Winter composting question

[Two_Sheds]

Yes you pee on your compost.... if you have something else in mind please enlighten.

I was just trying to draw attention to my strapline - it's all shiny and new

[Snadger]

Next door neighbours were getting some leylandi trees 'topped'. The tree surgeon asked me if I had any use for the chippings! well you can guess my answer!

I now have two wagon loads of leylandi chippings, including the greenery steaming away nicely.
I bagged some today to take to the lottie and the heat was unbelievable after only a few days standing.
The top of the mountain has steam coming off it and near the bottom is a coating of frost!

[veggiechicken]

I was just trying to draw attention to my strapline - it's all shiny and new

I spotted it straightaway - my eyes are always drawn to your shed and what looks like trugs in the foreground. Nice one.

[kfan]

I have still some leaves on the ground, but I read somewhere (not here) that they are difficult to compost, so have not been using them. Was this wrong? I can certainly drum up some "green" from the garden if that would be ok.

I actually just learned (from a book) that leaves only turn to mulch because they literally rot away by fungus, while normal compost is turned over my microbes and worms. That's why you don't combine the too initially (and this is also why they leaves need to be relatively moist). You can add the rotted leaves after a year to the compost heap though.

[Vicki123]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your advice

[Vicki123]

On the subject of "liquid gold" I tried to get the other half to oblige, but the man has no sense of adventure....... I ended up buying some composting granules.....

[Potstubsdustbins]

Fortunately my darleks are behind a fence which affords me a little privacy and being 6`2" tall helps to.


Colin

[VirginVegGrower]

Mr VVG knows no shame

[Madasafish]

I use a bucket in the garage.. Gets a bit smelly after a week...:-)

[Two_Sheds]

(I think you're pulling legs here and you don't in fact save it in a bucket in the garage)

- use it fresh don't save it up
- or if you must save it, cover each "go" with some carboniferous material, eg. shredded newspaper, sawdust, straw etc. Liquid and smells will be absorbed

[HeatherL]

We have 3 'bays' made from old pallets. Two we covered with sheets of cardboard last autumn, following some advice on a gardeners world episode to protect them from winter rain (of which we have had plenty!). The third was emptied onto one of the raised beds last autumn, and since then we have just been dumping the contents of the chickens bedding into it each week, ie whole sheets of newspaper, hemp bedding and the chickens contribution . I'm assuming the hemp counts as a brown, so will it be ok if we balance it out with a whole load of grass clippings come spring and give it a good mix up? I don't know how long hemp takes to break down?