Turning......composting

[Wren]

The thing i have learnt from composting is to be patient..
I started composting in my green Johanna composter at the start of summer 2007 and looked in the bin almost every day all summer in the hopes of finding some compost. Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? like a kid.
Alas it does not happen very quickly to start with . I gave it a good turning on Sundays through the summer months just by getting a fork stuck in there and add a watering can full of water into it at the same time or it gets a bit dry.
From about November until march i just left it to do its thing and in early march i turfed it all out of the green Joanna composter, and into a black darlik thingy to finish it off, that left my green one empty for me to start afresh with this years green waste.
2007 compost was looking almost finished by the time i moved it in march 2008, and i started using it in August to top dress around the runner beans.
I have used loads more since an i am chuffed to bits with the quality of it. It's dark and rich and doesn't smell o the rotting vegetation at all! It's gorgeous stuff!!
Today i emptied the last from the black darlik , bagged up about 40ltrs or my home grown compost into old compost bags. I will keep this to fill the runner bean trenches with next spring and for when i plant out the tomatoes too. It's gorgeous stuff and you can just tell by the look an the feel of it that it's far Superior to anything you can buy in the garden center . It might not be perfectly smooth in texture like the stuff you buy but its obvious that it;s much better stuff and you have the added bonus of knowing what has gone into it .
My green Johanna is full now from this years stuff ( though i should be able to squeeze a bit more in) and i can only turn the top third of it now but it's not a problem because the lower stuff is well on it's way to compost an i will just turn the top of it over on a Sunday for the next 6 weeks or so.
In early march i will start the whole process again an turf it all out into the now empty black darlik to finish off, leaving me the green Johanna empty and free for 2009's compost able waste.

I were thinking about leaving the lid off the black darlik next May an planting a squash plant in the top . Might as well have it doing something productive while it is sat there brewing

Wren

[Two_Sheds]

I were thinking about leaving the lid off the black darlik next May an planting a squash plant in the top . Might as well have it doing something productive while it is sat there brewing

trouble with that is, the compost sinks as it rots. Your squash is likely to disappear down inside the Dalek

[markinessex]

Yep I know it's going to take a while for me to see any of my own compost. But as Wren says, at least you know what gone in to it!!

Still, I can't wait to use my own compost ;-)

[Wren]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wren
I were thinking about leaving the lid off the black darlik next May an planting a squash plant in the top . Might as well have it doing something productive while it is sat there brewing

trouble with that is, the compost sinks as it rots. Your squash is likely to disappear down inside the Dalek

Your a party pooper Two sheds..lol. I will show ya, too be sure, too be sure..lol

[Two_Sheds]

Wren, How do you think I know that? cos I did it myself

[pigletwillie]

We take everything compostable to the lotties and each plot has 3 in a row made from pallets which makes them about a metre cubed.

We fill the right hand one first. When this is totally full (dont forget after a few days the level generally drops a bit) it is turned into the middle bin and the right hand one is once again brought into action. When the right hand one is full again the middle bin is turned into the left hand one and the right hand bin into the middle one.

The left hand bin is then always full of ready to use compost, the middle bin always part composted and the right one always just starting the process.

As mentioned before we compost anything we can including paper and cardboard and find a bin is ready after around 4-6 months. The bins compost quicker if damped down frequently and as Andrewo says, bare earth floors seem to work best.

[bobleponge]

I think the bare earth thing is to allow the worms to get in and do their stuff. I have 2 daleks which I fill, and leave. Never turn them, and compost is great when its done. Anything that hasnt rotted down just goes onto my bonfire which in turn goes on my goosegogs.
I put paper and cardboard and seem to find they disappear pretty quickly. I also have a bucket on hand (as I'm not tall enough to "go" straight into my dalek) and find this aids the process.
I have a huge area for horse poo and straw and then a smaller one for the same. The smaller one was filled to the brim with horse poo, and left a year. Then for the second year, as the level was lower I chucked in a butternut squash seed "just to see." Worked a treat. When I get home the stuff in the small bin will then go into the extended raised bed, and the stuff in the big bin will get dumped into the small bin, thus turning it a bit.
I am still like a kid at xmas, looking in as often as I dare. Had a bit of surprise first year though. Wandered down to dalek with a handful of goodies. Took the lid off without a care in the world to drop it in, and almost had a heart attack as what appeared to be a family of snakes all looked at me and prepared to bite me. They were only grass snakes in the end (Ceau Levres they call them round these parts) but made me jump.