Compost

[Mike G]

I'm told that there is a Facebook group called something like The Boring Men's Club. Some might consider the following to be my application to join. It does, however, have a hint of woodi-ness about it.

Here is my composting set-up:



Four bins made of pallets.

The system is that garden waste and chicken waste go into the bin on the left, and then through time and processing, it moves to the right until it finishes in the far right hand bin as useable compost.

The above photo shows me having finished digging the second bay across to the third. Note the pile of dark sticks on top of the pile in the first bin. These were picked out of the second pile and returned to the first, as they can take a very long time to compost. I wouldn't be surprised if some sticks go through the system for a year or more.

I then dug out the far RH end bay, which was full of mature, ready-to-use compost. I left a small amount for immediate use, made a pile on one of the veggie beds ready for digging in with the sweetcorn in a few weeks time, and finally created a new holding bay in the corner of the veggie patch:







Then I went to my 11th outbuilding:



It's incomplete, but still holds the chipper shredder well:



I pulled this into place in front of the second bay, and prepared for some shredding:



Note the board at the back of Bay 2, and the over-head oscillating sprinkler.



The board prevents the stuff flying out of the chipper shredder from landing over our adjacent outdoor seating area, and the sprinkler runs continuously during shredding to ensure that the compost is damp enough. The biggest cause of failure in composting, in my experience, is allowing it to be too dry, at any stage.

I then spent 2 or 3 hours shredding:



The contents of the first bin are now in the second, chopped up and damp. Ordinarily, I would do this to coincide with mowing the lawn, because grass clippings are the magic ingredient in compost. Spread thinly though the heap they fire it into action spectacularly. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained here for over a month, so the grass has stopped growing right in the middle of the time when it is normally at its most fertile.

I've had temperatures of 80 Celcius in a good heap before now..........hot enough to bake a Pavlova. It will take a day or two for the newly turned pile to get up to temperature (I expect around 50 degrees at best). I'll fork some lawn clippings into Bay 2 in due course, and then in a couple of weeks turn Bay 3 right, into Bay 4. A month from now it will be another pile of gorgeous compost.

Here's Bay 2 finished for today, but needing grass clippings. Ordinarily, I would do about 1:1:1 chipped vegetation: grass: shavings from the planer thicknesser, but without either of the latter 2 I'll just do the best I can with what I've got. Quite a lot of shavings go through the chicken house first before making it to the compost. Here's Bay 2 left chicken-proof (and Bay 1 empty):



Here is the final product:



And here is what it is all for:





Now, I reckon I qualify......

 

[duke]

I'd say you are allowed into the club. I like your rotational composting bays and the veg garden is thankful.
Your chipper looks very robust!
Skids always come in handy, I use them a lot.
Mike, what crop is being grown in the fields around your garden?

 

[AJB Temple]

Good thread. We are much lazier with it so we don't really turn ours much. We do get a lot of shredded leaf mulch in winter via the Billy Goat machine, we get free horse manure and free finely shredded wood mulch (all Ash at the moment - we've just had two lorry loads).

Because of our food operation we also use a hot composter into which all food waste and leftovers go. This is very efficient. Not much in the way of grass clippings for us as we don't collect much.

 

[Mike G]

Mike, what crop is being grown in the fields around your garden?

This year it is oilseed rape. I believe you guys might call it canola. Most years we're surrounded by wheat or barley.

We haven't got a big enough plot to justify any big bits of kit. I'd love a tractor, rather than a skid, but half an acre is too small to justify it.

 

[Mike G]

We do get a lot of shredded leaf mulch in winter via the Billy Goat machine, we get free horse manure.....

The what machine?

We also get horse muck from our neighbours. Don't ever put it on your strawberries!

 

[TrimTheKing]

What's a skid?

 

[AJB Temple]

Billy Goat is a machine that vacuums up leaf fall and shreds it finely into a big bag. Think large walk behind mower size. We have a lot of leaf fall from the mature trees and we also clear up about 10 acres of orchard leaves.

 

[Mike G]

What's a skid?

They're not common over here other than on farms: skid steer

 

[duke]

What's a skid?

Another name is a pallet, I guess a skid is the slang word?

 

[duke]

They're not common over here other than on farms:
skid steer

Other wise a pallet, like the walls of your bins. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[AndyT]

Does the Pavlova acquire an "elusive tang" at all?

 

[PAC1]

I think you might be over qualified
We also have four compost bins and a further hot composter for food waste.
We do not turn them regularly and definitely do not have a sprinkler system

 

[Mike G]

Does the Pavlova acquire an "elusive tang" at all?

An illustration rather than a suggestion........

 

[duke]

This year it is oilseed rape. I believe you guys might call it canola. Most years we're surrounded by wheat or barley.

We haven't got a big enough plot to justify any big bigs of kit. I'd love a tractor, rather than a skid, but half an acre is too small to justify it.

I have had our tractor with front end loader for 18 years or so now, I don't know how I would manage without one. Given the size of most rural properties here they are needed.

 

[AndyP]

I make do with just two bays for leaves and garden clippings; uncooked veggie kitchen waste and chicken poop going into one of two dalek bins.
Can't justify an engined driven shredder but as you might see elsewhere my lecky one is not playing ball at the moment.
After using a foot or two of compost off the top of one of the large bays courgettes get grown. In the autumn after the courgettes are finished leaves will full that right hand bay along. The left hand bay will be used next spring for the veg.

the wire mesh was left behind by previous owners who had an outside dog kennel made of the stuff. the planks are all from trees felled on site and are removable so we can either gain access in the spring or raise them up in the autumn .

 

[MattS]

I have a similar set up at the allotment, 3 bays gives enough flexibility for turning but no shredding for me. I would like one but its more money and another thing to have to store!

I just this weekend started a hot bed - first time we have done it. We'd ideally have started earlier and used it in the colder months for warmth, but it's a new allotment. Used some pallet tops which had no gaps between them, lashed together at the corners with fencing wire and filled with fresh horse manure and then a thick layer of compost into which we've planted winter squash. Should give great squashes and then be ready for spreading on the beds next season.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Other wise a pallet, like the walls of your bins. Sorry for the confusion.

So Duke and Mike are referring to two different things then...?

 

[Lurker]

I only have room for two “pallet “ compost heaps.
As a fisherman, these are geared up to worm harvesting, once I get a bin going, I can turn the top over and easily pick up a handful of near nothing but worms.
The secret of getting the heap going well is a sack full of fresh horse muck.
I have a friend who has horses so there’s as much as I want.
Folks in our street have brown bin collection and pay the council to remove this valuable commodity……madness!

 

[duke]

So Duke and Mike are referring to two different things then...?

Yes

 

[duke]

The what machine?

We also get horse muck from our neighbours. Don't ever put it on your strawberries!

What happened to the strawberries?

 

[Mike G]

What happened to the strawberries?

They flourished, and put on loads of leaf growth, but didn't produce any fruit at all. We normally have a bumper harvest.

 

[Woodbloke]

In our South facing Compost Corner I now have four Dalek style bins (two green and two black) which do a fairly decent job of munching down garden and veggie waste. I don't put in any grass clippings as I've found they just decompose to a soggy goo, even when turned regularly. The grass often contains weed seeds as well so it goes into the green wheely bin. We don't now have a veggie patch so most compost made is used as a soil mulch or conditioner - Rob

 

[TrimTheKing]

They flourished, and put on loads of leaf growth, but didn't produce any fruit at all. We normally have a bumper harvest.

Too much nitrogen?

 

[Mike G]

Just do an experiment, Rob. Take a bag of lawn clippings, a bag of shavings from a planer thicknesser, and a little bit of vegetable matter from the garden. Mix it up thoroughly, get it damp, and leave it for a few weeks. You might find you've solved two problems with one action.

 

[Lurker]

By the way, does anyone else p on their heap?
I suppose it depends on if it’s out of sight like mine.

 

[Lurker]

In our South facing Compost Corner I now have four Dalek style bins (two green and two black) which do a fairly decent job of munching down garden and veggie waste. I don't put in any grass clippings as I've found they just decompose to a soggy goo, even when turned regularly. The grass often contains weed seeds as well so it goes into the green wheely bin. We don't now have a veggie patch so most compost made is used as a soil mulch or conditioner - Rob

Grass is great stuff for compost heaps, like many things in life, it’s a question of little and often.

 

[AndyP]

By the way, does anyone else p on their heap?
I suppose it depends on if it’s out of sight like mine.

When I am in the garden on my own I certainly do.

 

[MattS]

Our allotment is out the back of a new housing estate, and it's the biggest houses right at the back which we face. The guy on the end is often out polishing his Bentley or tidying the garden. Think the Parish Council might get complaints if I p on it.

 

[Lurker]

Is “polishing his Bentley “ some kind of euphemism?.

 

[TrimTheKing]

By the way, does anyone else p on their heap?
I suppose it depends on if it’s out of sight like mine.

My mate's heap is behind some bushes at the bottom of the garden and when we have summer bashes at his garden bar, the chaps use that as the loo rather than indoors...!

 

[Woodbloke]

Grass is great stuff for compost heaps, like many things in life, it’s a question of little and often.

I probably will start to add the odd bucket of clippings to the pile. I also save brown mushy cardboard from stuff like egg boxes and the like so that goes in as well. I turned my current bin the other day and saw loads of wriggly worms so something must be happening! - Rob

 

[PAC1]

Just do an experiment, Rob. Take a bag of lawn clippings, a bag of shavings from a planer thicknesser, and a little bit of vegetable matter from the garden. Mix it up thoroughly, get it damp, and leave it for a few weeks. You might find you've solved two problems with one action.

And if you mix the clippings and shavings as you mow or immediately after you do not need to water it.
Several folks say wood shavings are no good for gardens but I have no issues we have done it for 25 years. Same folk say that ash from my wood burner should not go in the composter. For both I think it is a matter of balance.

 

[Dr.Al]

Several folks say wood shavings are no good for gardens but I have no issues we have done it for 25 years.

Carolyn was reading up on it recently & apparently most wood shavings are fine, but walnut should be avoided as it contains something (with a name something like Juglans: the latin name for walnut) that the tree secretes to stop other plants growing nearby. Some sort of natural herbicide.

 

[Mike G]

...... Same folk say that ash from my wood burner should not go in the composter......

It goes in mine too. It's quite alkali, I believe, especially if lye is leached out by rainwater, but mixed up well with the compost it's been no issue at all for us for 6 or 7 years.

 

[Lurker]

Wood shavings use a lot of nitrogen to rot down so can rob the soil and lock up the nitrogen until it’s fully composted.
Wood ash being alkaline can be spread where you plan to plant your brassicas.

 

[Mike G]

Wood shavings use a lot of nitrogen to rot down so can rob the soil and lock up the nitrogen until it’s fully composted.

That's the point of composting though Jim. All the breaking down has happened by the time it gets into the soil.

As for the wood ash.....that's dead right, but we're on heavy clay soil which is pretty acidic, so anything alkaline can help just about anywhere.

 

[Lurker]

I meant to say that wood shavings are not good for mulch for the reason that I mentioned. Trying to do two things at once.

 

[MattS]

Rob, composting is a fine art - the grass going to a goo could be the balance of brown to green materials is off - add extra brown such as cardboard. But also good compost is produced in aerobic conditions. Suspect that the darlek bin makes it trickier than a more open compost bin. It’s a balance as I’ve had slatted wooden ones before which were to open and it dried out! I love making compost though amazing stuff

 

[PAC1]

Carolyn was reading up on it recently & apparently most wood shavings are fine, but walnut should be avoided as it contains something (with a name something like Juglans: the latin name for walnut) that the tree secretes to stop other plants growing nearby. Some sort of natural herbicide.

Good job I burnt the ABW shavings this winter given that all my woodwork has been with ABW the last year or more.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When I was a boy my grandmother's neighbour in a row of tiny cottages used to get up at 7am and go out into the back garden in his pyjamas, walking up and down the rows of flowers and vegetables peeing on them. No one thought it remotely odd.