I have to blog about composting because...


...I've noticed people's eyes glaze over when I try telling them about it face-to-face. What's wrong with them? This is fascinating stuff!

To recap, there's been a compost heap in the far NE corner for 18 months or so now, nothing new added to it since the summer. I'm resisting the temptation to tidy that up and put what must now be fully degraded compost onto one of the beds because that corner will be a winter refuge for frogs and invertebrates.

Nearby, I started another heap, between the fence and the pond. The reason for the location was that I'd noticed when I was away in 2016 that that area got heavily weed infested, not to say jungle-y, and one way of scuppering weeds is to make their corner of the plot into a work area, in a "these boots were made for weeding" kind of way.

This heap was made up mostly of the florists offcuts, and guinea pig litter, which seems to have led to a really good C: N ratio because it composted really quickly.  I turned it regularly, and left it alone for a while, too, and was always surprised at how quickly it was breaking down and shrinking away.

I left that heap alone for a while because the florist's offcuts were going to the mulching operation. When that was done, I started using this heap again. The photo above shows the heap, a turned mixture of the existing almost composted material, 3 bags of recent (last couple of weeks) florist offcuts, and 3 (smaller) bags of guinea pig litter. Also household vegetable waste, but that makes up a relatively small amount by volume.

The disk near the top of the heap is the thermometer. I'm turning the heap every other day, and it seems to be beginning to work - it's a couple of degrees warmer than the ambient temperature, (12C versus 10 this morning).

I'm taking the time to blog about this because there's not much else to focus on at the plot until I get around to starting work on the shed, and I want to record it for future reference. The heavy mulching with raw florists offcuts is a good technique, but only really usable on a bed that's been set aside. I want actual compost, and plenty of it, for no dig mulching, for example between rows of growing plants. I have a feeling that one large-ish bag of cutting per week, (which is roughly what I get) is going to be just right. In any event, it's not going to be too much.


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