Composting July 2018

Here are my observations about collecting the compost on Friday.

It is over three years since we have been using the hot-bin compost bin, you might think we would be experts by now.

As previously, I emptied material from the bin onto the ground, and then took a spade full or two at a time onto a tomato grow-bag sized tray, sifting through to remove unwanted material before tipping it into a 50 litre garden carrier.

What I removed was mainly - twigs, set aside to re-use; they help oxygen get to the composting process - tea bags,  to discard; it seems they are made of plastic as well as paper, - and stones, presumably from garden rather than kitchen waste. There was also a brass buckle.

What was left included a lot of eggshell fragments. I thought this would look unsightly, but even used as a top dressing, it looked okay.

I started the task in light drizzle, a bit of a rarity this summer, but it brightened up. I still ended up quite wet, from leaks and splashes using the hose to clear up.

I collected less this time than eleven months ago, hopefully I will continue with little and often. Including some additional tidying up, it took just under two hours.

By taking less, the remaining material stayed in place, making it easier to replace the door.  Later I pushed the material down while bracing the door with my knee.  The luggage straps holding the door closed had snapped since last time, and for now, the door has held good without them.

So that is it for a month or two, hopefully less than eleven.

The Compost Bin

I emptied some compost from the compost bin today. This is how I went about it.
1. First I swept up the space in front of the bin. We had a broken window pane a while back, and while most of the glass fragments had been cleared away, there were still a few that needed sweeping up.
2. I edged the bin forward a few inches, and opened up the door at the bottom, cleaning up the soil from the edges, so that it goes back cleanly.
3. Using a spade, I dug out some compost from the bottom of the bin. I took out a wedge, up to the top of the door at the front, making sure  I got to the back at least at the bottom.
4. I then cleaned up the faces where the door fits, and then put the door back in place. I was lucky, the remaining compost did not fall down to fill the void until after I fitted the door, and secured it with ties.
5. Taking three or four spadefuls into a tray, I lifted it up to table height, and took out any large pieces that did not immediately crumble in the hand.
6. The twigs went to one side to be reused. The twigs help the oxygen get to the composting process.

7. Pieces of slate are ready to wash and put back onto the slate path.

8. I threw away everything else I took out: nested pieces of egg shell,  peach stones, avocado skin, pieces of plastic. There were other chunks of unidentified material that did not immediately crumble. Although tea bags did not compost that well, we will continue to compost them, as the tea itself seemed to compost okay.
9. I ended up with one and a half tubs of compost, which we will cover with plastic sheets to keep the compost dry before we use it.

10. Finally I tidied up, passable well.