Compost Bin That is Johnson Grass Resistant

O.A. Farm Makes New Johnson Grass Resistant Compost Bin

If you have ever used uncured horse manure for your garden you have run the risk of infesting your land with Johnson Grass. Johnson grass is a tall cornstalk-like perennial grass that sends out amazingly persistent and fast growing root rhizomes. The seeds of the grass survive the horses digestive tract and hide in their rich manure, ready to sprout wherever you use it. These fleshy vine-like roots travel like bamboo rhizomes, eventually taking over everywhere. At O.A. we try to recycle, and so we compost our waste food. Unfortunately the farm has had an infestation with such grass and the old compost spot has been a very happy growing ground for the plant, rendering the compost useless except for spreading more of the competitive grass where it is used. Our cafeteria compost is very useful for making nutritious soil for beds, so we set out to build a Johnson grass resistant compost bin. The first step was to dig a foundation trench about a foot deep for a concrete footer. This is to stop the roots traveling under the compost bin wall and popping up in the compost itself.

Above: Johnson Grass Root Rhizomes that send powerful shoots upwards.

We used mostly recycled blocks to build the walls.

First we added a layer of straw....then a layer of rotting fruit....then more straw...then another layer of vegetable food waste. The process continues making layers up to 3 to 5 feet in depth.