Tea? (Part 2)

[Speicher]

A glass of white wine would be very nice. Not so keen on red wine.

 

[TheDoctor]

Cor, Speicher, you don't half know how to live!!!
I have got a Carridice bar bag assembled onto the Carbon Uberbike.
I hate it.

It's like watching The Stig towing a caravan. The steering's all wrong.
I was so aggrieved that on my 31k ride earlier, I decided not to do another climb up into Preston (the local high point around these parts) but to go to the pub instead.
I enjoyed my beer
I didn't enjoy paying £1.50 for a half of it
Sadly, Speicher were I to offer you something none-red-wine-ish, it would be Laphroaig...

 

[Speicher]

Offering me some Laphroaig could not, under any circumstances, be considered sad.

 

[TheDoctor]

Righty-ho, when I venture towards your little world, i shall know to bring some of Islays finest with me.
Ooh!! While I was cycling earlier, I happened upon the Chilterns Cycleway. 170 miles of hilly goodness, starting on my doorstep (ish) and heading on down to Henley and back. I may have next summers project sorted

 

[Arch]

I have been rearranging my compost!

Compost bin A is a standard black dustbin, obtained free from next door, and was started as a compost bin, to see how it would work. Garden stuff and brown stuff has been added over the last year.

Compost bin B is a purpose built green recycled plastic one, with a hatch at the bottom and a lid at the top. This was started as a compost bin at the end of May. I have gradually been adding "new" greenery to the bin B, and some old partly decomposed greenery from bin A. I am now half way down bin A, and reached fairly well composted material. Should I put this on the top of the stuff in Bin B, or leave the stuff in Bin A to completely decompose? Who knew that compost would be so complicated?

When I take well composted stuff out of bin A or bin B, can I dig it into the ground in the autumn? or does it need sieving, drying out or anything. Assitance would be welcome as I am a complete numpty newcomer to decomposing.

If the stuff in Bin A is fairly well composted, could you take it out and dig it in? If it's not that advanced yet, then leave it in there, and carry on filling Bin B. When Bin B is full, Bin A should be ready.

I think you can dig it straight in. Sieving would probably only be necessary if you wanted to use it for potting or seed sowing, or if there seemed to be a lot of large lumps or uncomposted bits. And why dry it, when it's going to get rained on.... Autumn is a good time, as it can leach its goodness out over the winter, I think.

Doctor - Carradice and carbon!? Well, it's radical....

We found a zombie's head at the recycling compound today....

God knows where it came from, it's a proper fibreglass model. We've stuck it on a stick, god help anyone who walks past in twilight....

 

[Speicher]

Thank you Arch, for that advice re composting. I thought that might be the best, leaving Bin A for a few more months, otherwise, I will have compost at all sorts of stages. In the autumn it can be dug into or sprinkled over the garden.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

If you want to speed up the composting process a good digging and mixing helps. If you have the energy. I do it about once a year with the most recent pile - otherwise some of the layers in there (long grass from my hay making) doesn't rot down. But you can just seperate the non rotted out when you dig it out for spreading anyway.

This cuppa Mrs 26x25 brewed is good. She is no expert (believe me) but she seems to have got this brew right.

 

[Arch]

I don't know how well they work, but you can get corkscrew sort of things to twist into compost and help to lift and turn it over - perhaps a bit easier than trying to lean over and turn it with a fork.

 

[Speicher]

When I have added cut grass to Bin B, I have sort of turned it and mixed it with brown paper etc, this seems to help. Bin B took a long time to get half full, but now when I add stuff and gently shake the bin, it seems to settle back down to half full. Over the winter less will be added. I also have a large brown wheely bin for garage rubbish when there is lots of pruning. This is collected by the council and made into compost.

With a large wheely bin for Recycling, and a small bin for leftover food, my black dustbin is almost redundant now. I do not want to attract rats by putting food in the compost bin.

 

[wafflycat]

Morning all. I have just waved off WCMnr on his first day of new job. Temporary, basic pay stuff, but it's work and it always looks better on a CV that one has not been sitting on one's rear doing nothing. So he's off with a packed lunch of freshly made soup, bread & fruit. When he gets home this evening there shall be a 'proper' meal of lean steak, new potatoes, roasted tomatoes and green beans freshly picked from the garden.

 

[Arch]

Good luck WCMnr!


Speicher, if you want to compost even your food waste, you could get a Bokashi bin:

http://www.leangreenhome.co.uk/bokashi/bokashi-explained/

Or rather two, I gather you have one composting and one filling up. And you do have to keep stocked up with the special bran, but I don't think it's expensive...

Tea?

 

[wafflycat]

I have a butternut squash plant growing out of one of my compost heaps. I'm hoping for plenty of butternut squashes later in the year!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I have a butternut squash plant growing out of one of my compost heaps. I'm hoping for plenty of butternut squashes later in the year!

Very nice waffles. Did you arrange that or did it just spring from a random seed?

In my case it's potatoes growing in the compost heap. Presumably from whatever was chucked in the compost bin...........

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Good luck WCMnr!


Speicher, if you want to compost even your food waste, you could get a Bokashi bin:

http://www.leangreen...ashi-explained/

Or rather two, I gather you have one composting and one filling up. And you do have to keep stocked up with the special bran, but I don't think it's expensive...

Tea?

Em errr - no food waste at chez 26x25. I eats it all

 

[Speicher]

By food "waste" I mean the tiddly bits of fat from lamb steaks etc, two cubic inches of cheese (which I did not like because it smelt like old socks) etc. Very rarely is real edible food wasted chez moi. I bought some mangetout or something similar, which was very tough and not nice, so it was made into (excellent, tho I say so myself) pea soup, enhanced with the last teaspoon of peanut butter in the jar, and a teensy smidgeon of Five Spice Powder.