The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Creagan on March 22, 2020, 06:00:40 pm
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I googled this and got some diverse answers.
I've just demolished my rotten old compost heap which was made from pallets. I could rebuild something similar, but tbh it was a pain because my dogs kept stealing egg shells out of it!
I was thinking of building a plastic compost bin form e.g. an old mooring buoy or a big plastic float (I know of a few of these on the shore nearby)
I also have on old plastic coal bunker sitting empty. In theory I think it could work really well- organic waste goes in the top, compost comes out the wee hatch at the bottom. But will it be aerated enough? Should I cut the bottom out of the bunker? Should I replace the top hatch with something that will let the rain in? Am I overthinking all this?? :D
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Or; should you just pile it all up in a heap (maybe with a tarp' covering) & turn it over over at least once and then, after another while, just use it ? :D :D
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I just chuck all grass cuttings and everything comparable inside the chicken run - they keep turning it every day - the deeper layer is full of red Californian worms - they do all the job.
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Putting the compost ingredients in the bunker would be fine, trying to extract the result through a small hole would not! Those dalek type compost bins which claim you can remove beautiful, friable compost through their litttle trapdoors lie! The only way to remove it is to lift off the dalek. With your bunker, you could lift it off, move it along a bit then refill, which would turn it in the process. To use it, you would have to lift off the bin. You could only lift off the bin if you removed the bottom.
really it's much simpler to have your pallet heap (or ideally three in a row) with lids to keep the rain and dogs out. Crush your eggshells before they go in the bin :D
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OK so as a minimum I need to cut the bottom out, got it.
I'll count how many pallets I have, perhaps that is the better option after all. Although my experience building things with pallets is that it's never as simple as you would hope! Why are there so many different designs?? :D
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I decided not to go down the coal bunker route, and I've built a new bin out of pallet wood, 80x80. I made three stackable 'rings', with no top or bottom, each 40cm high. The idea is that you stack them up to make a bin, and to turn the heap you take off the top one and it becomes the bottom of the new heap. Fork the compost over, move each ring in turn, and voila a fully turned heap. I can also build more rings if I need to, although 4ft seems high enough for now! It keeps the dogs out at least.
Given I live in a fairly rainy part of the world, should I be trying to keep the rain out of the compost?
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Your new bin sounds great - I like the stacking idea.
Yes, once the compost is wet enough to rot, you should put on a lid to keep the warmth in and further rain out. The lid could be solid wood, weighted against the wind, or polythene or sheeps fleece or old wool carpet or cardboard, or a mixture of those - you get the picture. When you turn the heap, adjust the moisture by leaving the lid on or removing it to get rained on for a week.
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I just chuck all grass cuttings and everything comparable inside the chicken run - they keep turning it every day - the deeper layer is full of red Californian worms - they do all the job.
Interesting. I did not think to throw grass mowings on to the floor of the run. Does it do them any harm if they eat quantities of grass cuttings??
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Goats or sheep would obviously get sick from eating grass cuttings but chickens that are not free ranging benefit from it - their egg yolks are darker orange.
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well I will do that from now on. Mine do free range for most of the day but I can see that the run would be a more interesting environment for them during the periods inside. Thanks
G
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I decided not to go down the coal bunker route, and I've built a new bin out of pallet wood, 80x80. I made three stackable 'rings', with no top or bottom, each 40cm high. The idea is that you stack them up to make a bin, and to turn the heap you take off the top one and it becomes the bottom of the new heap. Fork the compost over, move each ring in turn, and voila a fully turned heap. I can also build more rings if I need to, although 4ft seems high enough for now! It keeps the dogs out at least.
A photo or two would be good [member=28653]Creagan[/member] :)
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I decided not to go down the coal bunker route, and I've built a new bin out of pallet wood, 80x80. I made three stackable 'rings', with no top or bottom, each 40cm high. The idea is that you stack them up to make a bin, and to turn the heap you take off the top one and it becomes the bottom of the new heap. Fork the compost over, move each ring in turn, and voila a fully turned heap. I can also build more rings if I need to, although 4ft seems high enough for now! It keeps the dogs out at least.
A photo or two would be good [member=28653]Creagan[/member] :)
Ooft now you're asking... I'm better at bodging stuff from pallets than I am at posting pics on a forum :D:D
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I've ordered one of the mini hot compsters. I'll post a record of how it goes. Don't know when It will arrive though
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A photo or two would be good [member=28653]Creagan[/member] :)
Ooft now you're asking... I'm better at bodging stuff from pallets than I am at posting pics on a forum :D :D
:roflanim: