New Allotment! Compost Heap and Tidying Advice Appreciated

[Jimny14]

Just a quick thought newt, maybe build your new heap area before dismantling the rubbish pile, so what material is compostable can go straight in rather than having to move it twice. Depends where you want your new heap I guess

[bikermike]

I'd second the point about a starting a new one before attacking the old.
It's a good time of year to be generating some new biomass to put in (leaves, prunings etc, and there's always uncooked veg peelings and egg shells etc - teabags have plastic in them - your choice to use or not).
If there's heavy clay, could you use that to build up a raised bit to put your new heap on? Over time it will break up.

Are there any pernicious weeds you need to check for? If not, can you spread the soil over the plot to let frost/worms etc do their work on it?

[ESBkevin]

I too think starting new before old is good even if it's a temp location. clear through the junk pile then restart it anew but in the same location. In the shade is not a space you'll use for anything much else.

My two best 'pallet sized' compost bins are behind a fence/shed and don't see much if any sunlight, the heat comes from the microbial activity. If you want a faster breakdown, add the correct mix of green and browns, keep the moisture level about that of a wrung out sponge and turn the contents every week or two to give nature some more air. Being in sunlight only helps a little but is far less important. I have wooden bins on my plot in direct sun, but the rarely get turned and so are slower in production.
Once you've had a big compost production scheme going a few years the need to accelerate composting goes away because you have plenty to hand, assuming you collect absolutely everything you can lay your hands on and put it in the bin(s).

[Jay-ell]

If you're hot composting it's better to have two bins so that you can turn the compost from one into the other easily.

If you're cold composting it's good to have two bins so you can build one up while the other one is breaking down.

Basically I'm saying build two (or more) bins.

[Jimny14]

Very good point Jay, I've got 3 on the go at various stages, you've reminded me I need to go rotate them round ASAP, not done it in a while. Also think we might have a rat in one so disturbing him (them more likely) is the biggest reason.

[Jay-ell]

I poke a long metal spike into my bins every now and then and wiggle it about if I don't fancy turning them (which I rarely feel like) to put in shafts for air to get in.

I've got one of those compost aerators with the wings that are supposed to pop out when you pull it up, but they rarely do so there's a lot of wiggling and jiggling with that.

[bario1]

These work a treat!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dolmen-Comp.../dp/B0050I2FB4

Make great Xmas presents for geeks too.

[Jay-ell]

Or possibly send a subliminal message to the recipient.

[Newt]

Thanks everyone! You're probably right I should get a new one set up before I start completely pulling apart the old one.

As it happens though, I did at least get the front off the old one today so I could get a better look at what was inside and assess how far gone the pallets are. The front pallet was so thoroughly rotted through that it came away with hardly any effort at all... or at least half of it did. The other half is in crumbling chunks in the heap!

Actually there's a house on the road just off the allotments that has about 5 pallets stacked outside it. I might slip them a note asking if they want them taken away!