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When we first got our plot - we diligently set up a compost area; put pallets together and each year we traipse all the compostable material to the compost area and back again when it is done.
So, after having all the bad manure trashing our lovely soil - I am mainly composting on the vvv bad area in order to dilute it's effects.
All the compostable material for that year will go to that bed; but here's the rub - we won't be moving it off, it will stay where it is.
After doing this I came to the conclusion that having a stand alone compost area is a bit of a waste of space; and time, and energy.
I am now practicing Situational Composting - so in places around the plot, on the beds - I am putting all the compostable material. I have the big bed as above, a Dalek and a 'nearly Dalek cone' and a green cone.
The Daleks sit on different beds each year, and get filled all summer and autumn and in the spring, it will be lifted and any non-composted material will be shipped to it's next position, and the composted stuff will just be raked around that bed.
As I have 2 moveable Daleks, I can have one at either end of the plot - so less time and energy spent walking with 'stuff'. And no barrowing compost back up once it's done.
The Green Cone which is usually for kitchen waste - will be used for perennial weeds only. You don't ever empty it - as it has a cage at the bottom under ground and the worms can move in and out and take the composted material deep underground.
The pallets will be reused - as salad bars - at the back of the plot in the shade - on their ends, filled with compost and planted up with lettuces - and the spare space vacated can be used for planting or [shock horror] a seating area - with flowers so my wildflower patch can be shifted there over the next year.
It means as the Daleks move around, the beds all get a fresh covering of compost every few years without having to endlessly barrow stuff round the plot. The big bed is now piled up with compost and I'll be sticking squashes in the top [the good stuff] and growing them up a vertical Wall of Squash.
So, after having all the bad manure trashing our lovely soil - I am mainly composting on the vvv bad area in order to dilute it's effects.
All the compostable material for that year will go to that bed; but here's the rub - we won't be moving it off, it will stay where it is.
After doing this I came to the conclusion that having a stand alone compost area is a bit of a waste of space; and time, and energy.
I am now practicing Situational Composting - so in places around the plot, on the beds - I am putting all the compostable material. I have the big bed as above, a Dalek and a 'nearly Dalek cone' and a green cone.
The Daleks sit on different beds each year, and get filled all summer and autumn and in the spring, it will be lifted and any non-composted material will be shipped to it's next position, and the composted stuff will just be raked around that bed.
As I have 2 moveable Daleks, I can have one at either end of the plot - so less time and energy spent walking with 'stuff'. And no barrowing compost back up once it's done.
The Green Cone which is usually for kitchen waste - will be used for perennial weeds only. You don't ever empty it - as it has a cage at the bottom under ground and the worms can move in and out and take the composted material deep underground.
The pallets will be reused - as salad bars - at the back of the plot in the shade - on their ends, filled with compost and planted up with lettuces - and the spare space vacated can be used for planting or [shock horror] a seating area - with flowers so my wildflower patch can be shifted there over the next year.
It means as the Daleks move around, the beds all get a fresh covering of compost every few years without having to endlessly barrow stuff round the plot. The big bed is now piled up with compost and I'll be sticking squashes in the top [the good stuff] and growing them up a vertical Wall of Squash.
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