KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

greenbee

My chicken-owning neighbours aren't the kind to compost or use food waste to feed the chickens. I'm amazed the chickens survive TBH

I don't generate a huge amount of food waste generally, and I put what I can in either the compost or the garden waste... it would just be nice to have a regular collection particularly during hot weather. It would also mean that my main bin probably wouldn't need collecting very often.

I'd also like the rest of the recycling to be improved. I've had numerous discussions with the council - I took part in a consultation on improving recycling rates and they kept coming up with excuses. Mostly that they wanted people to recycle more of the stuff they already collect rather than add to the variety. Given that part of my job at the time was about waste management and recycling I wasn't impressed with the response.

PollyWollyDoodle

Ahem, I have to point out that DEFRA (or whatever they are called these days) rules prohibit the feeding of kitchen waste to chickens. Yep, I can buy a whole cauliflower and give it to my hens, but were I to cut the white bits off that cauliflower for my dinner, I could not then feed the leaves/stalk to them. Obviously, as a law-abiding citizen I wouldn't dream of flouting the rules. Ouch, my nose seems to be growing.

My hens produce fabulous compost.

Floss

Our council used to do green/food collections...then realised they could save AND create revenue by running a spring to autumn chargeable garden waste service. No food waste. I aint paying for something we wouldn't use. Any veg trimmings go to the rabbits kept by a family over the road, or onto the allotment.

[Deleted User]

I have a hotbin for composting and it is utterly marvellous, makes compost so very quickly and gets very hot. It is basically thick pieces of coated and dense polystyrene, with a lid and vents. Every scrap of any food waste and plant material goes in there, also paper shreds and composted bark from time to time. It makes black compost in weeks and I just shovel it out from the bottom

I hate what is happening to perfectly good arable fields here, now owned via consortia of millenials from london,they hire someone to spray a few times then the whole crop is snatched up and taken to the bio digestor, what a waste of good land, which used to be old magnificent orchards and could now support real food

So the dvd watching continues from time to time and sherlock is very good, I will be on dvd1 for another two stories. Such clear definition and keeps me engrossed

House hunting, yes I hated it and have stopped looking further afield. Slimey estate agents, even one who `dragged` me to see a completely unsuitable house at the end of a track. I never forget that they work for the vendors at whatever cost and no wonder some of them drive such big posh cars. All they see is a little granny-like person, not knowing that I have an astute brain with a capacity probably three times what they have, they all look taken aback when I take out my compass and why wouldn`t I. When I try the switches in the bathroom to see if there is ventilation, when I turn room lights off to see how dark it is in daylight

I am calm now and will be waiting for fate to happen, not being affected by children and what they think is right for me. No neighbours know yet but seeing other properties, I do know that my house will sell quickly and that will be one big kondo

maryb

I used to have compost bins but although I was careful only to put veg waste in (and uncooked at that) we still had rats. After the council introduced food waste collections I did that instead for a while but now I alternate between taking veg scraps up to the allotment and using the food waste. Obviously I have to use it anyway for plate scrapings and chicken carcasses etc. And if I'm busy and/or the weather is vile then I use the food waste instead of the compost bucket if I don't think I'll be able to get up to the lottie in the next day or so

What irritates me is the council nagging about the volume of food waste. If you just shove ready meals in the microwave you'll have a lot of plastic waste whereas if you cook from scratch you'll have more peelings

greenbee

I guess what the council prefer depends on where you are maryb... my mum's council is rural, so they'd rather have food waste they can use in anaerobic digesters and composting than plastic waste they have to pay someone to get rid of!

pandamonium

We have one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Ideas-Tumbling-Composter-TMK-01577/dp/B00TXENI9E/ref=sr_1_17?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1525116591&sr=1-17&keywords=composter
for kitchen waste and some of the Guinea pig bedding. It's the only thing I've ever had any success making compost in and we only have a tiny garden. It makes fantastic compost. It cost about a third of the current price though.

[Deleted User]

I just had an unexpected kondo. Went out to decide what to do with a lilac in a pot, been there for over 15 years and it only ever flowered twice but this year, 2/3 of it had no green buds at all and I have no land for it, to replant.

Lightbulb flash, 2 years ago I planted a lovely young lilac in a very big salt wash pot but an alibaba pot, knowing I would never get it out. I had a pink lilac and a lilac lilac, so I bought this one

https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/syringa-vulgaris-sensation/itemno.PL00080740/

Up the wooden steps I go to look, wondering if I could cut around the inside of the alibaba pot, to get it out to replace half dead lilac and heyho, on the pot back there was a freeze/thaw crack and that was all I needed, lump hammer out and I managed to ease the extremely heavy tree out. Put it in a large tray and dragged it across the slate, then slid/bumped it down the steps, luckily it fell into the wheelbarrow at the end. Old tree out and new tree in the and never again will I ever grow anything with roots in an alibaba shape. That kondo happened due to nature and strangely I was quite sad at the thought of leaving that alibaba pot, which is no more and the old lilac will go to the green bin to be sent back into the land

and I am cream crackered

Slinky

I've just been to have a look at my lilac, with its one flower head. Still not quite showing whether it's going to be a lilac lilac and therefore moving with us, or some other colour and staying behind. It's certainly not white, or dark purple. It's either lilac or pink I think.

We've identified a pot that it can go into. Like Kittie's we've discovered it has a crack in. At present it's home to our bay tree, but the bay is at a very wonky angle. We're going to try and find a suitable new pot for the bay tree to be rehomed into and straightened up. If the lilac comes with us it can go into the cracked pot for now. Thanks for the mention of alibaba pots Kittie, their shape hadn't occured to me as being an issue before but I can see where you're coming from on this.

I also want to locate some troughs. We have some lovely daffs which I've no idea what variety they are but I'm sure we'd struggle to find something similar. I intend to dig these up next year and replant in troughs we can take with us. OH was concerned that we wouldn't be able to move these successfully, until I pointed out that we've moved them once already as they were originally growing where our sitting room extension is now.

silvasava

Dry day so we got out in the garden too. My neighbour has put up a new fence, his garden backs onto the side of us and their ground is lower. DH did suggest they use concrete bargeboards as the area is wet but they haven't. They used the original concrete posts so DH found a couple of BBs lurking and has propped them on our side but they are kept away from the new fence by the posts - not sure if I've explained that very well.
We took last year's blackbirds nest out of the wisteria in case they want to use the same place again. Already have one nesting at the bottom of the garden. Lots of old plastic compost bags gone in the bin. We do reuse them for ash and woodshavings to pass on to other people but one lady always replaces them.
Runner beans, tomatoes and cucumbers planted after tidying the greenhouse (all cleaned a few weeks ago) kondoed lots of weeds.
Feel satisfied that a god few items have been crossed off the list lol!