Monday 22 May 2017

Bigger Compost Area!

So last week I showed you how I'd tidied up my compost and started a new bin full, but within a few days I had already half filled it, I also have the shed I used for the sheep to muck out and some wood chip from a few years ago that is breaking up nicely. 
I decide to add a few more bins to my collection for all this lovely compost material I'm going to have. 
Bit of a mess
The area around my bins (cleverly hidden in my last lot of photos...) is home to some slabs for the patio and an assortment of building materials. I had a bit of a tidy up and cleared a patch.

The girls giving me some advice. 

I rolled out weed membrane between the sets of bins as I wanted to keep this area really low maintenance. 
I then gathered up some pallets from around my little farm. As I've been doing so much building work I could find just enough to make what I wanted.
Three new bins on the left.
A few screws later I'd made three more large compost bins. Using the tractor I started two of them off with some manure and a layer of two year old wood chip that is almost broken down, I then added a layer of comfrey to act as an activator. 
Comfrey added as an activator 

I'm quite pleased with this new area considering all it cost was a handful of screws! I'll keep all my tubs of plant food I'm making (comfrey and nettle tea) in this area as well, it should work well as a composting area for me. 

I might now leave a gap wide enough for the tractor bucket and then build another bank of 3 or four compost bins and try to beg a load of manure from one of my fathers friends to compost further, ready to use for next year. 

What do you think to my rustic compost area? Do you have a set up similar to this?

8 comments:

  1. I think I have serious compost bin envy. That cannot be healthy in a grown woman.

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  2. I see that what I really need on my Allotment is a tractor rather than the wheelbarrow I currently use to shift compost !!

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  3. Yup. Pallets are wonderful things and exactly the right size for compost bins. Your compost area is looking really business-like and will serve you really well over the years.

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  4. I'm doing a comfrey and nettle tea. I've also done a banana skin once which is high in potassium and an egg shell wash. Crushed dried egg shells put in a food processor with water. This is excellent for tomatoes apparently.

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  5. I really must sort out my compost bins; they're falling apart!

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  6. A brilliant composting area.

    We have three compost bins similar to yours made out of pallets and old fencing. Two 'dalek' style plastic ones at the backof Chicken World for bits and bobs when I'm weeding near the house, and LH's large manure bed at the edge of the paddock.

    I'm also trialling having a mini slatted wooden compost bin in the centre of one of my raised beds and it seems to be working well, the run off is really feeding the soil all around it and the bed is full of worms.

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