My Veggie Garden

[Toddy]

Andy, my compost heaps don't heat up apart from the little that they absorb from the Sun. They are full of brandling worms though, and even when we empty them entirely the worms somehow reappear to colonise the bins again. They make beautiful compost, and they'll eat almost anything.
It's not as quick as a compost bin that gets hot, and you do need to take care not to put weed seeds into the heap, but that's it really. Just let nature get on with it.

If you're pretty sure there's good compost down at the bottom, then take the top layers off and put them in the empty bin and just start piling stuff on top again.
It seems counter intuitive, but doing it that way means that the layers do get turned over and some air let in among them too.

We have three big black plastic compost bins, and between the household peelings, shells, etc., grass cuttings, and weedings and tidying up, interspersed with all the leaf litter that falls on the garden paths, they tick over nicely through the year. The result is very fertile, crumbly, organic rich, worm worked compost.
That you can get hold of horse manure too, has got to be a bonus

M

 

[British Red]

The great advantage of a really hot compost heap is that it tends to kill the weed seeds more effectively. I am trying some experiments at the moment with using a dalek composter inside one of the greenhouses. It is being filled with layers of fresh horse manure and coarse green stuff with a handful of compost accelerator. The intention is to see if I can generate enough heat to make an appreciable difference to the greenhouse temperature. If I can, I would like to try heating one greenhouse over Winter with manure.

So far the results are startling.

 

[Toddy]

That sounds a bit like the old hot beds. Be interesting to hear if the compost bin does provide long term seasonal heating

M

 

[British Red]

It is based on those principles Mary. I built a hot frame in the Spring to begin the experiment, but never got the manure mix right for optimal heating. I am now working on that mix to use both in heating the greenhouses and in hot frames.

Just for laughs here are some readings

External Air Temperature (16C)

Air Temperature by British Red, on Flickr

Greenhouse internal temperature (25C)

Manure Greenhouse Temperature by British Red, on Flickr

Compost temperature (41C)

Composter Temperature by British Red, on Flickr

Now there is a lot to work out - not least how long does it stay warm? But a delta of over 20C will make an enormous difference if harnessed in a Hot Frame. Whether there is enough heat to make an appreciable difference to a greenhouse in Winter? Time will tell.

 

[Pandabean]

Panda, I am new here and must say your garden is beautiful. I make bad videos but am learning the main thing is to keep them to 2 minutes tops. Even then they get too long - or it seems as I have gone back to my old ones. No one told me - they just did not watch them much.

I have to get going on the weedy mess I have let develop when my string trimmer quit after being left in the rain a couple weeks. I did a couple half hearted rebuilds and they were unsuccessful and today my $4 carb rebuild kit arrived. This is it when neat - but it is my terraces and edges that have run amouck - I need some good weed spraying to get it back.

Thanks for the advice, I may try some shorter videos. I have never done vlogging before but I have watched plenty of other people doing it and some are good when they are 10-15mins long like Rickvanman's channel. I used to teach courses for work before and for that you have to talk for days upon days and spread things out so people could understand the concepts.

I let a lot of my plot go to weed over the years, I just didn't have the time to keep up with all the space. I have found that organising the beds to be much more successful and once autumn has come I will be gathering up plenty of leaves to make a leaf mold which can be used to cover the soil and hold back the weeds.

Have a look at using alternating layers of cardboard and grass clippings. I tried this one a spot last year and it worked well.

Andy, my compost heaps don't heat up apart from the little that they absorb from the Sun. They are full of brandling worms though, and even when we empty them entirely the worms somehow reappear to colonise the bins again. They make beautiful compost, and they'll eat almost anything.
It's not as quick as a compost bin that gets hot, and you do need to take care not to put weed seeds into the heap, but that's it really. Just let nature get on with it.

If you're pretty sure there's good compost down at the bottom, then take the top layers off and put them in the empty bin and just start piling stuff on top again.
It seems counter intuitive, but doing it that way means that the layers do get turned over and some air let in among them too.

We have three big black plastic compost bins, and between the household peelings, shells, etc., grass cuttings, and weedings and tidying up, interspersed with all the leaf litter that falls on the garden paths, they tick over nicely through the year. The result is very fertile, crumbly, organic rich, worm worked compost.
That you can get hold of horse manure too, has got to be a bonus

M

Thanks Mary, I will turn the compost over into the other bin. I keep adding to the pile bit by bit really. I guess I should stop and start a new pile?
I have been keeping out weeds and potato peelings from the compost in order to prevent them spreading over the place when I spread the compost out. I may be missing out on a lot of material by not putting weeds in but I am always concerned about things like couch grass and other invasive/spreading weeds.
Hopefully i will get some more horse manure in the near future as well as the used straw.


I have managed to get some Maris Peer potatoes from a local hardware shop and two potato grow sacks/bags from poundland.
Do I just fill the bags with a mixture of compost and soil and layer the potatoes every few inches? Can this then be left outside until the frosts come without causing damage to the plants?

 

[Pandabean]

Forgot to add, how much of a calabrese plant can be eaten? I have noticed one plant that has generated a large flower head, but I am not sure if that is it for that plant.

 

[Toddy]

It's possible to cold compost weeds, just keep a black bin with a lid on it for them, and keep it wet. Put it somewhere out of the way, 'cos it'll stink, but they'll really rot down and give you brilliant fertiliser liquid It's anaerobic to some extent though, so before your use it pour a jugful of the liquid into a bucket of plain water and that'll sort things out no bother
It'll stink like the bottom of an old pond, but once it's been on the go for a year or so, empty it into the start of an empty compost bin and it'll take off very well indeed, and you just start again.

No worse than manure really I suppose.

No idea about calabrese…..though those kind of things I'm inclined to reckon (rhubarb and tatties apart) that if you can chew it, you can eat it

M

 

[British Red]

With the spuds, put one in per square foot with 4-6" of compost above and below. Roll the top of the bag down. As the plant grows, roll up the bag by 6" and add 6" of compost or soil. Do this twice till you have earthed up a foot. Start them in the greenhouse and keep them in there till Yule. If you need more growing space, old compost bags or feed sacks with holes cut in the bottom work fine as do rubble sacks and large plant pots. Only use one or max two seed spuds per sack!