Allotments 4 All
Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: KevB on September 25, 2005, 17:09:49
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Hi All
I'm hoping to get a compost bin and would appreciate any pointers on what I should or shouldn't buy?? there seems to be lots on the market with a wide range of prices!!! I've only a garden, not a lotty!! so i need a bin as opposed to an open bay "so to speak" Thanks
Kevb
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I got mine through the local Council. Special offer as they are trying to encourage householders to compost and cut down on household waste. Each household allowed 2 at £8 each.
They're plastic, sliding opening at bottom, lid on top. Found them useful. Might be worth giving your council a ring to see if they do a similar scheme.
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My daleks came from Blackwall via our local council. I've got two that take our non-meat kitchen waste as well as garden waste.
http://www.blackwall-ltd.com/homecomposting1.htm
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I see Blackwall claim that their Tumbler can make compost in up to 21 days ::) I've had mine for 9 months and still waiting for it to break down. ???
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I don't have the tumbler but get nice rich crumbly compost out of the dalek after 12 months or so. It would probably be quicker if they were in a sunnier spot and if I turned the contents over periodically. Agree 21 days sounds rather optimistic, Roy.
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;D Praps I'm peeing in it too much then? ;D
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daleks all the way - exterminate! exterminate!
they get nice and hot in the sun and sometimes i fill the bin up to the top with green stuff (cuttings, weeds and kitchen waste) and two days later it has all collapsed and it's half empty again. i havent turned anything over but i do stir the stuff now and them with a fork, to aerate (sp?) it. i have two bins and my first one was started in february and is now half full with lovely rich crumbly dark stuff - still quite fibrious but will be fine dug into my clay soil. the other bin as i said is currently on the go. will use the finished stuff in the next few weeks and then rotate to the first bin again. :)
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I made mine out of old decking squares. Sort of like pallets. Just hammered a few together to start. Then made one by "sewing" it together with baling twine. Works really well. I just remove the front to dig it out or turn it.
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Got 4 black plastic daleks free from the council ;D
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That's why I made mine - they are £17 from the council. I'm far too cheap...
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Cheeky whatsits at the council - they say their special offer with Blackwells is £17. mutter mutter.
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Cheeky whatsits at the council - they say their special offer with Blackwells is £17. mutter mutter.
I think I paid £15 from our council, robbing beggers >:( ;D and I've had this bin since the begging of the year and no sign of decomposing, "Chopin's" doing a better job than me >:( ;D
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Shame that you don't live a bit nearer North Wales Kev. I have 4 dalek types doing nothing now as other half has made me some lovely compost bays out of old pallets, and I have emptied all the bins and added some lovely horse manure too.
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If you have a garden and want a pretty wooden bin, the cheapest I found was from Primrose of London
http://www.primroselondon.co.uk/index.php?p=te0047&r=GOOG
about £27 plus a few squid P&P whether you order 1 or 100! I know I should try to rise above it but I am afeard of daleks :-[ especially when gardening at twilight 8) :o ;D
Plus they are easy to put together and draw admiring looks from neighbours ;D ;D ;D
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I've just ordered one from blackwells - they're £10 in kent - i guess different councils subsidise to different amounts. anyway it's a 1000l green dalek so it'll be enough to get me going :)
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Well I've watched and listened to all of the comments and I think my local council must be having a laugh, as they are trying to send me to Bents Garden Centre which everyone around here knows is the dearest place in the WORLD bar none!! and Blackwells haven't had the courtesy to reply to my email 48 hours ago?? so I'm still bin free!! but I'm working on it!! :) :)
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Kev, don't know if it's the same in your area (I'm in Kent) but when I was hunting around for subsidised deals on a water butt recently I found one of our water companies was advertising subsidised daleks as well as water butts on their website, all from Blackwall.
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We got a large compost bin from our local LIDL's for £ 12.00. But we also built 2 large ones from wooden pallets. :)
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I've got a dalek at home,free from council, and a couple of pallet ones on the lottie.
What do you use to cover your pallet bins?
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I use a large piece of old carpet to cover ours :)
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We get spent hops delivered regularly by a plotholder who works for the local brewery :P which come in woven plastic sacks. I cover the compost heap with a couple of these, flat, then with two duvet-style sacks stuffed full of the sacks I haven't found a use for, then a log (to stop them blowing off) :)
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Are they heavy?
I know it sounds like a daft question but I don't have a car. So two choices, I buy direct from the council at £12 but they don't deliver, so I have to get a dalek on a bus, or I phone Blackwells for £17 and they deliver to my flat so I still have to get bin up to site.
I could wear it I suppose. Pollinate, pollinate...
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No they're not heavy, Bupster, but they are pretty bulky. Wearing it as a dress with the lid as a hat's probably the most attractive option ;) but you'd have to stand on the bus!
Got a mate with a car who could help?
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Possibly. I don't actually know all that many people with cars as I live in Cambridge. On the upside nobody would blink an eye if I was forced to wear it.
Perhaps I could attach wheels and tie it behind the bike?
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I've got 3 "heaps" on the go at the min, made from the posts and chicken wire left over from rabbit-proofing. One on the go, one with squash in it, and one sat "cooking"! I just cover them with black membrane, seems to work fine. Lottie :)
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Well there's a thing.I hadn't considered using the placca bags as a duvet kind've thing. Another way to use up some of the rubbish on my plot...thanks peeps!
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My bin is made from wire fencing threaded onto corner posts and posts in the middle of each panel. The wire is lined with old compost bags and bags also make the lid! Seems to work fine and cost me nothing as everything was from bits left on the lottie!
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I went down to the leisure center in Halifax this morning where the Council were selling Daleks, large ones with hole in front £5, and small ones without £3. We were too late to get large ones as they had sold out but bought 2 small ones (still a good size) They would deliver free for anybody without transport.
Rosemary
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We have an ugly black dalek in the front garden. Full sun, sat on soil. Seems more useful for chucking compostables in and letting them break down back into the soil than for actually harvesting compost from the thing, but either way, it gets rid of me tea bags.
Now if someone would invent a *pretty* compost bin... and also a pretty rotating washing line.. then I'd be sorted. Maybe I'll just attack it with some fairy stencils and paint. :D
Melanie
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There is a company that sells sticky backed plastic wraparound pictures for wheelie bins :P (no really, I am serious ;D, my friend in Kent has one ::)). You can get all sorts of pix, including climbing plants. Maybe this sticky backed plastic idea would adapt to a Dalek ... ;D?
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There is a company that sells sticky backed plastic wraparound pictures for wheelie bins :P (no really, I am serious ;D, my friend in Kent has one ::)). You can get all sorts of pix, including climbing plants. Maybe this sticky backed plastic idea would adapt to a Dalek ... ;D?
Hm, you have a point there! Probably would work well.. Or maybe I could just get some sticky-backed plastic and start doing some decoupage on the thing.. Hmmm...
Melanie
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Wardy - One is already full as I had been storing waste from the plot until I got round to making a bin. I had a fire yesterday and added the ash from that so I will wait until it is lower before adding more.
I also got around to starting to make a wood compost bin today. I had to dig out an old one that has been going for years. Lots of lovely crumbly soil in it. I amazes me how so many people start a compost bin but never seem to use the end product.
Rosemary
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We had loads of problems with Blackwalls in Leeds.
Big daleks were £5 a time, so we recommended them to loads of friends. Of course, everybody else got theirs delivered in 2-3 days; we got ours in 3 weeks!
Still, they did at least make a c*ck-up with the delivery and left us one too many!
Of course, we told them about their error ::)
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They delivered my latest bins the following day after ordering so they might just be improving :)
Humph - I ordered mine from Blackwells on 26th Sept........ still waiting..... ::)
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Thanks Wardy - lets hope so, eh?
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Kentishchloe, I've a spare you can have for free if they don't deliver. You could combine pick up with another trip to Lakeland ;D PM me if interested.
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Humph - I ordered mine from Blackwells on 26th Sept........ still waiting..... ::)
Did you get your bin in the end? I'm just curious as I have been waiting for over 2 months and still haven't had mine. Not getting any reply from emails I send to customer services either.
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If you are supplied water by Severn Trent you may be able to buy them for as little as £6 :o 8)
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I have a bank of four wooden bins from "RecycleWorks" with Duvets as well they are really good and trying to make space for a fifth! Sadly they are quite expensive!
:)