Help MBE grow his dinner 2010

mrbadexample

So, having been prompted, I've been out for a couple of hours today. This is what it looked like this morning:





Bit of a mess, thanks to all the leaves from the nearby trees, but not too bad.

mrbadexample

I haven't got much in the way of food left. Some carrots still in one of the tubs, and some as yet untouched parsnips:



I'm really looking forward to digging them up. Soon.

Does it matter that the leaves / stems are brown? They won't rot will they? :undecided

mrbadexample

And for all those interested in composting, this is how I'm getting on. I built this compost bin on about 10/11 April, so it's only 7 months old. I have worked reasonably hard to find stuff to put in it, although I have been helped by the bloke at work who's got a horse.



You can actually see where I've tried to build it up in layers, rather than putting too much of the same thing in all at once.

I've been threatening to turn it for ages, and today was the day. I forked it all out:



It seems to be rotting very nicely - not much in there I could identify!

I shovelled about half of it back in, then went round the garden collecting more stuff. The dead tomato plants from alongside the fence and in the greenhouse, soggy brown rhubarb leaves & stems, the finished runner beans (although I left the root in as I've read somewhere on here that you're meant to do that) and a couple of cauliflowers that didn't form a useable curd. They were quite big, and the stems were probably about 2" thick. I chucked those in too. I know they'll take ages to rot down, but I assume I'll just find them when I come to use the compost next year, and have to chuck them back in.

So once I'd put that lot in, I added another bag of horse manure (but saved a bit which I put round the rhubarb), some shredded paper, then shovelled in the rest of the tipped-out compost. Finally another bag of manure on top. It's pretty full now, about 6" from the top. I know it'll rot down more, but I'm already thinking that I'll need another bin before long. One to fill and one to use sort of thing.

mrbadexample

So, a couple of hours work and the garden doesn't look very different to when I started! But it's a few things out of the way that needed doing. I should make the effort to do a couple of hours each weekend, but I'm lazy and it's not so attractive now the weather's colder & wetter.

I thought I'd better drain the fuel from my Mantis tiller, then run it dry for winter storage. Surprise, surprise, the damn thing won't start. :mad: I've just got this feeling that I've completely wasted my money getting the thing serviced. I've only used it to dig one bed. I wanted to do another one before the winter, but what with one thing and another it never happened, and isn't likely to now.

Question is, what to do with the flippin' Mantis? I'm furious. What's the point in having it serviced if 4 months later it's useless again? :mad: If I'd left it with fuel in over the winter and neglected it, then I wouldn't have much to complain about, but it was last used in early September, at a guess.

emiff6

That's a grand big shed you've got there, MrBE.
I'm too impatient with my compost bin to leave it in layers - I turn it out every month or so to see how it's rotting, then panic that I'm letting all the built up heat out, and shovel it all back in again, so it all gets mixed up, and somehow only fills half the space that it did before - bit of a bottomless pit really. Fruit fly production has slowed down at last though - when I take off the lid only a small cloud comes out - shivering and reaching for their overcoats!:rotfl:

mrbadexample

The tub my parsnips are in is frozen solid. I wanted to make stew.

So I've dragged the tub inside to thaw out.

lolly5648

I have some red onions still in the ground buried under snow - will they be OK or should I lift them asap?

mrbadexample

lolly5648 wrote: »

I have some red onions still in the ground buried under snow - will they be OK or should I lift them asap?

I don't know, but I'd guess they'd be ok. Someone will undoubtedly correct me shortly.

jaxx46

My leeks & swedes are still under two foot of snow hopefully the rain will sort that out. Mr BE where did you get the seeds for the waking stick kale pls?

mrbadexample

jaxx46 wrote: »

My leeks & swedes are still under two foot of snow hopefully the rain will sort that out. Mr BE where did you get the seeds for the waking stick kale pls?

Thompson & Morgan.