My dad was a keen gardener too, his compost was terrible though. They had two big lawns so the heap was mainly grass clippings, tons and tons of the stuff, no lid. The only other ingredients were kitchen waste (green) and old plants (green). I think it was a combination of not having the time, inclination, knowhow and just having somewhere to dispose of all this waste in the hope it would make something useable one day.
To get it out you had to slice it like they used to cut peat from the bog and lift out a thick consolidated block of dark green/brown slimy solid stuff. The latter is the only thing I can think of to even remotely compare it with, that aside it was like nothing on earth.
I think my dad had to learn as a matter of necessity. He kept fowls, note not chickens, chickens were baby fowls where I came from and we didn't do posh, consequently with upwards of 500 of them he had a lot of muck to deal with. He grew a lot of veg, all sorts of things and sold them as a side line to his occupation. He also used to show his veg and the flowers he grew, mainly dahlias and chrysanths. The flowers he gave away.
All in all his compost heaps were huge things, well it seemed so to me at any rate, and they were part of his growing regime.
You might have to experiment with the carpet. My thoughts are if it's lobbed on 'as is' it'll sag and let all the rain in. Maybe a piece of wood or something in the centre will cause it to act like a pitched roof, but I really don't know.
I forgot to mention, I also bought the purpose-made lids. My plan is to use just carpet (cut exactly to fit) during the warmer months and allow the rain to percolate through but use the lids in winter when the heaps stay damp anyway.
Carpet now cut to fit both sides, two layers on each. This shows one of the 'lids' I mentioned, but I'll not be putting them on yet. Great to know that I'll be giving the little critters as much chance as possible to do their stuff over the winter. One bay already full.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
They look very smart, your neighbours are probably nodding and thinking 'Pro gardener' I have compost envy I like the way the centre partition lifts out so you can shovel the contents across, that's very useful. Looking forward to reading about your results.
Not even a week yet and the results look promising
The old heap has cooled off now. This millipede is probably grateful.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
I have to admit I've been too busy with other things and I'd let mine go a bit, it had slumped a lot, got wet and cold. I turned it yesterday though and put a whole wheely bins worth of paper and cardboard in with some other bits and pieces I had. Hopefully it'll heat up again and I must get it covered over too tomorrow.
You have to have dry and crumbly compost to be able to sieve it. Mine isn't, so when I put it in my home made rotary trommel it just rolled it into compost marbles!
Yes that is a problem. I use an old ironing board removed from the legs so the I'm left with the top, an oblong metal sieve. I put it over a wheel barrow and chuck compost on and push it through with my hands.
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I think it was a combination of not having the time, inclination, knowhow and just having somewhere to dispose of all this waste in the hope it would make something useable one day.
To get it out you had to slice it like they used to cut peat from the bog and lift out a thick consolidated block of dark green/brown slimy solid stuff. The latter is the only thing I can think of to even remotely compare it with, that aside it was like nothing on earth.
All in all his compost heaps were huge things, well it seemed so to me at any rate, and they were part of his growing regime.
Carpet now cut to fit both sides, two layers on each. This shows one of the 'lids' I mentioned, but I'll not be putting them on yet. Great to know that I'll be giving the little critters as much chance as possible to do their stuff over the winter. One bay already full.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
I also picked up some good 'uns and made a Dorset Apple Cake this afternoon!
Not even a week yet and the results look promising
The old heap has cooled off now. This millipede is probably grateful.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwmoHlE_OGk
I have to admit I've been too busy with other things and I'd let mine go a bit, it had slumped a lot, got wet and cold.
I turned it yesterday though and put a whole wheely bins worth of paper and cardboard in with some other bits and pieces I had. Hopefully it'll heat up again and I must get it covered over too tomorrow.