Eating a Vegetarian Elephant

Chiglepig

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, nice job to be preparing the garden for winter 😊 I made leaf mould last year but it's still sat in a bag, must make a new batch this year. Fortunately we have plenty of leaves round here, so a few bags won't even make a dent in what's scattered all over the lawn 😂

I find making it in bags takes two years, so I'm planning an open wire heap this year to see if that's any quicker.

Edited to add: I also need to work out where I have room for a second wormery. My current one is full to the brim, and with the worms slowing dow for winter, I have nowhere to put my veg waste. It's a worm annexe or a hotbox composter, but I don't know if they are as good as they claim for the money.

Karmacat

I've been wondering about an open wire-type leaf mould thing, in the front yard; it would be on crazy paving, but whenever I tidy things there, I have to go slow because there are so many worms already hiding in the leaves and the moss.  I'm sure I won't be able to do it this year now,  but its lovely to hear about all that greenery you're creating  

Cheery_Daff

I had an open wire one for a bit but then a chicken jumped in and couldn't get out 🙄😂 should have just put a lid on it, but ended up using the mesh for other things anyway. Might try again!

Chiglepig

Cheery_Daff said:

I had an open wire one for a bit but then a chicken jumped in and couldn't get out 🙄😂 should have just put a lid on it, but ended up using the mesh for other things anyway. Might try again!

@Cheery_Daff - if I had room and better behaved dogs, I'd have chickens, they seem like right little characters!

Chiglepig

I looked at the hotbins - mega-bucks so I looked up adding another wormery the same as the one I already have -much more expensive than I remember. It's made me feel better about a hotbin, which is bigger and more versatile. I'll have to see how generous Father Christmas feels this year.

themadvix

When we were moving a hotbin was on my Christmas list as they didn’t do food waste collection there. Still quite tempted though as we could compost the cat litter too and the heat from the process would mean I wouldn’t have weed seedlings in my compost (or the random pansy in with my strawberry plants!). It would have to replace our current compost heap though - just not enough room otherwise. Will be interested to hear your decision (and more about the wormery too!)

Chiglepig

@themadvix you have me on my favouite subject - compost - apart from germination it may well be my favourite thing about gardening   . Glad I'm not the only one with compost based Christmas lists

I've had my wormery for well over 10 years now and it's pretty self sustaining. It took me a few years to get it right, and I still have to leave the finished compost out for a few days to dry before it's usable (it's never the crumbly texture promised straight out, but I may be putting too much in it), but the 'worm tea' fertiliser is great through the year, especially for my lemon tree. I mostly use the compost for the open bed in my greenhouse where I grow cucumbers and physalis.

We've decided to go for it - because it doesn't have to sit on soil it can go in the front garden alongside the wheely bins. I'm interested in using it for dog poo too - I would imagine if you use pelleted wood cat litter it would work really well - we used to use that for our rabbits, it made brilliant compost

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, exciting to be able to compost dog poo and cat litter! I do occasionally consider a wormery... but for now our three bay home made compost system works perfectly well and is completely low effort - chuck everything into one bag and then ignore it for a while, and eventually shove it on the garden 😂 Occasionally I turn it if it needs it, but basically it all just rots down anyway. We have an excellent mix of veg peelings, coffee grinds and chicken bedding/poo which just seems the perfect blend 😂

Chiglepig

The chicken bedding/poo makes for great compost @Cheery_Daff . I already have four plastic darlek compost bins, but they are a pain to turn and empty and in the back garden. We already have too many rats for food composting in the open

themadvix

We only have room for a one-bay compost heap, which is part of the issue Cheery - it doesn't allow much for turning, or access to what's at the bottom. I'm also debating a wormery for Christmas... such exciting presents I want! 😂