Topic: | Wheelies or sacks? | |
Posted by: | George Knox | |
Date/Time: | 15/09/11 09:15:00 |
I am quite amazed that composting is so difficult for some people. It actually is quite therapeutic to run a bin rather than put the contents in a bag and lug it out to the front for the refuse men. I have had a wooden sided compost bin (following the footsteps of Father) for decades and not once have I had a problem. How people get slimy compost beats me. I put grass dead flowers leaves eggshells egg boxes peelings and certain weeds in there and get text book compost without doing anything. Putting cooked food in a bin is asking for trouble. The garden at the most is 50 feet long and not wide. It is important to try and mix the waste rather than just put endless grass cuttings in. I probably am breaking some rules, but without any deleterious consequences, by putting grass on flower beds to keep the soil moist. If I find worms in the garden then I transfer them to the compost bin – they do important work which helps. I have used garotta, and having a discrete pee on the compost at some early hour in the morning also helps. The only debates which rage around what goes into the bin concern weeds and which type and also whether you cover the bin and with what. Mine has always been open to the elements. I don’t put couch grass bindweed or dandelion roots and flowers in but most other weeds do go in. In the summer when the compost is working properly the contents get really quite warm – which is most satisfying. I have seen plastic bins work but with a lid on the contents seem to get too dry and the process does not appear to work. I don’t like plastic especially in the garden. If you cannot afford a wooden bin then there are endless redundant planks which can be found on builders skips. Only once in all the decades has there been a field mouse which made a nest in the bin. I have had one bumble bee nest which a bee keeper friend removed and once there was a wasp’s nest which got the powder treatment WELL after dark. And no rats in the bin. I do see rats but I suppose most of us do – there are so many. My composting means that only twice a year or so do I have to go to the dump. That is to take un-compostable growth such as branches and twigs which I do not use as stakes to hold up the plants which grow next year. I used to have bonfires and put the ash on the flower beds – but sadly not very PC these days. I don’t really see the point in having fortnightly collections of garden waste. Monthly would be quite enough. |