Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Hanneke Aug 2022 6:41pm, 29 Aug 2022 92,388 posts	0 Hanneke Oak rots slowly too...
Cheeky’s Dad Aug 2022 9:58pm, 29 Aug 2022 2,526 posts	0 Cheeky’s Dad My Dad had a row of sycamore trees up the side of his garden so had loads of leaves every autumn. He never bothered to make leaf mould, just spread them across the beds in a thick mulch and by spring they had pretty much disappeared and anything that hadn’t, just got dug in.
sallykate Aug 2022 10:11pm, 29 Aug 2022 10,218 posts	0 sallykate My neighbour's plane tree dumps its leaves all over my front garden. They just sit there and as an added insult they provide a perfect habitat for snails. I'd love it if they just rotted down!
Angus Clydesdale Aug 2022 11:54pm, 29 Aug 2022 25,197 posts	0 Angus Clydesdale Leaf mould is a great idea but one caveat: plane tree leaves don’t rot down in that timescale so just be sure you don’t have those. Beech leaves take a long time to rot too.
rf_fozzy Aug 2022 12:04am, 30 Aug 2022 18,170 posts	0 rf_fozzy Not if you have one of these: hotbincomposting.com Strongly considering getting one. If anyone has one, please let me know what size I need to get...
Eynsham Red Aug 2022 9:23am, 30 Aug 2022 8,947 posts	0 Eynsham Red We have a lot of broad leaves which gather in our drive and porch. I hoover up leaves in a device which shreds them. As they are shredded they break down quickly in the black bags.
Fragile Do Not Bend Aug 2022 9:30am, 30 Aug 2022 10,113 posts	0 Fragile Do Not Bend Not if you have one of these: hotbincomposting.com Strongly considering getting one. If anyone has one, please let me know what size I need to get... I’ve been pondering something like that too, I don’t have that much kitchen waste but I’d put in all the perennial weeds I don’t dare put on my regular compost heap as it doesn’t get that warm.
3M (aka MarkyMarkMark) Aug 2022 9:38am, 30 Aug 2022 19,001 posts	0 3M (aka MarkyMarkMark) My hardy and perennial weeds (are there any other kinds of weed? ) go in the green bin to the council composting site - where it gets a lot hotter than my dalek composter bins do. TBH, unless I give over more space to composting and do it lot more "actively" (i.e. go collecting other peoples' spare leaves!), the 3 bins I have do absorb all the garden and kitchen waste we produce in the normal run of things.
Hanneke Aug 2022 2:01pm, 30 Aug 2022 92,405 posts	0 Hanneke Composting is a lot of hard work! My experience with hot bins, I don't have one: Client 1: Thought you could just dump all your food in it, including cooked, chicken bones etc It became the most disgusting anaerobic mess. I could swear they put a corpse in it! I had to dig it all out, then teach him how to do it: 50% browns! Woody stuff, chopped up finely, shredded paper, shredded cardboard. If that doesn't generate enough heat: at least 100C, watch your hands!, You add a hot water bottle into the core of the bin, i.e. a 4 pint milk bottle with boiling water. Client 2: Didn't get the heat up, again, not enough browns. We started the hot water bottle and bingo. But it needs monitoring. All the time! The only compost heaps that pretty much look after themselves, i.e. I do not turn regularly, are the really large ones at one client. We fill them 50/50 browns and greens, if dry I water them, then cover and leave to sit for 12 months. We have 3 of them: one in use for compost, one cooking, one being filled. I have Daleks and spend about 2-3 hours each week managing them: chopping up big stuff, cardboard, adding water, nettles (leaves, not seeds or roots) comfrey, valerian, yarrow, grass to increase heat and trace elements.
Hanneke Aug 2022 2:02pm, 30 Aug 2022 92,406 posts	0 Hanneke Leaves decompose differently, so I have 2 daleks for leaf mould. I stash them full in autumn/winter... With oak from a friend's driveway. The leaves that fall on the garden just get swept off the paths onto the beds. Why do a job when you can leave nature to it?