I think they may be a bit late Uff and they should be a bit further on now like the other stuff, but it's hardy Winter stuff, i'll report back. Autumn came too quickly as time does. Haha, spacing, measuring and geometry is a bit me, I started my working life as an apprentice joiner, then went onto be a race engine builder and light engineer so have an eye for setting things out. I have to tell myself to put the stringline and tape measure away because it doesn't matter to the plants much. An old Yorkshire building trade saying is 'rack at eye'. It basically means you don't measure or level something, if it looks right to the eye it'll do!
@Uff I don't have a shredder just my mower which does a good job, stuff that's too large to mow now goes on my wildlife house pile which gradually breaks down and provides good shelter through the winter. Most of them stem stuff breaks down but I'm not fussy and it all goes out as mulch, I sieve compost for use in the potting greenhouse.
This evenings temperature of my hottest bin the other 2 are 60° and 45°. We've had loads of rain today and I've left the bins uncovered to get plenty of water into them, the high wood chip content makes them difficult to keep wet enough to heat up for long.
I have been really interested in following this thread since I discovered it in the last few days. I am reasonably new to composting, having shadowed my husband for a few years. Alas, he is jo longer able to garden so I have picked up the reins. I find myself, for some reason, especially interested in compost, leaf mould and manure - so very much at home with this thread!
This past season, I found myself short of space in the vegetable garden so decided to plant a dozen left over potatoes in the one year old section of the compost heap. The potatoes grew really well and the compost, now effectively two years old, is the best ever and ready for spreading this autumn. I am really inspired by compost!
I set too at the weekend clearing 2 of the perennial beds that we are going to remodel, we clear early though too allow all the polyanthus to show up and also so we don't damage bulb growth in spring. Along with a large dumpy bag of material from elsewhere it was all mown up and 3/4 filled a bin. This morning it's up to 60° and steaming away.
I might not have room for all the leaves I normally collect this year I'm nearly full to the rafters now, might be able to make a bit of room with some mulching of veg beds but doubt it'll shift much out of the way
I have just finished this year's heap. I never turn my heap, just layer it up interspersed with grass clippings, so basically cold composting although it does heat up a bit from time to time, but nothing like temperature to kill weed seeds. There's been quite a lot of rain so I have now covered it with plastic sheeting and will leave it like this until early summer when I'll probably plant potatoes in it.
I usually do cover the pile when it's finished, but not sure whether this is necessary?
Yes you definitely need a cover. Use it to regulate the water content, if not it can get too wet (in Winter) or too dry in Summer. Constant rain will wash the nutrients out and into the soil (or even a watercourse) which isn't what you want.
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Autumn came too quickly as time does.
Haha, spacing, measuring and geometry is a bit me, I started my working life as an apprentice joiner, then went onto be a race engine builder and light engineer so have an eye for setting things out. I have to tell myself to put the stringline and tape measure away because it doesn't matter to the plants much.
An old Yorkshire building trade saying is 'rack at eye'. It basically means you don't measure or level something, if it looks right to the eye it'll do!
This evenings temperature of my hottest bin the other 2 are 60° and 45°. We've had loads of rain today and I've left the bins uncovered to get plenty of water into them, the high wood chip content makes them difficult to keep wet enough to heat up for long.
I am reasonably new to composting, having shadowed my husband for a few years. Alas, he is jo longer able to garden so I have picked up the reins. I find myself, for some reason, especially interested in compost, leaf mould and manure - so very much at home with this thread!
This past season, I found myself short of space in the vegetable garden so decided to plant a dozen left over potatoes in the one year old section of the compost heap. The potatoes grew really well and the compost, now effectively two years old, is the best ever and ready for spreading this autumn.
I am really inspired by compost!
I set too at the weekend clearing 2 of the perennial beds that we are going to remodel, we clear early though too allow all the polyanthus to show up and also so we don't damage bulb growth in spring. Along with a large dumpy bag of material from elsewhere it was all mown up and 3/4 filled a bin. This morning it's up to 60° and steaming away.
I might not have room for all the leaves I normally collect this year I'm nearly full to the rafters now, might be able to make a bit of room with some mulching of veg beds but doubt it'll shift much out of the way
I usually do cover the pile when it's finished, but not sure whether this is necessary?
Constant rain will wash the nutrients out and into the soil (or even a watercourse) which isn't what you want.