When weeding really thick stuff and you got loads of soil & compost matted in with the roots. What do you do with it?  I don’t want to put it on beds because the weeds will just grow. Can’t put it in compost because soil won’t compost down. Again weeds will probably grow unless in a hot composter.  Clumps like this, if anyone isn’t sure what I’m on about   .   20240206_134052_Original.jpeg (Size: 150.52 KB / Downloads: 2)     20240206_134044_Original.jpeg (Size: 183.9 KB / Downloads: 0) I’ll get lots of stuff like this when taking all t ..read more

Is wood ash good for fruit trees or did I make that up ?  If it is good how do I use it? Just scatter it around the base of the trees ..read more

After shredding all the bills and other paper (not glossy stuff) I put a layer in the hotbin and I used to put the remainder in the chicken run for the chooks to kick around.  Now that I'm chookless I've been wondering how else to use it.  Has anyone used it as mulch - wetted to stop it blowing away ..read more

At one time I was putting all P's banana skins in an MFB placed inside the covered kitchen waste bin with perhaps a view to making high potassium feed for the gh toms (it only half-heartedly happened). Anyway the  bucket was sinking lower and lower so I hoiked it out. On the top of the gloop, along with the brandling worms, were several  grubs about half inch long with a long tail. I'd never met these before, so googled before declaring outright war.  They are rat tailed maggots, the larvae/pupae of hover flies, so they're welcome to make their home in my com ..read more

In trying to get enough compost to go no-dig on the allotment, I've found an offer of compost mixed with perlite that was previously used for growing salads. Assuming the recycled nature of the compost wasn't itself an issue, would there be a problem adding a load of perlite in compost as a mulch ..read more

How much lyme do I add to very acidic soil ..read more

Every year we buy compost and have the same discussions about what rubbish it is. Or we make our own (or try too!).  I can see the benefits of home composting and returning that to the soil but why do we sow seeds in "compost" when we also direct sow into the ground? Why don't we scrape up some garden soil and sown our seeds into that?  I'm starting to think that commercial "compost" should be renamed "con-post". Can anyone convince me otherwise ..read more

For anyone looking to buy some peat free compost, these are some current prices: Wickes own brand 50L for £5 (no green waste compost, a mix of wood fibre, composted bark and coir, I quite like it) Sainsburys 2 x 40L Levington for £8 (I wasn't happy with this stuff last year, contains green waste compost and had quite a bit of plastic contamination) Home Bargains 40L for £3.49 (not been to a shop to see it myself, if it's the same as the Growmoor stuff they usually sell it's decent quality) Lidl 40L for £3.49 (no idea what this stuff is like, if they're like Aldi it'll be mostly gree ..read more

I'd like to make more compost (wouldn't we all?). Now that I'm chicken-free  the 2 runs are ripe for development. Both are shaded so not the best spots for veg/fruit growing - however, maybe I could "grow" compost there instead?  I have 2 intact wormeries and another one that needs a lid and tap.  Only one has worms in it - but there are worms in the Hotbin that I've been picking out and adding to the wormery. My first step, I think, is to move the wormeries together - putting them on a raised platform/pallet so that the worm juice can be drained off.  The s ..read more

Pretty much the same question as I asked about wood chip. Compost or mulch? We’ve finally got round to picking up the last of the sawdust from milling our cladding. It’s been sat where it fell for over 6 months. So it’s very wet and has a little leaf litter in with it. Other than that it’s just a big pile of larch sawdust. This is some we picked up while we were milling. Probably don’t have quite that much this time round.  Just for idea of amount these are ton bags on a 12ft trailer.    144321B4-40BA-47E0-A657-87DECC012CE1.jpeg (Size: 489.66 KB / Downloads: 5 ..read more