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Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 5:55:28 GMT 1
I'm making a two cubic metre compost bin at the moment but am getting conflicting information on how much rain is best to allow in through its lid. Leave it open and it loses too much heat and slows the process right down; close it completely and it also slows the process down. Anyone know the right formula?
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 13:04:12 GMT 1
Post by marchesarosa on Nov 11, 2012 13:04:12 GMT 1
I have two big (bottomless) plastic barrel-type bins with close fitting lids provided free by the council years ago. There are no holes for rain. They NEVER get full but are a seething mass of worms and the contents just constantly reduce in volume! I can't remember the last time I emptied either of them, possibly 15 years ago? I just use them for easy, environmentally friendly disposal of food waste. If I chose to spread the contents on the garden I'm sure it would be wonderful after all these years, though! If you wonder why I don't spread it, it is because there is almost complete ground cover in the gardens to reduce the need for weeding!
I only put in raw veg and fruit waste (+ teabags and the occasional eggshell), not garden waste - that would be far too bulky. We send that off in special brown wheelie bins for the Council to compost. Keeping the bins sealed certainly produces a bit of heat especially when they are in the sun!
Not a lot of help for you, nick, I'm afraid!
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 15:36:10 GMT 1
Post by principled on Nov 11, 2012 15:36:10 GMT 1
I'm no expert Nick, but like Marchesa I have the same bins and compost the same things, plus the addition of the odd a cereal box and newspaper. I also put in grass cuttings as well. The container that has had more damp grass cuttings certainly contains more worms. The other looks dryer and there are no visible worms in that one, but there was a large ants nest (to be discouraged from what I've read)! After some research I killed two birds with one stone by pouring in hot water to wet the compost and make the ants leave! I'd would have thought that an open bottomed composter must ensure that the lower levels of compost remain moist by osmosis. A few times per year, I take out some of the lower, well rotted compost and put it back over the top of the new raw vegetable/fruit waste. This helps the moisture content and effectively turns over the compost. My wife has used the compost for flower boxes etc and we haven't had any major plant failures, so I must be doing something right! But as I have difficulty differentiating dandelions from daffodils, you may wish to take what I've said with a very large degree of caution!!!
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 17:49:09 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 17:49:09 GMT 1
Thanks M & P. I know from old experience that a compost heap with no rain access works very slowly - far too slowly for the amount of waste this garden will generate. I made one about ten years ago, the last time I had a sizeable garden, with about a 50-50 cover, and that used to produce about a cubic metre and a half of good quality soil every year. I know when silage making first started in earnest - promoted by the MoF in WWII - the ministry design left it entirely open to the rain; but I suspect that was for ease and cheapness of construction more than any scientific principle. I'm making it out of some old larch fence panels I've replaced - I think I'll just make the lids sloping, with the overlaps upside down, see how that goes.
By the way, P, I'm a little distressed to hear about your poor ants! About 60% of all plants are pollinated by ants, you know, and at a time when we've never had fewer bees in this country their role has become even more crucial. Ants are our friends - the whole biosphere depends on them!
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 17:53:20 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 17:53:20 GMT 1
(There's a three imch gap between the larch and a chicken-wire enclosure, by the way, before anyone raises the obvious objection.)
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:02:43 GMT 1
Post by principled on Nov 11, 2012 18:02:43 GMT 1
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:02:45 GMT 1
Post by Progenitor A on Nov 11, 2012 18:02:45 GMT 1
I had a formula fo you Nick, but it turned out to be compost
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:05:59 GMT 1
Post by Progenitor A on Nov 11, 2012 18:05:59 GMT 1
(There's a three imch gap between the larch and a chicken-wire enclosure, by the way, before anyone raises the obvious objection.) Thre's your problem Nick! Try making the gap three inches!
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:22:20 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 18:22:20 GMT 1
Ah, you're excused then. "Give it a good turn" is clear incitement to douse them with boiling water, no question, or give them an electric shock with some jump leads. You're excused your attempted anticide due to your mitigating propensity to take remedial action to extremes. Like those Frenchies going round trying to run over the British cycling team. Or Nay Ninebellies, trying to shed his Uncle Montydom by eating nothing at all but wine.
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:26:46 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 18:26:46 GMT 1
I had a formula fo you Nick, but it turned out to be compost Pi$$ on it?
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Compost
Nov 11, 2012 18:30:35 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 11, 2012 18:30:35 GMT 1
(There's a three imch gap between the larch and a chicken-wire enclosure, by the way, before anyone raises the obvious objection.) Thre's your problem Nick! Try making the gap three inches! Sorry - it's an Isle of Wightish dialect term. Like "mouthcloser" for a middle class person. That is, someone who once went to school - somewhere other than the Isle of Wight.
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Compost
Nov 14, 2012 11:32:30 GMT 1
Post by jonjel on Nov 14, 2012 11:32:30 GMT 1
Nick,
I make compost, lots of it, and all I do is to make the bins out of old pallets. That works out at around 3' cube. Composting relies on both air and water plus a bit of heaqt casued by bacteria breaking the stuff down. I dont normally bother to cover mine, but have sometimes used a piece of old carpet. That can keep the heat in, and also lets the rain in. I have also used old chain link fence as opposed to pallets with a few solid posts driven into the ground.
The two things I find that work are try and build the bins so you can take one side off. It just makes it easier to fill it and empty it. I did once make fancy ones with slats that would slowly raise the level of one side, but that is too much farting around unless you have a lot of time on your hands.
And I fill one, and when it is full fork that into the second bin (I actually have 3, all in a row) which aerates it, then fill the first one again, using the original load on the garden.
The mistake a lot of people make is to simply fill with grass clippings, and that will give you a soggy unusable mess. You need to add some woody stuff, and maybe a spadeful or two of soil as you go.
People say you can use the contents of the hoover. You can, but if you have a dog then you will find the dog hair never rots down! And you can add torn up cardboard, or newspaper, which does rot down.
There is a lot of crap spouted about compost - I even saw a 'well known' garden expert making compost in huge bins and rotovating it! Waste of time and effort, and petrol.
Good luck
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Compost
Nov 14, 2012 15:28:14 GMT 1
Post by mrsonde on Nov 14, 2012 15:28:14 GMT 1
Thanks jonjel. It's nearly done now - I should be out there finishing it now, in fact, given this beautiful weather; I'm pretending it's too hot, thanks to AGW.
All your ideas make good sense, and I'd probably have done something along those lines left to my own devices. You've left out a vitally important factor in your designs, however. Women. They don't tend to be too impressed with their lovely chic jardins being decorated with builders' pallets and bits of soggy old carpet for some reason. Go figure - their ways are indeed mysterious.
I might post a pic of my magnificent creation, just to prove what a fat-head I am.
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Compost
Nov 14, 2012 19:45:40 GMT 1
Post by jonjel on Nov 14, 2012 19:45:40 GMT 1
Paint it green man, and get her to stencil some pretty flowers on it!
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