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Are they any good?
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[Deleted User]
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Chrissy I can't say I've ever found any compost fork any use whatsoever. I've come across many but found there's little substitute for a pulling it all out and putting it back in. I can appreciate an injury, my back isn't what it was, but I just grin and bear it then go and dose up on painkillers for a week.
I have both the winged kind and the corkscrew kind. I use them but both are hard work to pull out again, especially the corkscrew kind. I'm not sure it really speeds things up either. Maybe I'm not doing it regularly enough. Winged kind probably easier on your shoulders for some mixing and aerating but again, I find unless I spend a lot of time doing it, which is also hard on shoulders/back, it doesn't do much. Also the wings can get stuck with clumps. Corkscrew is a workout but you do create actual holes (for a moment or so) I have one with a Wooden handle T top. The kind that looks like a wire hanger extended is apparently very long and you have to be tall to use it. I have the kind of bin with concentric panels which screw together. Every 6 months or so I unscrew my bin halfway down so it's easier to get into and use a pitchfork (or gloved hands) to move it onto a tarp or to the empty one next to it. Sore for days after though.
With daleks, I lift the whole thing off like a jelly mould, and then throw it back in to the empty one. That way if it is a bit dry you can wet it as you go. If it is wet and soggy , I mix in some dry stuff.
It does mean that you need a bit of space for the composting area.
I have three huge compost bins and arms like spaghetti.
Every now and then I get up on my ladder and, using an auger, I agitate my compost. I screw the auger down all over and heave it out again as best I can. There is a noticable difference in temperature over the next few days...or till I stop checking.
Once every six months, if I can face it, I turn them over properly. I usually do an Autumn sort out and try to squeeze all my compost into two heaps to leave one free for adding to.
Sometimes my system fails and sometimes there is no system at all
but the auger thing definitely works for aeration. 
If I can be bothered to move my self today, I am going to empty the rotol into the top of the tardis. That frees some space for the contents of a builders bag into the rotol. Last turn also gets some rock dust mixed in, for the worms to work. It won't get used until next spring. The load I used this year seems to be supercharged. The Salvia Amistad are five foot tall from cuttings. The only difference this year is the compost when planting out used had rock dust mixed in it for the final worm working/maturing phase.
I was using rock dust only on the veg patch, mixed with FYM. It gave good results. I think it works best after worms work it with a source of organic matter. I had a bucketfull left over which I mixed in the compost heap when I filled it last Autumn.
The new apple trees will get some with their mulch this year.
All muck and magic.
I originally bought it for digging holes Chrissie. Like I say...arms like spaghetti.
fidget what is this rock dust magic potion? My bins are on a concrete base so they have no worms. Would there be any point in adding the dust or would it be a waste of time?
Last edited: 27 August 2016 11:04:27