At my previous house I had 3 bins of about 1m made of pallets. I ended up with some good compost, perhaps a bit twiggy. Everything went in but ground elder, that got fried in the sun. At my next house I wanted to do the same, but I’ll have them enclosed as suggested to keep the heat in. One thing already mentioned is the difficulty turning. Does anyone use anything mechanical at all? I’m thinking of a teeny tractor to pick it up and tip it, or move it. It’s for future reference really, I’m capable of turning now, but maybe not for that long.
At my previous house I had 3 bins of about 1m made of pallets. I ended up with some good compost, perhaps a bit twiggy. Everything went in but ground elder, that got fried in the sun. At my next house I wanted to do the same, but I’ll have them enclosed as suggested to keep the heat in. One thing already mentioned is the difficulty turning. Does anyone use anything mechanical at all? I’m thinking of a teeny tractor to pick it up and tip it, or move it. It’s for future reference really, I’m capable of turning now, but maybe not for that long.
@Fire nice little read. The main issue I have is all the experts say to avoid it being too wet but with my hot heaps I have to water regularly and sometimes very heavily, it makes a huge difference and usually brings the temps right up again without turning or adding more material.
I'm currently scratching my head for more space, the meadow was mown and heavily scarified this week and all that material goes in and I scarified the lawn this year too adding loads of gear. Currently have every bin full of gear with the autumn rush nearly upon me oh the dilemma I have to deal with 😂😂
With all this compost making do you ever get time for gardening? Only joking this thread is fun to read but it all seems very complicated, browns and greens and heat and water and type of bin! There seem to be many different opinions and frankly it’s beyond me but I do enjoy reading about it.
I expect the next month or so will be busy for all of you recycling all the tatty old annuals etc. Enjoy!
@Wilderbeast scale makes a huge difference to the cooking. If you create compost by layering, that is different again. Composting seems to have suffered badly from experts laying down the law about what must and must not be done. It scared people and a lot of the 'law' is nonsense with no backing from evidence..
I too have full storage bins at the moment. It's a puzzler.
With all this compost making do you ever get time for gardening? Only joking this thread is fun to read but it all seems very complicated, browns and greens and heat and water and type of bin! There seem to be many different opinions and frankly it’s beyond me but I do enjoy reading about it.
I expect the next month or so will be busy for all of you recycling all the tatty old annuals etc. Enjoy!
It's all part of being a good gardener and doing your bit for the environment. Mine has got a bit industrial since I moved though! The reason is we have very poor soil here which is going to need a lot of improvement so I make it by the ton. The ingredients are free so it's quite satisfying to make something so useful out of nothing.
started clearing the beds today, early I know but they look terrible after the heatwave and we have lots of stuff to move. Lots of crocosmia and daylillies mixed it in with some of the meadow grass To make room for the new stuff I had to empty a bin so it filled a 500lt bag and the rest was piled high in the holding bin
After a few years of not making my own compost, I decided last Autumn to make a leaf mould bin (plenty of large trees where I live so always loads of leaves on the footpaths each autumn).
Simply made out of pallets, painted to match the fence, and a pallet on top to act as a general work surface. I screwed a bard across the bottom of the front to give some rigidity, placed a few inches off the ground level in case hedgehogs want to go in. Chicken wire on the front to stop the leaves blowing away.
By this summer the leaves had sunk to half what they were, but still not ready to use. Had they been dry when I collected them I would have gone over them with the lawn mower first.
Recently I piled up the leaves to one side to create space for compost on the other side, which I've only just started to add to..
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I'm currently scratching my head for more space, the meadow was mown and heavily scarified this week and all that material goes in and I scarified the lawn this year too adding loads of gear. Currently have every bin full of gear with the autumn rush nearly upon me oh the dilemma I have to deal with 😂😂
Mine has got a bit industrial since I moved though! The reason is we have very poor soil here which is going to need a lot of improvement so I make it by the ton. The ingredients are free so it's quite satisfying to make something so useful out of nothing.
To make room for the new stuff I had to empty a bin so it filled a 500lt bag and the rest was piled high in the holding bin
Simply made out of pallets, painted to match the fence, and a pallet on top to act as a general work surface. I screwed a bard across the bottom of the front to give some rigidity, placed a few inches off the ground level in case hedgehogs want to go in. Chicken wire on the front to stop the leaves blowing away.
By this summer the leaves had sunk to half what they were, but still not ready to use. Had they been dry when I collected them I would have gone over them with the lawn mower first.
Recently I piled up the leaves to one side to create space for compost on the other side, which I've only just started to add to..