Compost-tastic!

Long as you don't spread the compost Loofah. :D

 

Good for you Loofah nothing better than your own compost bin, in no time at all you will wonder how you managed without one!Hel.xxx.

 

I bought 2 compost bins last year and filled the 1st one turning it about 3/4 times id added a composting powder to it (am i allowed to name the brand?) as well as nettle leaves. I was delighted to find that by sept it had rotted down well and i had 'black gold, to use. I was so chuffed i was sniffing it like the gardeners on tv. My first success, I was thrilled to bits. I love my bins.

 

Smells lovely doesen't it marionj..Sweet..

 

I keep my s****s in an old adhesives bucket of my hubby's outside the back door. I end up with plenty to take up to the bin along with a bag i keep near it full of shredded paper and tea leaves i've emptied out the bags as the bags dont seem to rot very well. I'd love sum manure too but hubby against having 'a pile of that muck hanging around' . I'll just have to make do with a bag of pelleted cow manure i've got instead. I'm wanting to get as much goodness into my soil as i can so as to give the veg i want to grow the best conditions to grow in that i can.Hope i'm as succesful later in the season with the veg as i was with my first lot of compost. I shall be a truly happy bunny if all goes well as it's my first attempt at veggies.

 

I've been composting for a year now, and cant wait till i use my first batch. Just nervous about using the first lot.

Whats the best thing to do with it at this time of year?

I have a lot of clay soil that needs sorting. Should this get the treatment first?

 

would i be correct in thinking

if it smells right its gonna work

 

NewbieGreen, you can buy stuff from most garden centres that is supposed to break up clay soil very quickly. I've never tried it myself but I wonder if anyone on here has, they may be able to tell us if it works or not?
I just use as much leaf litter, animal poo and waste garden green matter as I can get my hands on, rotted or not. My old garden was heavy clay and this method got me a decent soil within two years.

 

Terrier, I think you are talking about Clay Buster, and no it doesn`t work. The best way to break down clay, is to turn it over in the Autumn and let the Winter frosts do the work for you. You then mulch with whatever organic material you have, especially the contents of your compost bin. Just lightly fork this into the top few inches and let the worms do the rest. Repeat every year and you will have fantastic results.

 

Didn't it used to be called acta bacta David, its main constituent was gypsum.

 

I think it was/is marketed under several names walnut, but you are right, the main ingredient is gypsum.

 

Wow its sooo black, and its come with baby worms in :D Just spread my first few bin bags of it into my clays beds i call the pond, and am really surprised. I didn't realise i had so much at the bottom of my bin, but then i have been doing it for about a year.

How come the compost you buy from the garden centre isn't this black? Thats normally browner....

[ 06. April 2008, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: NewbieGreen ]