Start warming up your cold, damp compost to get it ready for making potting mixes next month. Fill a bucket with fine compost and bring it in to a shed or the greenhouse. In a few weeks it will be warm and friable and ready for use in a potting mix. More on these mixes later!
Prickly
prunings
Roses should be pruned this month, or at least when severe winter frosts
are past. Pruning, followed by a sharp frost causes dieback. These
prunings cannot be composted as the sharp prickles will take a very long
time to rot down.
Practically everything in the garden can be recycled and that does
include these prunings. You can make a pile in a discreet part of the
garden and it will gradually rot down over several years. While this is
happening, you will have a perfect shelter for wildlife. Toads and
beetles will shelter there and they will help control garden pests.
Birds will feed on all the insects that shelter in the pile.
Even better, make a ‘Dead Hedge’, again in a hidden part of the garden.
Drive a line of wooden poles into the ground, about 45cm apart and to
whatever length you’d like. Make another line 45 – 60cm from the first
one. You then stuff the prunings between the lines of poles. If you can
get hold of willow wands, weave them between the poles and end up with
an attractive garden feature!
For more information about Dead Hedges, see our
advice sheet, and to see a Dead
Hedge, visit the composting area in the
ASK Organic Garden
[open 1 March – 31 October. An ASK Organic partner is usually in the
Garden on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 11am and 4pm.]
Keep using your bin!
Plastic compost bins are designed to be used all the time. Just
keep adding in new material and it will gradually rot down. Even if you
have 2 bins, keep using them both, don’t leave one to rot down while
using the other one. When you come to empty your bin, you take the bin
off the heap, put it to one side and fork the unrotted material into the
bin. By turning the rubbish like this, you inject air and this helps the
composting process to work better. And don’t forget to take the good,
finished compost off to the garden!
Composting problem?
Contact us if you would like us to solve any composting problem. We'll post the answer here.
Mr L. from Eyemouth asks: “Can I compost fish skin and bones?”. You shouldn’t put this into a compost bin as it will attract vermin and will soon smell. If you have an anaerobic composter, like a Greeen Cone or a Bokashi bucket, you can compost cooked food.
Posted 30/01/2008
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