Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Ceri on October 07, 2003, 17:59:50
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Having started my allotment from a wilderness of marestail etc I do not want to compost, I'm at a bit of a loss of what I can use to add bulk to make enough compost for my first season - I've got half a barrow load of rotted straw/manure, 1/2 a bag of grass clippings from my home lawn, newspapers, and half a bag of general soft prunings from my garden. The veg peelings etc from my kitchen are only just enough for my garden compost bins. This has only created the tiniest mound to date. When I get off by backside and get down the beach I can get some seaweed - is there anything else I can add to create a respectably sized heap that has a chance of getting just a tiny bit warm? 2nd question - I can get hold of a bag of human hair clippings - I'm told hair composts well - is that true?
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Hi Cerig, had a letter from my local council yesterday telling me I had won a composter !!!
With the letter was an instruction leaflet in which it says you CAN compost; TEABAGS,COFFEE GROUNDS,CONTENTS OF VACUUM CLEANERS,EGGSHELLS,HAIR,PURE COTTON/WOOL (CUT UP T.SHIRTS/JUMPERS)FEATHERS,PET BEDDING,CARDBOARD TUBES,EGGBOXES,PAPER TOWELS AND BAGS,WINTER LEAVES,STRAW AND HAY.PLUS GARDEN WASTE.
Hope this is a help and happy composting. :)
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Hi Cerig
Starbucks will be happy for you to take their coffee grounds (useful as part of a BIG heap - they have lots of coffee grounds, obviously!), speak to your neighbours and ask them to let you have their grass cuttings and to local greengrocers to see if you can relieve them of their out of date stuff and the outsides of caulis etc that they normally bin, do a tour of the local stables and get yourself some muck, visit the parks and scoop up the leaves (best kept separate as leaf mould), any local friendly restauranteurs who separate out their prep? Could even ask the local chippy at a push - where do they put all their peelings.....? Off now to pot up me 25 strawberry plants 'cos the patch still isn't ready! :D
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Firstly, I apologise for my first sentence - but it seems you all know what I actually meant to type! Nice one Ruth - what did you have to do to win the composter?
Thank you to you and A-Chick for the ideas - I'll be off round the local coffee houses/barbers tomorrow!
Cheers
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Hiya :)
Most Councils are giving away free compost bins (black) and the little green one for home. IN Lancashire you can get one on-line at http://www.compost-it.org.
If you just try http://www.compost-it.org.uk You may bring up your area.
We have been asking all Councils to make them available under their "sustainability" responsibility. (part of govt trying to bring recycling up to 25%)
Or,go to your council web page usually..
www.yourcouncil.gov.uk
And see who's giving them away.
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Firstly, I apologise for my first sentence - but it seems you all know what I actually meant to type! Nice one Ruth - what did you have to do to win the composter?
Thank you to you and A-Chick for the ideas - I'll be off round the local coffee houses/barbers tomorrow!
Cheers
Hi Cerig, it was that long ago I had a job to remember but I only filled a questionnaire in for them all about re- cycling !!!!!
They must have been desperate to get rid of them !!!! ???
I'm not complaining, I've got another hobby now !! 8)
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Contents of hoover huh - never heard that one but I shall start saving it! Every little helps huh ;D
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Contents of vacuum cleaner good if your carpets are natural fibres rather than man made (or of course if you have wooden floors when most of the dust will be dead skin.
Seaweed is the absolute tops both for adding to your compost and as a top dressing on the soil. We collected huge mounds of it for my parents garden and turned the soil from dust to good soil in two seasons.
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we put out at least a gallon of whatever every day - everything 'meltable' - we don't do it like we should, but every 6 months or so, we get a heap of stuff that covers 200'sq. We have 6 pens, a metre square. Not too wet, not too dry! - Tim
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okay...tell me about seaweed ??? I'm popping off to Devon to see the olds in a couple of weeks and could fill a bin liner or two....should smell great as we waft past stonehenge :P Once I have it....what do I do with it....and is there a good seaweed and a bad seaweed? hmmmmmmmm ???
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OK - I will! - since you ask ----
In Jersey, before WW2, we used 'vraic', or seaweed on everything, as professional growers. Usually the long, broad ribbons, but don't be fussy - they are the ones you also eat as 'laver bread'.
Best to compost them if you can, so that, when they get on the ground, they will melt in more quickly.
Jolly good stuff! And not that 'smelly'. Just 'sea air'. - Tim
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Great! My husband is overjoyed >:( at the prospects of spending an afternoon at the beach not playing with the kids, but filling up a couple of sacks with seaweed, and then driving back to Essex with it in the boot, watching as all the wee crabs and other 'sea creepy cawlies' start emerging! ;D My compost will be FAB!
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Hi Emmajane, if your husband is that happy ;D you can get extract of seaweed. You dilute it and sprinkle it on the compost, it can be bought at any garden centre :D. It works just the same as the 'real stuff'
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...but the thought of making him so happy! ;D No, I shall bring back a sample of the real macoy, plus the heap could do with the bulk it will provide. Hope it doesn't encourage any passing seaguls down to take a gander :o
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and, of course, it's FREE?
No experience of seagulls, returning from the seaside, but did rescue a cormorant once. Ungrateful ***** - it lashed out with its beak all the way to the RSPCA - and what a beak! - and almost destroyed the wooden fascia of our lovely new Rover 90.
Still, that made us happy! - Tim
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Just got back from nice windy beach with a big bin bag of seaweed, one soaking wet practically naked child and a very sandy car!! I now have one bag of seaweed, one bag of grass cuttings, one of soft things from my own garden and a load of veg peel. I've also got very nice gardening neighbour with trailer to agree to go with me in 2 weeks and get a load of manure so I'm off to a good start. While I'm on about composting - what's the opinion of using non-rotted stuff with newspaper in a bean trench now ready for spring?
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Hiya :)
Bean trench? Are we talking Runners?
IMO runner bean trench with newspaper is really more of a water retention thing, sort of done in spring.
Be really interested to see how the seaweed works :)
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yes, I did mean runners - my dad used to make a compost trench of general stuff and plant the beans there in the spring - I was reminded as the GW magazine mentioned it. I'm presuming its OK with beans to let things rot beneath them because they won't have a problem with the nitrogen loss, whereas other veggies may be affected which is why you can only do it with beans - and why just runners?
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Hiya Ceri,
What a great day you've had..
My original bean trench:went down 2 spits about this time of year - all my soft garden debris went into it + veg. peelings (my patch is in the garden) + leaves + all the non-glossy bits of the Saturday Telegraph, torn up. It seemed a fitting use of the Gardening Supplement ;) When there was a layer in the bottom I covered it with soil and started another..when it snowed I put all the debris into bin bags & laid them on top of the trench (which I'd also covered with spare bags). Kept it toasty. Early spring I opened up the bags & continued filling the trench. Think I must have been the Original Bag-Lady ;D I only had to do the 2-spit trick once - every second year, now, I go down one spade-s depth and repeat it. It's really worked for me. Cheers, Lishka
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Perfect timing this post. :) I have almost finished clearing and digging my plottie and have decided where I am going to do my runners and frenchies and wondered about a trench. Have heard and read about it, but never done it, so will have to start excavating in preperation. (Wonder if I can bung a bag or 2 or seaweed in when I get home from the beach....... ;D)
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Did someone mention Runner Bean trenches? One of my favourite subjects. Two spits deep at least - mine was dug out to 3 feet. Runner beans absolutely love things like half-rotted weeds, newspaper, cardboard, old wool flock mattresses, old woolly jumpers etc. (wool provides a slow but very long term supply of nitrogen in the soil as it breaks down). Prepare your trench now, mixing in all the above stuff into the soil, adding generous handfuls of bone meal as you go (up to 6ozs per sq. yd in total). Do this to about 6 inches below surface level, then mix your well rotted compost into the last 6 inches. Then leave the trench to mature until sowing or planting out time.
Runner beans also love manure, but too much of it makes the beans all twisty and bent - they`ll never win at the local show and they take much longer to slice up.
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Ummm...Hugh...ummm...what's the depth of a spit please? I'm guessing one spit is a spade depth. If so, I've got problems in that just over a spade depth, and I'm into very heavy "white" clay. Do you have any advice for that situation please.
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Always assumed myself its a spade's depth - but.... I happen to have a spit which is a longer narrower shape than your usual spade. It has a curved surface and tapers to a narrowish curved edge - its well over a foot long, so let's hope a spit is not a spit's length or we'll all be digging forever. However, if you can get a spit they are great for deep excavating of horrid clay - we used ours in our very clay garden when digging out for a stone pathway - having permanently bent two really strongly made spades!
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Hey, Ceri, that's interesting. Didn't know that such a tool existed. Is it very old or recently bought?
Colin, I meant to the depth of 2 spades and I battled the clay too. Couldn't do it now, but it was worth it. Never needs doing again..buy in the Radox and do a bit at a time. Wish I'd known there was a 'spit' tool when I did mine. Cheers!
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The long narrow spade was originally designed for digging drainage ditches. They are still available from Farm supply outlets. We dug one up from the Wood at the bottom of the garden. One day I will fit a new shaft to it.
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Have spent the morning shredding paper, junk mails etc. ;D I know shredded paper will go in the compost, (newspapers, plain paper) which is why I borrowed an electric shredder, and had great fun doing it, (Got a bin bag full!) but the question to you all is, can the glossy paper go in? Will it break down ??? Have to say a great way to get rid of all that wretched rubbish I get through the door daily! (Also sister had £600 charged to her credit card by someone so getting rid of all stuff with name address on etc!)
Dotty P.
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Hi, firstly, you can get them at B & Q etc., except they don't call them spits anymore, drainage spades or some such name.
Secondly, made a couple of lovely (I hope) bean trenches this morning, layered newpaper, seaweed, veg peel and grass cuttings, all watered, covered in soil and stamped down - then got called to work - yaa boo sucks - on such a gorgeous day as well!
Ah well - am going with child and husband to pub for an hour - mainly to tire child out for an easy bedtime! See you all later
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Shredded glossy paper will break down, just more slowly than say newspaper. However highly coloured printed paper may contain heavy metals as part of the coloured inks. Take care.
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A reply to Colin......
I`m afraid I`d gone to bed before your query, and I`ve been busy outside all day. Hence the late response.
A lot depends on the pH of your white clay. Although most clays are acid, some white clays are strongly alkaline, so do a pH test on the clay itself (not your top soil).
Whatever the result, you have to dig out a trench down to clay level - take all the topsoil out completely and stack it on the side. Then you need to break up the clay with a fork, at the same time mixing in all the materials I mentioned before, the heavier the clay the more stuff you need to mix in - newspapers particularly (don`t bother to seperate them, dig them in whole), bvut avoid the colour supplements as they take years to break down in the soil. The thick layers of newspaper, even before they break down, will provide channels for the bean roots to go down which they wouldn
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Sorry Colin, for some reason the board decided to post in mid sentence. Contd.....wouldn`t otherwise have, and as they break down to a rich `chocolate cake` like residue they will keep the clay open.
The point of the pH test is that if your clay is at all acid, as you break up the clay you can add Calcium Sulphate (gypsum) to it at the same time at the rate of a good 8 ozs to the sq. yd which will increase the colloidal properties of the clay, but will not quarrel with any of the other stuff.
If your clay is neutral, use only half the rate of gypsum, but if your clay is alkaline don`t use it at all because although runner beans like a certain amount of lime, adding gypsum to an already alkaline soil may take the pH level beyond their normal tolerance.
With clay subsoil like yours I would definitely try and get hold of an old wool flock mattress and dig the contents into the clay. Because it breaks down so slowly it will cause a `honeycomb` effect of little blobs of compost remaining in the clay for years, increase the level of colloids, and provide slow release of nitrogen which will help to maintain the colloidal effect.
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Thanks Eric, will keep them to a minimum, best idea I think to put them in the council recyling and let them deal with it! I shall just stick to the "normal" stuff! :)
Dotty P.
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I keep getting error 'Please register' over and over although I have done! So this is really a test posting. I started a new plot last year, 200 sq metres. Had one seasons growth out of part of it and intend to open up more ground for next year. I have 4 compost bins of which 3 are full. I have just taken down a row of climbing runner beans, they make an excellent base additive for a compost heap. (If this post works I may be back!)
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Getting to grips with what I need to be thinging about. I have a garden compost but will be planning on having a lottie one (or 2)
as well.
I think I can put weeds in. Is this right? Seems a bit odd to me, do they really break right down?
Also, someone once told me that you shouldn't put potato peelings in a compost as it steals nutrients from the other composting materials. Has anyone else heard this? Do you believe this?
Still waiting to go and pick my site - can't wait!
Thx SG
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Summergirl - you can put most weeds on, but not roots of periennial weeds, or weeds with seed heads or flowers on. (although some people do put these on anyway). certain weeds such as cooch grass should not be put on at all.
I put all my weeds into a rubbish bin and when it's full I top it up with water and leave for three months. Then put the solids on the compost and the liquid can be used as a liquid feed. Bob Flowerdew recommends this method.
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Thanks Ceri - I think I'll give that a go.
SG
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Compost is my topic of the day, so another question if you'll bear with me.
I use a wood based cat litter - can i add this to my compost (not the poo).
Hadn't even thought about until I read about pet bedding.
Thx
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Okay, nothing to do with compost...
but has anyone else noticed that all the posts before today say at the bottom 'edited jan 1. 1970' !!!!
not quite sure the internet was going then let alone this website!!!
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I was wondering the same thing - is there a risk of disease ??
Alison B
Compost is my topic of the day, so another question if you'll bear with me.
I use a wood based cat litter - can i add this to my compost (not the poo).
Hadn't even thought about until I read about pet bedding.
Thx
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Wood, neat or 'processed', is mostly composed of carbon. Carbon is not a nutrient for either plants, bacteria or fungi and may actually tie up nutrients as organisms processing it use them. Adding too much to compost may impede it's decomposition.
Cat feces can pass on both parasitic nematodes and toxoplasmosis. Humans can become infected by both. The symptoms are minor, but irritating, except in those with compromised immune systems and pregnant women where major health problems can occur.
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Thanks so much for the star tip about coffee grounds :) :) :)
I have just collected my first bag of mixed coffee grounds and biodegradable paper from the Starbucks next door ;D and they are delighted it's going to be put to good use! A real win win. The amount they have is surprisingly small, so I have asked to pick up the entire week's output every Saturday afternoon. :P
Lots of peeps recommend as an anti-slug measure spread over beds, and I see from the threads they will be good filler for the compost heap too.
Is there anything I should watch out for ::) if my compost or beds are receiving a high proportion of coffee grounds, like acidity? Are there any veg you know that wouldn't appreciate the bounty from the Guilty Bean? ???
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Thanks wardy, hoped you'd see this one ...;D
I just took over the next door plot (eek :P) which is a weed field, so will use the coffee grounds as a layer of mulch under black plastic. Will let you know if bindweed enjoys espresso treatment ;D ;D ;D
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I was about to start a thread but this one will do... Can I compost brambles, nettles and bind weed?
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I am not an expert but here is my opinion. Nettles are great, lots of nutrients in them. Bramble you would have to chop it up if it was very woody so it would break down easily. I wouldn't put bramble on however if it had a root on it. I would only put bindwood on if you were very sure it wasn't rooted also, as it is a devil and will grow profusely anywhere. I have it growing up all the way round my lottie fence and it is terrible to shift.
Some might disagree and say that everything rots down if your compost is hot enough but I am not so sure about that especially this time of year. :) busy_lizzie
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I've got a pile of roots drying out ready for burning. There was a skip put next to my lottie for me to use to clear the site but everyone else used it and now it's gone and I still have a lot of clearing to do. Picking up some pallets today to make my bins.
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I get accused of been obsessed with recycling. The kids get told off if orange peel goes in the wrong bin!
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I get accused of been obsessed with recycling. The kids get told off if orange peel goes in the wrong bin!
Tee hee, me too. A lady from the council came round last week asking questions about what we recycle, I was super enthusiastic and asked her more questions than she asked me. She ran away in the end, think I scared her off.... ;D ;D