[macsonParticipant]

Hi Ron,
Very impressive. Isn’t it amazing that we take all sorts of stuff that other people just throw away, just put it all in a pile and let nature do the work. You can spend a lot of time building compost heaps, but the simplest ways are often the best. I love the look of your compost pen. A nice big area to work with. What part of the world are you in? I am in the South of England, just north of Portsmouth.
Macson

[macsonParticipant]

Hi Erik,
Thanks for your reply. I have 3 compost bins and they are about 1.2m X 1.2m X 1m. I usually wait until I have enough ingredients to fill a bin. I keep the green and brown ingredients separate until ready to build. I usually build the heap by simply adding the ingredients gradually and mixing thoroughly as I go. It takes a while, but I think it is worth it and gives me good exercise! I always need to add plenty of water as my brown ingredients are totally dry. I think it is very important to make sure the heap is wet enough. Take a look at Charles’s Youtube videos on composting. Very interesting. Also bear in mind that my compost heap was only started 5 days ago. As your one was started 4-5 weeks ago, I would expect it to have cooled down a bit by now.
Was it hotter when you started it?

[macsonParticipant]

Thanks Charles, I thought that would be the answer.

Hi Wellies, Do you find that the thorns disappear in the compost? My spiky brambles are often dead wild blackberries that I have cut down where they have grown into trees. They are very spiky. Perhaps I’ll start a separate heap with mostly brambles with a good lot of grass and cardboard and see what happens. I hate taking any garden waste to the local dump. Seems such a waste (pun intended). Hawthorn, maybe I will feed into my incinerator. We also have wood ash from our open fire. Still burning pine from trees chopped down 12 years ago. Nowadays, also I shred occasional pine branches (thin ones) and this also goes into the compost.

Another myth for Charles, “You shouldn’t burn pine in an open fire or wood burner”.

[macsonParticipant]

Hi Everyone,
I’ve been growing potatoes in 3 raised beds 1.2m X 3.1m, with wooden sides. A few too many possibly, but we’ll see what crops I get. After planting they all sprouted well and soon had lovely green growth. As soon as I “composted up”, using my own compost, the local birds had a field day, probably blackbirds digging around amongst the compost. They obviously loved it, plenty of worms. I found the only way was to totally cover the raised beds with netting. This solved the problem and also stopped the potato foliage from falling over in the wind. My maincrop Scottish Pink Fir Apple, actually outgrew the netting as it grew taller than me, over 1.8 metres. Is this a common height? It was in a new raised bed built this year with about 15cm of soil and 10cm of compost. I do hope the great top growth is reflected under the ground with loads of potatoes. I expect the recent heavy rain will help.

[macsonParticipant]

Hi Charles,
Thank you for your advice. I’m glad you mentioned Linseed Oil. The wood I have has a lot of splits in it, (well that’s what pine does!) so I was thinking about pushing linseed oil putty into the splits and gaps so there are less homes for the slugs. I’ll then paint the ends and any damages with the linseed oil. I’ll let you know in 10 years if it works out 🙂
I love the way that one can improvise with gardening, rather than there being specific rules as you can always adapt guidelines to your own situation with what materials you have or can afford. When the raised beds are ready, I shall refer to your books to decide what to sow and plant for this time of year.

[macsonParticipant]

Hi Charles,
Just building my raised beds now with 45mm X 220mm timber treated with Tanalith. I’ve been researching what to treat the timber with as an extra as I’d like them to last a long time. The OSMO treatment looks expensive, but I’m sure it will do a good job. I’ve come across a product called Bird Brand Ecosote that promises that it is non-toxic. It is said to contain 2 active ingredients (boron & biocide). Firstly do you think this would be safe to use and secondly, is it actually worth doing it as the timber is already treated with Tanalith? I would at least like to treat the edges that have been cut. I’m keen to get the beds made and get them filled. Thanks in advance. I wonder if anyone on the forum has used this before.

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