper and thin layers of grass clippings.

If you have trees around you, you could make leaf mould to use as a soil improver, too, If you run the lawn mower over them, then put the shredded leaves in bags and keep them moist they should be rotted enough to use as a mulch in the spring.

Maize, yes you did a trench and add waste, cover and water.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

It seem no one does direct composting but the big pile composting which I have tried over many years without success and I do not want to do that again.

I am interested in the Horticulual compost and will check this out at the local garden centre and may even try the horse manure again even if it has all the weeds coming up. I really do need to get this sorted. The plants in this area don't grow as they should.
An example is this
I bought 4 small fuchsia plants last year, one I planted in the clay soil it as grown well no flowers, the one in the normal soil is OK no flowers but not as good as the clay planting, the one in the problem area as two leaves at ground level, the one in a plant pot as flowers on(this was protected being in the garage during the winter and only brought out in the spring on good days.
I will continue also with the direct composting, can't see it doing any harm and will check it at 1 month to see what is happening.
I did think about starting a wormery.

I remember both my dad and father-in-law used to dig trenches and put in veg peelings until they were ready to plant their runner beans.

I still dig a trench in the autumn and put my veg peelings in layered with a little soil throughout the winter. Never, ever put cooked food/veg scraps in. I always get a really good crop of runner beans... too many sometimes, but that’s a good problem.

If you don't want to compost, I wonder if you might have better success with a small wormery? You can put all kinds of waste in it, veggies, flowers etc but also torn-up paper and cardboard, and the worms produce not only lovely rich compost but also a liquid which you can dilute and use as a liquid feed. Mine is a cube of about 18" and lives in a corner of the garage.

best to hot compost everything, to get rid of problems first. That soil need masses of organic matter, a few veg peelings here and there is not enough. I use 2 x mini hotbins and grow comfrey (bocking 14) to help feed the compost worms in there, also to heat up, I chop my garden trimmings which makes compost faster. They were 110 degrees the other day and are 100 degrees this morning. They were full to the brim 2 days ago and are now down to half full. This really is black gold and better than any animal manure but of course well-rotted animal manure is better than nothing. I also use shredded paper and specific cardboards which I tear up

Our own compost is good for conditioning the soil but since using very matured (years old) horse manure and this year some bags of manure from the garden centre, we have had better results than from just using compost.

I wonder if your house had any previous owners and your soil is better in some areas than others because they did condition the soil?

Just be prepared for rats - they love the warmth of compost. As for citrus peel, I recently ate an orange whilst sitting in the garden, left the peel out there, and then saw a rat gather it up and take it away.
I also had a compost bin on a concrete slab, but the rats found their way in and nested there.

I only put raw veg or fruit peelings into the compost bin. Also I put eggshells into the bottom of the oven to bake, then I crush those and add to the mix. I never put in cooked items or raw egg shells as they encourage vermin, neither do I add weeds. Lawn clippings and occasionally shredded cardboard are added. I empty those compostable caddy liners as they take ages to decompose and they go in the Council green bin!
Crushed baked egg shells are good around delicate plants to discourage slugs.
Last year we had bumble bees nesting in a compost bin which was lovely until a badger broke in and destroyed it

? Aepgirl dear God, I hadn't thought if that. I've only recently started a compost bin going and thought it would be rat proof if I put it on a concrete slab.

Get a compost bin. Fill it with vegetable kitchen waste, soft green garden waste, not perennial roots, and grass cuttings don't forget to water it and in about 6 months you should have some gorgeous compost which can then be used to mulch anywhere that needs it.

Also try sowing green manure late summer and leaving overwinter. Protects the soil from rain and you dig it in in Spring.

www.growveg.co.uk/guides/green-manures-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

I also have a worm farm which deals with most of the kitchen waste. Mine is outside but the bin is sealed so rats can't get in.
It produces worm tea and lovely compost.
When I have used horse manure I put it in a trench deep enough so the weeds can't sprout.
If you can get mushroom compost you can spread it on top thickly 5 to 10 cm and it will suppress weeds.

Test your soil. Get testing kit from garden centres. If the soil is different in each area you will then find which plants grow best in those areas.
Direct composting is great. Lay lots of old newspapers/ shredded paper in the bottom of the trench, it holds water and rots down too, add all the peelings you can and your soil and worms will love it!