Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: pepsi100 on September 21, 2021, 19:50
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Now I dont know if this is in the right place, but I'll ask anyway
I put all my grass cuttings in a black bin, it has a sliding front panel to remove any compost that has been made
But it doesnt seem to be doing very much this year
Anything green goes in there, grass cutting, weeds, dead flowers, the contents from hanging baskets (flowers, plants and soil) I have added cabbage leaves carrot top, potato peelings, nothing cooked though
I have thought about adding shredded paper, (would they be okay ?)
Then I add a couple hand fulls of garotta, then a spray of water to dampen it down
I dont know if I am doing it right or just adding stuff to get rid of it, but its not warming up, it does have a lid on the bin, just to stop vermin and birds
How long do I have to leave it before I can use it (I will be spreading it over the soil and rotoring it into the garden
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Sounds like you have too much 'green' material, especially grass clippings, which tend to turn into a compacted mass which is slow to decompose.
More 'browns' required - shredded paper, cardboard - mix it all together as best you can to allow air into the mixture. Try to keep it all damp rather than saturated.
With any luck you should find it starting to heat up, but even if it doesn't it will still compost quicker than it is doing at the moment.
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Thanks for the reply
I wasnt sure about adding shredded paper, I guess any newspaper, magazines are fine ?
(the wife gets her weekly magazines, they should be okay ?
I have a cross cut shredder, so it cuts the paper pretty fine
That usually just goes in the recycling bin along with any cardboard
Do I just rip the cardboard boxes up ?
When I add the Garotta, its just to dampen it down, not saturate it, I dont add water to the grass cutting, always seems wet enough
I havent turned it over yet but now I will when I add the shredded paper and cardboard
I'm off to add this paper and stuff to my Darlick bin
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Yes, rip the cardboard up into manageable sized pieces, same with the paper if it's easier than shredding - don't need to be too fussy about it.
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Personally, I wouldn't add coloured/glossy magazine pages, they don't seem to rot down properly, same with boxes that have a glossy outide layer on - like cat food boxes :(
You can also use any larger cardboard boxes you get, in layers across bed surfaces. Over winter the cover stops the surface from getting too hard and the worms have usually taken most of the cardboard down into the soil by spring.
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I think the best thing to do is lift the bin, re-site it, then break it all up, add the shredded paper and cardboard, then put it back in the bin
The grass is just a big ball of wet grass, with a couple of broken up sunflower stalks (sort of woody bits) so I'll break that up and layer the cardboard and paper
I am hoping I have cut the grass for the last time this year
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I have now moved my Dalek bin, added shredded paper/cardboard, dead grow bags, then mixed it all up with the grass/dead plants. added a good handfull of garotta
When it comes to getting rid of the hanging baskets, everything will be going into the Dalek, plants, soil, everything in the baskets
I had a really good crop of tomatoes this year, they will be going into the dalek as well, but checking there isnt any small tomatoes on them 9they started growing last time)
Here's hoping it works this time :D
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Obviously you'll want to use up the Garotta, but once it has gone, use urine as the activator.
Bob Flowerdew always recommended it as Personal Liquid Fertiliser or Liquid Gold and at one stage the National Trust were even asking their male visitors to pee on their compost heaps :lol:
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Now its funny you saying that, I just started doing that
When I was in China, we saw it every morning, a pot would come out and over the plants
We were a bit dubious about eating fresh veg, but after a good wash, we all survived (mind you we never at much salad stuff :nowink:
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well it sounds like we mite have to get the old potty out of the cupboard under the bed my mother used to call it the guzunder if I get arrested for flashing watering my Dalek bins what should I say to the magistrate when i go to court I'm very sorry but I was only adding liquid fertilizer to my Dalek bins ::)
well the national trust said it was OK Sir but the lady next door didn't think it was the thing to do first thing in the morning before having her cornflakes :D :D
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Hello is the garotte the liquid or granular type? see if you can get hold of some comfrey leaves and un flowering nettle tops,empty the bin chop the comfrey leaves and nettles up and mix with the stuff out of the bin re fill the bin after a couple of days it will have warmed up ,also drill some holes at an angle facing down to let air in, a full bin should be rotted down to half capacity in a couple of months jezza
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The garotta is the granular one, I try and put it in layers on top of grass cuttings, leaves and plants that have had their day, flowers, tomatoes, then cardboard and shredded paper
Plus I have been adding urine to it on a daily basis (haven’t convinced the wife yet though)
I can’t feel any heat from it, buts only been a few days since I moved it and mixed it all up
I think there will be one more of the grass cuttings to go in then the hanging baskets, they are looking pretty sad now
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Hello check tomato plants for blight before putting in the compost bin,unless it gets to a temperature above 80 degrees it wont kill blight jezza
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My tomatoes were really good this year, no blight, no green fly (or any other fly)
Considering I only had 6 plants this year, I got over 3 kilos, (small orange ones, cherry tomatoes)
Kept a couple for seeds next year
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Today I opened up my compost bin, it had gone down quite a bit, but I had been adding cardboard, shredded paper, tissue paper over the winter
They had all disappeared, okay there was still a few twigs and root threads left, but the grass cuttings which are just usually a a green slime had rotted away, even that pond weed (the stuff like hair) had gone
I read or someone said urine is good for composting, I guess it must be, mine got regular doses of it
I have raked it over the soil, tomorrow I'm going to dig it in with my rotavator (give it a day to dry out)
The rotted stuff is very dark and rich looking
Cut the grass and I was going to put that straight in the bin, but on seconds thoughts I put a layer of cardboard in first, then a layed of grass, more cardboard, then finished off with a final layer of grass
(I read somewhere, worms cant get enough of ribbed cardboard)
Now I got a whole summer to refill it
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I think the nitrogen in the urine helped a "wee" bit :nowink:
It's well known that if the ratio of carbon:nitrogen is not right, 23:1 or lower, decomposition won't "go".
Your finished compost likely also had a good number of worms, insects etc. in it. These organisms are highly beneficial for composting.
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I never saw many worms in the compost or that many bugs
I would have expected lots of worms and bugs, but I didnt see any while I was raking it over the soil
Maybe I should introduce worms to the compost to help it rot down or get eaten
It never smell very much, just a good earthy smell, which I think is a good thing
All the twigs and woody types of stuff I put back in there with some more cardboard and shredded paper, then layered the grass cuttings
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Earthworms could help, if your compost has some earthy material in it (old soil from potted plants for example).
If you add them, do so after the compost has gone through.and cooled down from, any hot decomposition phase. Otherwise you will just cook the worms.
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My Compost container never got hot, when I felt it it, it wasnt even warm (frost was on it some mornings)
Yes, all the old hanging baskets plants went in there, soil, plants, the lot
old cabbage leaves, grass cuttings, anything green or dead went it there
Then it was just a case of adding green stuff in the winter (cabbage, sprouts, carrot tops, onion skins)
I think worms would help both the compost and the soil
I ran my rotavator over it today, it seemed devoid of bugs, worms (maybe when I had chickens on there, they ate all the worms)
Now to look for earth worms
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I'd look for the earthworms outside, following a good spring rain. We tend to see a lot on roads and driveways at times like that. For some reason, I tend to see more after a thunderstorm.
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I had looked in fishing tackle shops, then on Ebay, but the worms there seem to be more fish food, I dont think they are the kind of worms I would be after
(Are all earth worms the same ?)
Even on my grass I rarely see worms or worm casts, if they do appear, the crows are straight in there
Any suggestions where to get earh worms for a compost heap ?
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I thought the worms in compost heaps tended to be brandling worms, not necessarily earth worms?
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Yorkie
I thought worms were just worms, I cant tell the difference, just fat or thin worms to me
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I thought the worms in compost heaps tended to be brandling worms, not necessarily earth worms?
Brandling worms are a type of earthworm.
My compost bin is a large cylinder of plastic lattice, open top and bottom, sitting on soil. Many kinds of worms move into the compost from the soil, including brandlings but also night crawlers and other types. As long as the compost is moist and touching soil, the worms will move in.
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I have two dalek bins side by side.
From the house I put all my veg peelings in it, along wit h torn up loo rolls, tea leaves and coffee grounds (even what I squeeze out the dolce gusto pods).
From the garden, its grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, all kinds of veg and flower plants and plenty of weeds (but not any seeded ones like dandelions).
Do rip all the personal bits (so no shredding and put them in water and squished an hour or so later they go in the bins as paper.
Do rip up some thin cardboard (like cereal packets or delivery boxes from the likes of amazon) and put in once a month.
About once a week I fork it about in the bins and once every few months lift up the whole daleks with their lids and fork it all onto two old flat compost bags and then mix it up between the two bins and place the dalek back over it.
About every six months or so while doing that, I take a fair bit of the lower beautiful compost out for use.
It generates loads of worms for me, some that I allow to stay when taking the ready compost.
Have always once a week, added a little urine, from a filled jar in the bathroom.
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Like you, if its green, it goes in the bin, I have been having quite a few deliveries, so cardboard is ripped up and in there
So far, just cut the grass onece, into the bin with it, but I layered it with cardboad, then a sprinkling of Garotta, then dampened down with a drop of pee
(does pee affect the worm population ?)
I haven to much else to put in there yet, so its a work in progress
I still havent been able to find worms to put on the earth (I dug it over, there just wasnt many there)
All the worms I could find on ebay were for fishing, maybe I should open a worm farm
I still put all my coffee grounds in there, quite a bit, the filter paper goes in as well, not so sure about tea bags though, I got told they contain plastic, I dont know how true that is
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A lot of tea bags do contain plastic. If it doesn't say plastic free on the box, assume it is in there.
As for worms, there is this place. Its not that cheap but they sell proper composting worms.
https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/collections/live-worms
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Ah as I suspected, so just tear the bag open, bag in the bin, leaves in the compost (Why would you put plastic in teabags ?)
Thanks for the link, so its off to order some worms ;)
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tea bags all the veg leaves and peelings don't put any food waist or paper or cardboard that's all for the recycle bin it must be doing some good because there's loads of worms in the bins some bins are mixed with horse manure
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I've always found that the worms just move in at the right time, ie close to the end of composting, if the heap is on bare soil. Most paper and cardboard have soy based inks and/or a clay based design on them so are fine to compost. Some do of course have a plastic part to them, if you have ever tried to compost a tetra pak orange juice carton for example you will end up with plastic in your pile.
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A few mixed messages here, cardboard, recyling bin or compost bin ? :mad:
Well I put all my shredded paper and cardboard in the compost bin
When I opened it up, it had all gone, dont know if worms ate it or it just rotted away
Newspaper is very good at breaking down in a Dalek bin, even the wifes weekly magazines (they go through the shredder first though, smaller bits, faster it rots away or becomes a meal for worms or bugs)
I have a deep seated hatred for Tetra packs, not onlythey dont rot away, they are hard to open, spill every where, and leave a sticky residue if you burn them, they seem to last forever
Worms are on their way, 250grams ;)
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I read or someone said urine is good for composting, I guess it must be, mine got regular doses of it
I might need to buy and stow a small watering can next to the toilet! Perhaps a yellow one . . . :D :nowink:
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My worms arrived, I put them in my Dalek bin, sperated them, rather than just dump the whole lot in there,
Put a thin layer of grass cuttings over them (I was thinking about insulation, its going to be a hard frost tonight)
Anyway, went back about an hour later, looks like they have tunneled their way into whatever is in the Dalek now
I might hold off for the pee and cardboad for a while :nowink: