Communal Composting

[Sheneval]

Our Allotment Management Commitee have called for volunteers to build a Communal Compost Heap or Heaps using pallettes.

I have serious reservations about such a facility as I think it will just be used as a dumping ground.

Anyone got any experience of such a facility and how it works?

[VirginVegGrower]

Our council don't allow bonfires or have communal composting. So most lazy folks up there dump it all in a big heap, which has just taken two tractors to shift it over a weekend. Shocking. People just have to be disciplined. Will they?

[rustylady]

Don't you have your own compost heaps on your plots?

[WendyC]

Apparently this was tried at my site before I joined. It was a disaster. Somehow because it was plotholders sole responsibility folks weren't too fussy about what went in, plastic bags, perennial weeds, you name it. Personally I'd be reluctant to use the resulting compost as you never can be sure what's in it. If it gets in a mess who's going to clear it up.

[VirginVegGrower]

Don't you have your own compost heaps on your plots?

I do, RL but others just chuck all their weeds on this big pile. I take the weeds home in a bucket for the hens. But thanks to TwoSheds mulching idea, I haven't had as many
There are usually plant pots, plastic and all other rubbish thrown in it.

[Sheneval]

Thanks for your responses which seem to confirm my own opinion - there are already 3 large heaps of soil/weeds etc. dumped over last year which presumably they intend should be put into the new bins?

We are allowed one compost bin/heap per plot. As I have two at home, I can live with that.

There is a bin of one type or another on most plots, if not all.

I think I will ask for further discussions before they proceed with this.

[redser]

Cant imagine how it could work. Even if people put the right things in and kept it tidy, surely people would get resentful at how much other people were taking and then it would descend into chaos with people taking too much. We're all so cynical about human nature

[alldigging]

We have some people who are reluctant to compost stuff on their plots. People seem to think removing perfectly good topsoil and throwing it away is a good idea. It's not. Our site lost tons of soil because of this.
First they dumped it along a fence and then stacked it up in a heap. A massive heap. The council then removed the heap rather than just spread it out


Communal composting might encourage them to dump their weeds in a more sensible place - but the glass and rubbish would also get put in. I know because all along the fence is cans.

It made me cross for lots of reasons, but mostly because they were throwing away better soil than I had on my plot!

I did clear one section of fencing of the soil (can't be good for the fence) and put all that soil on my plot. Tons of it!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Hi Shen, irrespective of the dumping issue, communal composting should be avoided. You may know what is going in to the communal compost from your contributions but you have no way of knowing what you will be getting out. Some of what you get out you may not be able to see i.e. white onion rot or club root being classic examples. I'm a bit puzzled about the restriction on the number of compost bins you are allowed. The more capacity each individual plotter has, the less need for them to dump outside their own allotments.

[WendyC]

We are allowed one compost bin/heap per plot. As I have two at home, I can live with that.

There is a bin of one type or another on most plots, if not all.

Seriously, someone counts compost bins! Why restrict the number of bins? I'd have thought two was the minimum, one to rot and one to fill if there was a need to restrict compost bins. When I check the site over in my role as chair I'm checking for levels of cultivation. That in itself is enough.

[Sheneval]

I agree 100% AP - I think the number of bins should be increased to 3.

I have been nominated for the Committee so will be able to get this and other points across at the AGM

[Sheneval]

AD - I cleared 4 cans from this area during my last visit when I was having a look at a soil heap running along the fence line which is higher than the chicken wire protection thus allowing the rabbits a means of egress if not access.

I agree that much of the dumped soil is probably good but it needs to be separated from the weeds and othe gunk before going back on the plots.

[phil the shed]

God what a failure our heaps were.
with my dalek i chop up most things that go in it large leave stalks etc.
in the community bins it is just dumped in weeds and all.

we are dismantling ours and with some grant money buying 30 daleks 1 for every plot that doesn't have one.

the large pile will be covered with a large tarpaulin to decompose and then used around the fruit trees and bushes.

[Sheneval]

Phil - thanks for this info. - it lends weight to my view that this is a bad proposal. I think individual Daleks even if they are sited at the periphery of the site are a far better option than a Communal area - I am presuming that each will have a plot no.

[Two_Sheds]

Commitee have called for volunteers to build a Communal Compost Heap

We had them, one for grass clippings, one for bark chippings, one for manure, regularly filled up by the local groundsmen (who looked after schools, etc).

It worked really well.

I wouldn't bother doing it for normal garden compost, because you'll have people putting couch grass and bindweed in it, and anyway you want all your GC for yourself, you won't want to share it