Thread for COMPOST, compost discussion, compost tea, etc.

I don't use any animal manure or artificial fertilizers on my veg plot, so I have to compost like a crazy man to replace the nutrients in my soil. I've kind of organised a compost collection thing at work and all that goes straight up to my allotment. Well I say organised, but basically I've put a collection bin in each of our kitchen areas and people just chuck their tea bags/coffee grounds/banana skins in them and I wind up with about 4 kilos of material each day. I run commute so it normally means a heavy pack running home - it would make much more sense to compost on site and take the finished compost away with me but there's nowhere really to put a composter without pissing someone off.

Anyhow, I've got a row of 8 large plastic dalek-looking compost bins and basically I fill them up one by one and by the time I've reached the end, the compost process has finished in the first one. It's a pain to try and mix the compost while it's doing its thing, so I just pile it in and leave it alone. I do stab at it with a big metal pole though, just to let some air in. Have never added any worms but it's always amazing how many there are in there. End product is decent enough, but cos there's a high proportion of tea-bags going in, I get left with all these weird ghostly plastic tea-bag exoskeletons blowing around the place.

Aside from that, I've got about four compost bays made out of large wooden pallets lashed together and all my garden waste gets chucked into those. Again, I don't bother turning them, but that's mostly cos there are always frogs/slow worms/lizards living in it and I don't really want to disturb them too much. Once a year though I'll carefully dig a couple of the bays out and use the contents for earthing up potatoes.

Jesus what a dull post.

Not dull at all! It's like most of ILX basically attained The Allotment Age around the same time, and this stuff is now absolutely fascinating!

I get left with all these weird ghostly plastic tea-bag exoskeletons blowing around the place.

this is a problem with the big pile I was talking about, it is maybe 75% paper, and we have to be extra vigilant about hot tea/coffee cups in particular - they have what we call "cup condoms" inside that shiny white paper, a plastic lining that never (well, almost never) breaks down. a big part of our job is educating people about those, and trying to get vendors to stop using them (they are cheaper than the compostable hot cups, money talks at festivals)

universal problem with laminated products i guess, hard to recycle cos it's not easy to separate the layers

so L is now trying this fancy brand for her compost tea starter:

http://earthfort.com/

she made up the first batch last night - unlike the previous method, where you just mix all the compost and starter into the water, this one requires you to mix the starter and some fish emulsion directly into the compost, then let it sit for 36-72 hours while (I assume) the microbes multiply. After that, you can put it in the water. The fish emulsion is super stinky, hope that all goes away during the brewing process. It should be ready to put into the water tonight or tomorrow morning.

I've got one of those bins that you can buy cheaply from the council and get a curious enjoyment from thinking "It's full" and then finding that a couple of weeks later there is plenty of room for more weeds/kitchen scraps. I don't think I've ever used any compost though.

If any Londoners want to know about COMPOST, we are doing a COMPOST WORKSHOP at the Streatham Community Garden on the 31st of August. (registration may be required, I shall ask if anyone has any interest in attending) Come and learn everything you ever wanted to know about COMPOST!!!