 | | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted May 24, 2005 by Edward the Bonobo - Gone.
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  | | Oddly enough, I had the idea of adding some non-recycled stale Weissbier myself last night, figuring that the yeast might kick-start the process. You don't need to widdle on it, though. Apparently a few bunches of comfrey will do nicely.
It's amazing just how much waste vegetable material a family of five can generate in a single day! All sorts of peelings and banana skins and melon rinds have been going in, along with (shamefully!) some neglected vegetables from the recesses of the vegetable basket. I have included weeds, unfortunately. Having strimmed and raked my (tiny!) vegetable plot, I had to do something with them. I'm not so worried about the dandelions, but I do have a serious infestation of creeping buttercup. Anyway, my council-subsidised compost dalek has been filling up nicely!
I've probably been very late with my planting this year (bad weather, laziness). I've got three kinds of beans, courgettes and chard sown in a mini-greenhouse thingy (£15 from Asda) - plus various salad things in growbags. Any other ideas for quick-fix, easy to grow crops? Remembering that I'm in dreich North Britain, with its short, wet growing season.
I have to say that I'm not actually much interested in gardening - more in fresh vegetables.
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| | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted May 24, 2005 by Edward the Bonobo - Gone.
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| | Oddly enough, we went to a community fair at the weekend, and the council had a stand advertising the benefits of composting. Yes - you can put coffee in them (I don't generate much: more than two cups per day and I want to hit people) and teabags. Toilet roll holders are particularly welcomed also. And eggshells.
When I got my Dalek, I also got a free booklet about the various techniques. The daleks are cold composters. Hot composting is done in heaps (They can get hot enough to cook a chicken!). Then there's vermiculture. Worms. I believe you can get the worms mail order on the web. I imagine them arriving in a wriggling, writhing jiffy bag.
I'm developing an obsession with vegetable decay. At the moment I'm only using horses**t.
(Oh...I bumped into a particle physicist friend at the fair, while dissecting an owl pellet. The Uncle Albert book is by Russell Stannard).
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| | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted May 24, 2005 by Matholwch - Brythonic Tribal Polytheist
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| | Hi Eddie 
Excellent news! All our vegetable waste goes into a bucket and when full is transported to my friend's smallholding. There we maintain four live (hot) heaps and a brandling wormery. The latter is used of potting up small plants for the polytunnel (it is a lot finer than the heaps which have a lot of straw & dung in them).
If you do want to start planting from seed now you could try carrots, radishes, certain types of lettuce, parsley, fennel and most herbs. Kids enjoy growing peanuts in pots and they can be planted this late (use 'monkey' nuts in their shells, leave them in the shell). You're a bit late for most decent root or bulb vegetables and peas/beans.
We are able to extend our season by having a polytunnel and so are frostfree for longer.
Blessings,
Matholwch /|\
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| | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted May 26, 2005 by KB
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| | Nah, you could still get away with french beans and peas.
Try courgettes. I did them one year. With minimal effort (ie. none) I got shitloads of them.
Throw a few radishes in and you'll have them within about a month.
I have to say, recycled beer is good stuff for compost. I tend not to tell anyone it's been used though - just for their own ease of mind 
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| | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted May 26, 2005 by KB
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| | Yeah. Funny about the flowers - when I grew them I didn't know the flowers were edible, and a friend from Italy said that they ate the flowers in Italy. I suspected I was victim of a wind-up, so I didn't bother my head. Now it seems to have caught on though - nearly every cookery prog on TV seems to do it.
I think they'll probably be ok in Scotland - how north are you? Generally a lot more stuff will grow than the knowlegable sources seem to say, at least that's my own experience.
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| | | Subject: Compost Corner!
Posted Jun 1, 2005 by Edward the Bonobo - Gone.
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| | Well..I've put in courgettes. Fingers crossed. I've also jam-packed my tiny, tiny plot with:
Cabbages
Cauliflowers (both bought as shoots from a boot sale)
Beans, runner, french and broad
Radishes, white and red
Carrots, red and yellow
Chard (a criminally neglected vegetable!)(Did you know you can eat carrot leaves? Apparently.)
Beetroot, red and golden.
Pak Choi.
Plus, I've got various salad leaves in organic growbags and in pots I have basil, borage, chervil, tarragon and chamomile.
I'm sure I'm pushing my suburban micro-garden beyond reasonable limits. We'll see.
By the way - lest I am given any un-earned kudos for saving the planet, I'm doing this for purely selfish reasons. I like vegetables.
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