Mulching...

[jackyspratty]

We have a macdonalds nearby that saved the grounds for us as long as we picked them up the end of every day. My OH is a coffee head but the smell of ransid coffee grounds in the car turned his stomach! Really helped the drainage of heavy clay on the site though! Havenyt managed to convince him this year though!

[di]

I hadn't thought of Mcdonalds.

Something did come into my head this morning...what do Garden Centres do with their dead stuff...you know, the pots they try to sell at half price when half dead...might pop to B&Q later to find out...every little helps.

[jackyspratty]

Also for our school garden group, we sweet talked the manger of a garden centre into giving us his split bags of compost. We had over 40 growbags in the end! They cant sell the split bags and ususally have to pay to have them taken away! Im not sure if he would have donated to an individual or not though but its worth a try!!

[di]

Just a thought...I know to many sticky threads can cause a nuisance, but would it be worth having a sticky with tips and ideas on things to mulch with and where to get them?

[oldie]

Also for our school garden group, we sweet talked the manger of a garden centre into giving us his split bags of compost. We had over 40 growbags in the end! They cant sell the split bags and ususally have to pay to have them taken away! Im not sure if he would have donated to an individual or not though but its worth a try!!

My local ASDA patches them up and sells at reduced prices.

[bazzaboy]

Just a thought...I know to many sticky threads can cause a nuisance, but would it be worth having a sticky with tips and ideas on things to mulch with and where to get them?

I think it's great that a simple question about mulching has led to so much info and range of views etc but personally I have a big problem with all "sticky threads" - for the most part I skate past them as quickly as pos and think they need a big re-think in terms of topic, structure and placement..... So accessible permanent information of the sort you're proposing about mulching would be useful but it needs to be distilled and agreed....

In the particular case of this thread the topic started in other threads e.g. about a) waste and re-cycling and b) polytunnels and water supply.... I think it would need coordinating to be really useful to later readers.

And general agreement is another issue: having a bad cold at the mo I still want to question the advice to compost tissues...... Let's not even go there, "tell me it's not true".

Cue for a song rather than a sticky!
Tell Me It's Not True - blood brothers - lyrics- 1995 London cast - YouTube

[veggiechicken]

And general agreement is another issue: having a bad cold at the mo I still want to question the advice to compost tissues...... Let's not even go there, "tell me it's not true".

Funny you should say that Baz. I too have a heavy cold that is generating lots of moist tissues. Have you noticed how they dry out after a while, like when you find them under the bed? The temptation to reuse them often overwhelms me and I weaken...... As to composting them, I don't see why not really though I usually bung them on the fire instead! They need to be quite dry then!!!!

[bazzaboy]

LOL, don’t dwant doo doe dare, dank do!

[veggiechicken]

Go, go, look under the bed - lots more composting material there - carpet fluff, hair, skin flakes, grotty tissues, and possibly more that we won't mention here. In fact, leave it all there for a year or so, in the warm and you'll have excellent compost ready for raking out or growing mushrooms in if left in situ. Then the following year rake it out as mushroom compost!
Is your cold better now?

[taff]

don't see why not, you can compost everything that the hoover sucks up [obviously not plastic etc but the dirt and hair and fluff can be] why not tissues?
I'll compost anything like that, including kitchen towel [I dont use it, but I know a man who does ]

[Two_Sheds]

I still want to question the advice to compost tissues...

Well, think about why you wouldn't: because of germs. Cold germs don't survive for long outside the human body. They'll linger awhile on door handles, phones and the like, but they won't survive a compost heap.

I'll compost anything

Me too

[bazzaboy]

Go, go, look under the bed - lots more composting material there - carpet fluff, hair, skin flakes, grotty tissues....

don't see why not, you can compost everything that the hoover sucks up.... why not tissues?]

Well, think about why you wouldn't: because of germs. Cold germs don't survive for long outside the human body. They'll linger awhile on door handles, phones and the like, but they won't survive a compost heap.

I understand the viewpoint being expressed but remain unpersuaded on this one for reasons I’ll try to outline. I am not squeamish about soggy tissues etc and appreciate that all organic material can be properly and safely composted to good effect as part of the growing/life cycle. Certain individuals may be perfectly capable and sufficiently knowledgeable to undertake that process and see it through but others may not be quite so caring. I do not want to see a situation develop where it’s encouraged by any group, let alone as professional and influential one as this site, to the point where what is effectively low grade medical waste is blowing about our allotments carrying we know not what in terms of potential virus or disease.

On a related issue of general public hygiene, I am constantly shocked when using public toilets at the number of (male) users who will exit the facilities without washing their hands (rough estimate about 50%). That includes users exiting from closets that in male toilets will usually mean they’ve been having a Number Two/poo: hands still remain unwashed. Back in the shopping mall you will still see people offering food on open plates (a regular example was nuts or crisps in bars…. in go the fingers “oh yes, I’ll have some of those, thanks!”) and public hygiene reports will regularly trace smears of human excrement on handrails, door-handles etc. I think we should be seeking to make people more cautious and caring about these aspects.

In a perfect world used tissues will theoretically be compostable but until we get closer to that ideal state, mine will be disposed of via waste bin, (or fire/WC as and when available/appropriate) and not the “recycle on/for the allotment” bin.

[Snadger]

Most of the fields around here (and everywhere in the country as far as I know) were treated with 'night soil' taken from the middens. Thats why you always find interesting bits of Victorian stuff on top of a newly ploughed field!

[taff]

I understand the viewpoint being expressed but remain unpersuaded on this one for reasons I’ll try to outline. I am not squeamish about soggy tissues etc and appreciate that all organic material can be properly and safely composted to good effect as part of the growing/life cycle. Certain individuals may be perfectly capable and sufficiently knowledgeable to undertake that process and see it through but others may not be quite so caring. I do not want to see a situation develop where it’s encouraged by any group, let alone as professional and influential one as this site, to the point where what is effectively low grade medical waste is blowing about our allotments carrying we know not what in terms of potential virus or disease.

I can understand yours, but are we actually living in a world where low grade medical waste gets incinerated, or are we living in one where it gets landfilled? Either way, in landfill, or composting merrily away so I can use it afterwards, rather than composting slowly away in landfill sites, I know which one is my choice and which one I would be seen publicly advocating.
If someone is too stupid or feckless to compost something properly, or ask for advice on how to do it, I'd expect someone else to advise them regardless of whether they've been asked or not [because I would], that's a different problem.
We shouldnt be a nation of handholders, we should be a nation of send-them-out-into-the-big-wide-world-armed-with-knowledge-holders.

[Two_Sheds]

I do not want to see a situation develop where it’s encouraged by any group ...

I'll continue to compost my tissues, despite your reservations

low grade medical waste is blowing about our allotments

they aren't blowing about, they're rotting in the (steaming) compost heap

carrying we know not what in terms of potential virus or disease

Common cold virus. Look it up: I bet you can't catch it from compost heaps

I am constantly shocked ... hands still remain unwashed. ... and public hygiene reports will regularly trace smears of human excrement on handrails, door-handles etc.

Shocked maybe, but infected? We all catch several colds a year, and probably norovirus too ~ from coughs & sneezes, phones, keyboards etc. I don't see that composting my tissues is going to spread those germs, in fact composting is killing the germs.

We poo in our drinking water. Doesn't that worry you?