No I haven't got anything to check temps Mike, can you suggest one please? After reading this thread I've realised where I've gone wrong, especially with the beech leaf one, is that it's was too dry. To get a happy medium, literally, I'll make sure it stays moist.
My questions now that you know what I'm talking about. Both bins are lined with Kingspan except the small one's side against the wall and they have Kingspan lids. See below. The larger of the 2 bins has the remnants of the riddlings in the bottom and I plan on putting chopped up beech leaves in when they fall and chopped up veg bed tidyings and herbaceous tidings and then leaving it to do it's work. The smaller bed I plan on using for paper, cardboard, fruit and veg peelings, weeds etc. from the kitchen. Am I doing things correctly and if not how should I go about it please?
The thing about my temperature probe is that not only did I make it from stuff I had, but it can go back to being used for other things in the future too. Nothing wrong with having the proper thing of course.
I think you're off to a great start there. Hopefully you got some water in there when building it up? All you can do now is regulate the water content with your lids and the weather, monitor the temps and see what happens. If you're waiting for a temperature probe then a temporary guide can be fashioned. If you have a length of metal something or other (a spike, piece of tube, etc) then push it into the middle. In a few days draw it out and feel how warm it gets, it'll give you an idea of what is happening without getting the fork out and digging around. Hopefully you'll get up to 65c or so for a few days. Then slowly it will drop as the heap slumps and runs out of oxygen. When it gets to about 20ish then it's time to turn it. Everything around the outside and top needs to end up in the centre. Add water if needed and then it'll start off again. Repeat until you have compost! Hopefully this will be by Spring so you can use it.
When it's ready it'll resemble and smell like soil.
I have made compost for at least 30 years. I don’t do it properly, have never turned a heap, never measured the temperature, but somehow I seem to get useable compost, roughly 6 cubic metres a year. Leaf mould I make separately.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Thanks both, I appreciate your comments and advice. I'm a sad person really when I get quite excited about a new hobby. It's goes without saying that I'll post my results and no doubt I'll be back with more questions.
At the end of the day, organic stuff wants to rot down if it possibly can. Think about the conditions that archeologists love because organic things like wood are preserved - very dry, frozen, completely soaking wet etc. If you avoid those situations your compost material will rot down eventually. Having a good mix of green and brown, turning regularly etc will speed it up but it'll rot on its own sooner or later unless the conditions prevent it.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Thanks JennyJ. I think where I've gone wrong in the past is excluding water for fear of a soggy mess. I wish I had a pound for every time I've said we live and learn but isn't it great when we learn something new?
Posts
After reading this thread I've realised where I've gone wrong, especially with the beech leaf one, is that it's was too dry. To get a happy medium, literally, I'll make sure it stays moist.
I cobbled together my own type using stuff I already had here on P3: The make your own compost thread - Page 3 — BBC Gardeners' World Magazine (gardenersworld.com)
They give you a good indication of what is going on. When the temps drop then it's time to turn.
My questions now that you know what I'm talking about.
Both bins are lined with Kingspan except the small one's side against the wall and they have Kingspan lids. See below.
The larger of the 2 bins has the remnants of the riddlings in the bottom and I plan on putting chopped up beech leaves in when they fall and chopped up veg bed tidyings and herbaceous tidings and then leaving it to do it's work.
The smaller bed I plan on using for paper, cardboard, fruit and veg peelings, weeds etc. from the kitchen.
Am I doing things correctly and if not how should I go about it please?
I think you're off to a great start there. Hopefully you got some water in there when building it up? All you can do now is regulate the water content with your lids and the weather, monitor the temps and see what happens.
If you're waiting for a temperature probe then a temporary guide can be fashioned. If you have a length of metal something or other (a spike, piece of tube, etc) then push it into the middle. In a few days draw it out and feel how warm it gets, it'll give you an idea of what is happening without getting the fork out and digging around.
Hopefully you'll get up to 65c or so for a few days. Then slowly it will drop as the heap slumps and runs out of oxygen. When it gets to about 20ish then it's time to turn it. Everything around the outside and top needs to end up in the centre. Add water if needed and then it'll start off again.
Repeat until you have compost! Hopefully this will be by Spring so you can use it.
When it's ready it'll resemble and smell like soil.
Leaf mould I make separately.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border