WELCOME TO MY POTTING SHED

You can't beat a dollop of mud a day to keep the Doctor at bay.

Why not follow me about as I garden for money and just for fun in beautiful Nailsworth and its' environs.

What's it all about?

My gardens, that's all and any gardening related stuff I guess you might be interested in.

Where do I garden?

My house is in the centre of Nailsworth. With the wind in the right direction, we get a strong whiff of curry as it floats out of the Passage to India and into our front garden. We never get this smell anywhere else on our premises, which is either a good thing, or a bad one, depending on your point of view. As you now know we have a garden, a small rectangle, at the front of the house, and a triangular courtyard garden at the back. Then there's the Garden Plot, right down in the heart of Nailsworth, which I rent from a local business. This is new as from Autumn 2009 and will take a lot of work to help it become productive. I try to garden for veges at my friend Debbis house and for fun with my next door neighbour.

It adds up to a lot of work. For a relaxing hobby, it's proving stressful at times, but, mostly it's heaven.

There are customers who like me to work for them right through the year, and others who I see during the summer months. This working more days a week in the summer than in the winter, of course. The way to keep the finances stable for me has been to teach on the days I don't garden. Works really well for me. The bills get paid, we haven't starved to death yet and we get to have fun ... sometimes!

Thursday 15 December 2011

Building Compost Bins

To do this, it helps to be up for a bit of scavvieing (is that how it's spelt)?  


Off you go and scrounge some pallets - don't take them without asking as some have a deposit on them.


Set 2 of them at right angles to each other, exactly where you want them.


I've used tree straps to tie my pallets together, they came for nothing and I have loads of the bloody things. Use what you can get hold of; I could've used nails, screws, wire, string - polypropylene is good as it doesn't rot. 


I had to clear the area as I built my compost bins. Makes me feel tired  to look at this piccy - Phew!

Use more straps etc to put on your third side, Then you can add the front, making sure it CAN BE REMOVED EASILY. Now you're ready to extend sideways at your leisure. Keep extending until you have 3 bins. 

Why 3 compost bins? 
3 is a good number to have, that's one full and cooking, one being filled and the third to tip the full one into after about 3 months (the cooking time depends on the air temp, moisture in the compost (water it if needed) and how fast you fill it (it'll get WELL HOT if you put loads in all at once).

If you can really COOK YOUR COMPOST the weed seeds and pernicious roots will be killed off, making your compost perfect for seedlings if mixed with a bit of sand/grit. 

You can't get cheaper than that for seed compost!

If you can find the space, why not build yourself a set this winter?

Go on, you know you want to!

Whilst you think about building yours, I'll try to summon up the energy to build my next two. 

KNACKERED

: )

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