Composting

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pepsi100

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Composting
« on: September 21, 2021, 19:50 »
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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JayG

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Re: Composting
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2021, 08:53 »
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.
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2021, 09:33 »
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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JayG

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Re: Composting
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2021, 10:26 »
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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mumofstig

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Re: Composting
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2021, 10:50 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2021, 11:07 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2021, 13:41 »
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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mumofstig

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Re: Composting
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2021, 14:21 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2021, 14:29 »
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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rowlandwells

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Re: Composting
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2021, 16:34 »
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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jezza

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Re: Composting
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2021, 16:19 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2021, 16:31 »
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
« Last Edit: September 30, 2021, 17:42 by pepsi100 »

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jezza

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Re: Composting
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2021, 17:26 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2021, 17:46 »
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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pepsi100

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Re: Composting
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2022, 15:05 »
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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