17th August 2017 - Composting

As you've seen my blog posts have slowed down because frankly there's not much that I need to do and so there's not a lot to talk about but I will either post blogs or vlogs as things come up.

We are at the end of the season and so that means that I'm sorting out my compost and preparing my beds for things that I can plant now as well as which of the beds I need to tuck up for winter.  Last year there was one bed that I didn't cover and didn't plant anything in to and in the spring it was very weedy.  I won't be doing that again!  Back to the compost then - I have a 3 bins system which were made from old pallets.  I don't turn my compost regularly because there's simply too much of it.  What I do is fill up bin 1 throughout the season.  At the end of the season I empty bin 3 onto my beds and I move the contents of bin 2 into bin 3 and the contents of bin 1 into bin 2.  


One of the things I really do notice is that even at the end of the first season the stuff I've put in has broken down well.  I work hard to give my compost lots of variety of green and brown stuff.  I have blogged about making compost before so I won't go into it in any detail again but I will say that I do cold composting, which is essentially chuck it all in and let it do its thing.  I don't have formal layers so things just go in as they're needed.  I bring cereal boxes and egg boxes fairly regularly and kitchen waste that can't go into the wormery (such as onions and citrus fruits).  Tearing or screwing up paper and card creates air-pockets which also helps.  

Because I move the compost into the next bin at the end of the season it means that the very green stuff on top of bin 1 gets put to the bottom of bin 2 with all of the compost that's already started to breakdown piled on top of it, which again helps it to breakdown.  The compost in bin 2 could be used straight onto the garden at the end of this season (this is the stuff that was being put into bin 1 all season last year) but I like to let it breakdown further so that it's really really good stuff at the end of the 3rd year. 

As you can see the compost in the 3rd bin is very good.  I've been really pleased with how it's broken down and as I've said above it could be used now.  I did consider using it straight away and then giving my 3rd bin over to a leaf mould bin because I don't want to have an empty bin and I don't currently have anywhere to make leaf mould but I've stuck to my guns and I hope that means I'll have really good compost at the end of year 3.

I am a no-dig gardener and so adding organic matter is really important to the way I garden.  I don't actually add any more compost to my garden now than I did when I used to dig, the only difference is that I just leave it on top and let the worms do all the work for me instead of me digging it in.  

This year has been more successful in some ways than last year.  I've done well with the peas, I've done fantastically with cabbages in the polytunnel and I'm really pleased with how I've managed most of the crops in the polytunnel.  I've not done so well with the outdoor brassicas - I got one good cauliflower but the others went over.  The cabbage whites got to my sprouts and they need pulling out.  The swede look great; even though the leaves are now all gone.  I'm going to think about how I protect my outdoor brassicas better next year and I've already talked with Mr L about what he can build me that I can easily get into but that will fold up to be put away.  He pulled a face at me but you never know! The most successful thing was the sweetpeas which I really enjoyed; I'm letting them go over now and I will be using those seeds for next year.

My next task will be to plant onions and garlic to be ready in the spring and I'm going to get some spring brassicas planted so fingers crossed on them too.  I don't want to repeat last year where I didn't get up to the plot really at all during the winter.  I might not spend as much time there but I will be popping up and doing small jobs throughout the winter.

Until next time then - happy gardening!