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Jobs in your garden
TheHappyGrower
Posts: 181
I`m making my own compost & have been since the last 5 months
i was reading some advice from Geoff hamilton in his gardeners world book
so far within the last 4 to 5 months i have added the straw, leaves, old plants etc are rotting down nicely & soon i`m going to be adding the shreddings from my paper shredder (very small pieces)
i read that it takes at least a year to fully rot down but i`m very pleased with the results 
already.
so fellow gardeners have you any advice for me so that i can add any additional materials etc.
Also what are your current plans in the garden as spring is so nearly upon us all
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Posts
Gentlemen can , erm recycle their beer etc and add it to the compost.
Before very long you should be able to add grass clippings too.
Keep the mix though as too much of any one material isn't good.
You might also want to "turn" it. Dig it all out and give it a good old shake as it goes back in. This increases oxygen levels which are needed to aid decomposition.
veg peeling - cardboard get it really soggy breaks down better and easier to rip up, bigger stuff breaks down a lot faster if you chop it up.
I would avoid to much woody stuff, I put some wood chip in my compost bin to start if off last year. Emptied my compost heap last week, everything broke down reassembly well but for the wood bits and sticks.
Warmth, air, damp but not wet and turn every few weeks is the secret. My home built wooden boxes against a brick wall and where they get some sun will give me usable compost in three months summer six months winter, the brick wall takes in heat and gives it back in cooler periods. The boxes are an inch off the ground with wire mesh to stop rodents. Start with twiggy branches to keep the air gap then build up in thin layers, spray each layer as you go, damp not wet, add either a handful of granular fertiliser now and then or gentlemans water after a good night out, I keep an old milk bottle in the garage topping up as the need takes me. My boxes have lids lift them and give the top a good toss with a fork. It all gets tossed into a wheel barrow shuffled around and tossed back to get plenty of air mixed in, the bacteria need air as much as we do, damp as you go cover and leave to do its magic. Good compost will be dark crumbly and smell sweet, there may be the odd twig it matters not, if you want it for potting sift it.
Frank
Verdun, the rats and even the mice up here much prefer a good Cumberland roll of sausage, they even knock on the door and ask for a jug of onion gravy to go with it, you are safe? Not only pensioners with sticks, I have been rammed with shopping trolley's pushed by young women who never seem to have one free second in thier diaries. Three times since Christmas and that is only the ones that hurt, last time I turned and saw a woman with drawn face a thousand yard look in her eye's a bawling youngster in the trolly and obviously elsewhere, she did not even say sorry just scurried away. Why has life for them got so miserable I ask?
Frank
Verdun, you can use a watering can to collect the recycled beer , then add as needed.
I have never heard tell of a rodent jumping up and biting one of those. My OH deposits it straight into the bin, never been bitten so far