I use ground up baked eggshells to put around various things like lilies and delphiniums. Last year I forgot to do it and I lost the delphiniums altogether.
I put ground up eggshell in compost to improve drainage. You'd literally need tons of the stuff to influence nutrient content or alter the soils chemical composition.
Thanks @Wilderbeast. That's good news. I have to rake it all to the bottom of the bank because the area will be covered in snowdrops in a week or two. They'll come through the thin layer of bark but not the thick. Would it help the rotting down process if I put a tarp over the chips and anchor it down?
Just bumping this up in case compost bods haven't seen it. Advice would be appreciated please.
@Uff wood chips are best left fully exposed to the weather, they will heat up for a short period (huge piles will heat for a very long time) but the breakdown mainly by fungal activity. Lots of water/rain is what it needs
Both of my new heaps have gone cool now (~15°C) but one of them got to 60°C last November so I know my new system has got potential to get pretty hot.
I've just been and dug a load of horse muck from the stables up the road and worked this into both active heaps to add more nutrients. Their muck dump is in the corner of a field so I'll have to refrain from using any of the resulting compost until I've seen it reach 60+°C again and hopefully killed off most of the weed seeds.
Quite satisfying this composting lark but it doesn't half make your back ache.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Despite the outside temperature currently being around 5°C, my active heap (where I'm putting all the veg peelings & any shredded prunings) is currently sitting at 33°C and steaming nicely when I turn it. And that's free heat! It always seems a real shame that we have to use expensive gas to heat the inside of the house to 18.5°C.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
... And that's free heat! It always seems a real shame that we have to use expensive gas to heat the inside of the house to 18.5°C.
I've come across articles/posts on the internet from people who apparently use their compost heaps to heat water. Would be interesting to hear from anyone on this forum who's actually tried doing it.
This is a really interesting thread. As someone who wishes to learn more, it caught my eye today after getting bumped up the listings and just reading the first few posts got me enthused to delve deeper into a fascinating subject. I am going to bookmark and hope to read through the thread as it is so helpful to hear your thoughts and discussion. Maybe one day we will have compost heaps in lieu of boilers in our homes!?
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus
I mentioned it a few pages ago. If you look up a chap called Jean Pain he was the pioneer of making hot composting work in various ways.
One of my heaps went cold, but then has heated back up again. I'm not exactly sure why, probably the prolonged sub zero temps we had did it and if it was bigger and insulated it wouldn't have done that. The proper hot composters are mainly wood mulch in huge piles with straw bales around them so they can breathe, but are also insulated. I turned mine yesterday and am hoping it'll heat back up, if it does I may put some clear polythene over the top and put some seed trays in there, see if it will keep them warm to aid germination. Hotbeds they are called, there are articles, vids and even a book on it.
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I've just been and dug a load of horse muck from the stables up the road and worked this into both active heaps to add more nutrients. Their muck dump is in the corner of a field so I'll have to refrain from using any of the resulting compost until I've seen it reach 60+°C again and hopefully killed off most of the weed seeds.
Quite satisfying this composting lark but it doesn't half make your back ache.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
One of my heaps went cold, but then has heated back up again. I'm not exactly sure why, probably the prolonged sub zero temps we had did it and if it was bigger and insulated it wouldn't have done that. The proper hot composters are mainly wood mulch in huge piles with straw bales around them so they can breathe, but are also insulated.
I turned mine yesterday and am hoping it'll heat back up, if it does I may put some clear polythene over the top and put some seed trays in there, see if it will keep them warm to aid germination.
Hotbeds they are called, there are articles, vids and even a book on it.