At last we have a composter for Belleville School so our green credentials have been significantly boosted! The advantages of this style of composter are that it produces compost much more quickly than the Dalek style bin as the air gets in as it tumbles, and that it´s cleaner being off the ground.
Feel free to add your vegetable and fruit peelings. It helps if you add some pieces of brown cardboard as well. Please stop adding stuff if the sign on the handle says 'full'.For full details on what to compost see the section at the end of this post.
IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Over the last couple of days I've installed (with help from Nick Ward) a timer controlled irrigation system which should really make life easier. Of course it rained most of the day I was installing the main pipes but that was to be expected.Being built on top of tarmac when the raised beds dry out the soil is unable to suck up moisture from the ground as happens in normal flower beds. The problem with watering with a hose is that only the top inch or so of soil gets wet and this can
confuse the roots which start growing upwards instead of downwards. But the main problem is that plants like courgettes, squash, beans and strawberries will not produce crops if they think there isn't enough water to do so. Baby courgettes shrivel up when they're a couple of inches long. The new dripper system will ensure that the beds get a thorough soaking and will help produce better crops and keep everything ticking over, even when we are on holiday.
The beans are doing well. I´ve just wind proofed the supports as we´re experiencing blustery weather. The beans will be purple but turn green when cooked. I´m hoping this will make them easier to harvest as they should stand out against the green leaves.
[Right] Expect lots of tomatoes this summer. Christina of Lola Rojo will probably be harvesting during the summer holidays but I hope to make some available on ´gardening Sundays´.
Sweetcorn. These are struggling, not sure why. Perhaps they haven´t had enough water.
The Courgettes [below] are just getting started and are enjoying a bit of rain after the dry spell. (They're now enjoying the drip feeder!)
We only have a couple of chilli plants [below] as I sold so many at the Northcote Road Carnival and the Summer Fair. They´re looking good though and have just flowered
WHAT TO COMPOST
A mixture of 'green' and 'brown' matter:
'Greens' or nitrogen rich ingredients
* Nettles
* Grass cuttings
* Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
* Tea bags (paper not plastic) and leaves, coffee grounds
* Young green weed growth * avoid weeds with seeds *
* Soft green prunings
'Browns' or carbon rich ingredients - slow to rot
* Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes, but brown coardboard is best
* Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste
* Cardboard tubes
* Newspaper * although it is better for the environment to send your newspapers for recycling
* Bedding from vegetarian pets eg rabbits, guinea pigs - hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings
* Tough hedge clippings
* Woody prunings chopped into small pieces
* Old bedding plants
* Bracken
* Sawdust
* Wood shavings
* Fallen leaves can be composted but the best use of them is to make leafmould
Other compostable items
* Wood ash, in moderation
* Egg shells (crushed)
Do NOT compost
* Meat
* Fish
* Cooked food
* Coal & coke ash
* Cat litter
* Dog faeces
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