Compost

[Mike]

We don't have the space or time to maintain compost bins. When I need some, I go to the Kompostierungsanlage in my area and buy it for €18 per tonne. I bought half a tonne of fine compost for €9 yesterday to use as top dressing for my lawn renovation.

 

[Malc2098]

Us, too. I buy my organic farmyard manure and sterilised mushroom compost from a local farm delivered.

 

[Mike G]

We're almost forced to compost. The amount of organic matter we produce every year would likely be in the 3 to 5 ton range, I reckon....and possibly more. We have a green bin collection every 2 weeks, which wouldn't even scratch the surface of that lot, especially as the surplus arises spasmodically. Our local recycling centre is set up such that you have to carry everything up steps and then lift it over a high skip edge, so it's not at all practical for larger amounts of green "waste". Add to that the waste from a planer thicknesser, and composting is really the only practical solution. Not that it was a last resort for us. I love having a role in my wife's wonderful garden, and we use not only everything our heaps produce, but more besides.

 

[RogerS]

We don't have the space or time to maintain compost bins. When I need some, I go to the Kompostierungsanlage in my area and buy it for €18 per tonne. I bought half a tonne of fine compost for €9 yesterday to use as top dressing for my lawn renovation.

Peat free ? I hope not. While we need to save peat, they have not yet cracked it as many a gardener will attest. Currently all peat-free compost is hygroscopic and will grab and retain moisture. The RHS have given their exhibitors at Chelsea a free pass to use peat based compost

 

[Mike]

Peat free ? I hope not. While we need to save peat, they have not yet cracked it as many a gardener will attest. Currently all peat-free compost is hygroscopic and will grab and retain moisture. The RHS have given their exhibitors at Chelsea a free pass to use peat based compost

I have no idea if it is peat free. When I use the fine compost as a top dressing, I want it to retain as much moisture as possible to keep the seeds moist.

When I overseed my lawn, I program the Hunter irrigation system to deep water each of the lawn zones for one hour every morning at 6AM and ten minutes every two hours from 10AM to 6PM for the first two weeks. This keeps the seeds moist during the germination time. I gradually ramp down the watering schedule during the next four weeks until I'm at the normal one hour twice a week at 6AM. By then, the lawn is ready for its first mow after the renovation.

 

[MattS]

We don't have the space or time to maintain compost bins. When I need some, I go to the Kompostierungsanlage in my area and buy it for €18 per tonne. I bought half a tonne of fine compost for €9 yesterday to use as top dressing for my lawn renovation.

Blimey. You'll pay about the equivalant to that in pounds for a 50L bag here.

 

[Mike]

Blimey. You'll pay about the equivalant to that in pounds for a 50L bag here.

I was paying €10 for a 40L bag of fine compost and €4 for a 40L bag of mulch at the garden shop until someone told me about buying in bulk at the Kompostierungsanlage. It's also a great deal for those who want smaller quantities and don't have a truck or trailer. The same compost is €2 for 100L and mulch is €5 for 100L. If the customer doesn't have a container, they sell reusable 100L fabric bags for €1, but most customers bring their own containers.

 

[GaryR]

I like the use of an oscillating sprinkler!

 

[Mike G]

I like the use of an oscillating sprinkler!

It can be a bit temperamental upside down, but generally the system works really well.

 

[the bear]

I've tried to count up what you've shown us in past builds but I'm struggling to get to 11.

I don't compost currently at my place, but when I did at the old house I would regularly find a snake warming itself in there.

Mark

 

[Mike G]

I've tried to count up what you've shown us in past builds but I'm struggling to get to 11.

It depends how you count them. If you count each separate roof then we have: garage; bin store; firewood store; bike shed; chicken/ chipper-shredder shed; mower shed; greenhouse; potting shed; workshop; building materials store shed; wood store (bog oak). The bin store, chicken/ chipper shed, and the wood store are lean-tos to other outbuildings, and the greenhouse and potting shed are back-to-back on the same base. If you count these as part of the bigger building, then we have 7.

 

[Phil]

At our old house the stand was 2,000m2 less buildings of 322m2 and some paving.
So that was a lot of garden, grass, shrubs and trees. Everything was shredded by the lawn mower, leaf blower/sucker, electric shredder for sticks.
Add to this the thicknesser-planer waste, any small bits of wood out the workshop, raw vegetable waste from the kitchen, crushed egg shells and pee.

At the back corner of the stand was the compost area.
Every couple of years I would collect chicken manure from a farm. I had to load it myself into the trailer and again offload at home. By the time I had loaded the trailer (first year) I had also honked up any breakfast and coffee. After that I then went on a completely empty stomach.
When turned the heap there were these large white grub worms and earth worms and the birds had a feast. The earth worms went into a bucket and then distributed between the Clivias under the trees.

Where we now live, I can’t even have a bin, against the rules, might be eyesore to the neighbours. So what do we do? Some of the veggie waste gets chucked between the plants to rot/dry as mulch. Corn cobs are also chucked between the plants and when dry cut smaller.
The thicknesser planer waste I spread lightly between the plants, looks like whitish snow. Can’t lay down too much as it just compacts. When cutting out dead flowers or trimming shrubs, it all gets cut into smaller bits and spread as mulch.
In the garage is a bucket for the eggshells, peach pips and any nut shells, which also goes out as mulch.

In the estate only indigenous trees are allowed (couple excluded for shallow invasive roots) and owners encouraged to plant water wise gardens. All the common property gardens are slowly being converted to water wise.

 

[the bear]

It depends how you count them. If you count each separate roof then we have: garage; bin store; firewood store; bike shed; chicken/ chipper-shredder shed; mower shed; greenhouse; potting shed; workshop; building materials store shed; wood store (bog oak). The bin store, chicken/ chipper shed, and the wood store are lean-tos to other outbuildings, and the greenhouse and potting shed are back-to-back on the same base. If you count these as part of the bigger building, then we have 7.

Ah, well I hadn't counted the bin store, chicken/chipper shed or wood store. I'd love to build a couple more sheds (and rebuild the existing) but being on quite a slope means foundations need a lot of thought.

Mark

 

[duke]

Dumping grass clippings on the compost pile I spotted a Garter snake. I guess trying to warm up before nightfall.

 

[AJB Temple]

My wife found a rat in our hot composter last night. First time ever.

 

[Mike G]

How could that get in? It's a barrel on a stand, isn't it?

 

[AJB Temple]

How could that get in? It's a barrel on a stand, isn't it?

Yes. It has knawed it's way through a back top corner. The hotbin design is effective but stupid. It's made of some sort of polystyrene. I'm now going to have to cover it in chicken wire I suppose.