Compost Corner!

[1Bee]

I do notice that a full bin that's been full for months, if emptied and refilled with a good mix up and a few things added, will go down to half full in a couple of weeks. So turning is the thing, really.

I don't put glass clippings in mind - they're too valuable as a mulch for nitrogen hungry plants. Green gold! *looks avaricious*

[nickdub]

Couple of points which may have been mentioned, but if so I haven't noticed them. :-

1) If your material is dry it will need to be wetted - either give it a bit of a soak before adding it or tip a bit of water on directly
2) too much water is a bad thing, so heaps out in the open which aren't in daleks or similar need some sort of roof/cover
3) keeping the heat generated in can be helped by covering with an old piece of carpet or similar.
4) urine is a good free activator :-)

[Cadalot]

4) urine is a good free activator :-)

That's my Liquid Gold

Soon I will be adding comfrey in the layer system another fantastic activator, and in the winter I make a hole in the centre of the Dalek and around the outside and fill them up with coffee grounds to kick start the process again and warm the Daleks up again.

[Baldy]

I've noticed one chap on the plot (an engineer Cadders ) has drilled extra ventilation holes in his daleks.
Now, I'm putting this down to him being an engineer - but he's doing it for the extra air getting into the mix and helping the breakdown processes.
Discuss.

[Cadalot]

I have all types and shapes of Dalek



There are two Daleks making a third in the picture if you look closely!

I like having a mixture of ones with the access panel and without although the opening can become brittle or deformed and the doors don't always last or can blow away if not fixed properly

The blue containers are there to hold down the lids as my second allotment site is very windy but they do make the Dalek more Dr Who Dalek looking.





I now have three Daleks Like No 3 and I like these as they don't have the access door and are robust with good tight fitting lids. Dalek 4 has three slots back and front and weeds like to grow out of the one at the back once the dalek is full.



I really Like this square one and as you can see it has ventilation slots in it, If I could get more like this off Freecycle I would, I found them for sale at £113 Reduced from £120 so I will just keep my eye out on Freecycle for another. This is the photo off Freecycle and the square one can be seen at the top of this posting in the middle. I used this one for leafs and it did a cracking job.



I now have two double Daleks like the one on the right in the photo above. They take a lot of filling and I must admit that I put so many acidic Cooking Apples in there that I felt quite drunk off the fumes when they were composting down. I'm not quite sure what to use the compost from this bin for as it is going to be quite acidic any suggestions?

All my Daleks came via Freecycle or were given to me.

[nickdub]

I hope you have some emergency stairs nearby, then if the alien invasion starts and you begin to hear the ominous "Exterminate" calls, you can probably use them to get a head start.

"I'm not quite sure what to use the compost from this bin for as it is going to be quite acidic any suggestions? "

most soft fruit prefers an acid soil environment...

[Snoop Puss]

^^Cadalot, I've got one of those square daleks that you show with the bottom door open (last but one photo). It came from Lidl, so might be worth keeping an eye out there too if you don't mind spending money. I don't know how much it cost - a gift from Mr Snoop, who knows the way to my heart, evidently - but nowhere near as much as you quote.

[Baldy]

I hope you have some emergency stairs nearby, then if the alien invasion starts and you begin to hear the ominous "Exterminate" calls, you can probably use them to get a head start.

Nick - compost bin technology has moved on I'm afraid:
https://youtu.be/3_cJ9BlMCw8

I believe I have a new 'project' to look into - making my daleks even more dalekey...

[nickdub]

can't watch anything scary at the mo - no convenient sofa to take refuge behind. :-)

[Super Sprout]

I have noted a few comments on this thread and elsewhere which advise not to include citrus fruits and onion peelings in your compost bin. I would imagine in most instances that is good advice, but I wanted to share my experience.

As a new alotmenteer I followed this advice when starting my compost bins, and after 6 months I was getting worried as there were no signs of worms in my compost bins. I started to introduce both citrus fruit peel and onion skins into one bin, and within a week the worms moved in! I live in the Chiltern Hills where my soil is full of chalk, so I have come to the conclusion that the soil is very alkaline (not ph tested it) and the introduction of acidic citrus fruit and onions has brought the ph down to a more neutral level, or certainly to a level that the worms feel comfortable living in?

A good source of brown material is the insides of toilet rolls and kitchen rolls. I've got the whole office saving me theirs from the kitchens in the office building and bringing them in from home. Only trouble is they're a pain to tear up into smaller pieces for the compost bins.

[self-contained]

The potting compost I bought this year absolutely reeks of onions. I'm storing it in my dining room, and it's pretty unpleasant. For a while, I thought it was my wormery, but that smells fine.

[Cadalot]

A good source of brown material is the insides of toilet rolls and kitchen rolls. I've got the whole office saving me theirs from the kitchens in the office building and bringing them in from home. Only trouble is they're a pain to tear up into smaller pieces for the compost bins.

So what you do is cut the loo roll with a pair of scissors to make a rectangle of cardboard and pass it through the paper shredded, job done!







The smaller you make it the better the critters and microbes can get at it to make the magic happen.

[rary]

I have noted a few comments on this thread and elsewhere which advise not to include citrus fruits and onion peelings in your compost bin. I would imagine in most instances that is good advice, but I wanted to share my experience.

As a new alotmenteer I followed this advice when starting my compost bins, and after 6 months I was getting worried as there were no signs of worms in my compost bins. I started to introduce both citrus fruit peel and onion skins into one bin, and within a week the worms moved in! I live in the Chiltern Hills where my soil is full of chalk, so I have come to the conclusion that the soil is very alkaline (not ph tested it) and the introduction of acidic citrus fruit and onions has brought the ph down to a more neutral level, or certainly to a level that the worms feel comfortable living in?

A good source of brown material is the insides of toilet rolls and kitchen rolls. I've got the whole office saving me theirs from the kitchens in the office building and bringing them in from home. Only trouble is they're a pain to tear up into smaller pieces for the compost bins.

Soak them in water then they tear quite easily

[Cadalot]

I believe I have a new 'project' to look into - making my daleks even more dalekey...

Balders here is one to beat



Take a look at https://ethanjmanley.wordpress.com/2...2/dalek-build/

[jonahjonah]

Lugged my first lawn clippings of the year to the allotment compost heap. Also threw in some kitchen bits. Covered with drier stuff. I think there is a bit of nice stuff in the very bottom of the rotting wood corral, so I am going to endeavor to liberate some in the coming days. I expect I may return with cooking grass clippings and apple cores stuck in my hair.