today I turn the compost

[HiDelight]

my least favorite garden chore and since I suffocated it and it needs some serious air ...ugh

I love compost ..just hate turning the pile ..one of these days I will have a drum composter so I can just turn a crank

right now I just have to use a pitch fork and hope there is nothing too disgusting to bring to the surface! and since this particular bin has been neglected for a long long time who knows what I am in for ..I should just cover it with dirt and call it a planter!!!!

blech blech blech

 

[lesa]

Hope it went well- just think of all those wonderful nutrients!!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I don't turn mine; I just layer carefully & leave it alone. I'm too old for all that & I have back problems if I'm not very careful. Years ago I turned & turned. I didn't think it was worth the sweat....!! If you have the room for a few bins, as I do, leave it to rot down in it's own time. Sometimes I put a steel pipe in the centre of my biggest bin & give that a bit of a wiggle when the compost gets deep; that lets a bit of air in lower down.

Enjoy your weekend! The weather has improved at last -- real sunshine at last & so many :bee :bee :bee everywhere!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

well I took the bin apart..spread the compost around a bit and made it into a flower bed (for next spring) right there..and moved the compost bin over about 5 feet...

it was not so bad but there was still a lot not broken down so I think I will just put newspaper over it and let the worms come up and finish the job for me

it is way toooo much work to turn it that is for sure ..I want a rotating drum composter that you can just dump out when it is done!

I am going to have to get the chipper out for the big heap I have it is never going to break down if I do not chip some of it up!

I have three piles going now and one bin

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Here we can get big black plastic compost bins cheaply -- they are subsidised by the local authorities to encourage people not to put vegetable matter into their waste bins for collection. I am about to order a couple more as well as water butts. They take ages to be delivered but they are dirt cheap so...........!!

Have a great Sunday!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

Oh but think of all the lovely compost you will get from that. It will be ok.

 

[HiDelight]

Hattie I wish we had those inexpensive bins here! I would have one in each yard if they had those here!!! I have four yards and each could make good use of a big composting bin....know some counties here have those bins for little or free ...but we dont yet and I can not find anything reasonable so I use plastic to cover ..newspaper over beds that are not quite broken down ..and the one nice sized bin I have ..also chicken wire around the piles works well and lets me see what is going on...some counties also pick up yard/food waste for public composting ..we are yet to get that ...and I could contribute because for some reason I make more waste in the yard than I can keep up with composting??? how does that happen?

between pruning and weeding and pulling and clearing beds and and and and ...I just have great big heaps and would love for the city to pick up the extra to go into the massive composting efforts!

want to hear something kind of cool I have one compost pile just for flowers that I used to put the dogs and parrot waste in ...well the dogs are now only going there so I just add chips and yard waste on top of the poo and they started their own composting pile ..and I never have to pick up poo! they climb the hill and poo on top then I cover it with fresh compostables!!! YAY ME!!!! no more poop patrol!


Herbsherbsflowers and Lesa you are both right the end result is so worth the effort!

almost time to clean the coop and share the wealth with all the compost piles

it is worth it and good excercise but I still dont like messing with compost

maybe I can talk the 11 yr old manchild to do a worm bin?

I am so nervous about getting the chipper out I hate that thing and always envision body parts getting torn off ..and considering I worked in an ER that is a valid thought but it has to be done again soon

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I had a lovely present in the middle of the week but I didn't realise until the rain stopped 2 days ago. my neighbours who breed ponies bought round 5 huge bags full of horse-poo mixed with grass cuttings. They have a wonderful machine which I call the" poo-vac"that picks the droppings up as it cuts the grass, mixing it together. so when I get receive it the heating-up process has already started. So now I have one whole bin seething away with layered goodies & the other bin is a quarter full. The big bin will be ready for winter top dressing for my roses & clematis & for the raspberries. The smaller bin will be great for the raised beds in the spring. I can easily ask for more horse manure. I am so blessed by great neighbours but as we are only 9 families here we all try to get on well with each other & help out if someone is away or sick etc. It is very special in this day & age. I'm on cat feeding & plant watering duty for the next 10 days while friends up here are away on holiday.
Hope you are all having a great Sunday!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[davaroo]

Here we can get big black plastic compost bins cheaply -- they are subsidised by the local authorities to encourage people not to put vegetable matter into their waste bins for collection. I am about to order a couple more as well as water butts. They take ages to be delivered but they are dirt cheap so...........!!

Have a great Sunday!


:rose Hattie :rose

Well that is one decent thing to come of the dole...