I had to go to the garage yesterday as the car had not had a service book, so when they serviced it (first service) they didnt have anything to stamp. I took the new service book in and the manager got it stamped for me. Then he gave me a luggage cover for when the 3rd row seats are down, and when he put that in for me he noticed I had not got a carpet to cover the luggage space when the seats were down. So he went and got me one. What a nice man, and he did appear very genuine. Restored my faith in car salesmen!
Now to the garden.
I got a new compost bin on Tuesday, I had several of the "dalek" style ones, but they are very difficult to turn the compost in. Then came an offer thru the door for a big one under Waste Aware Scotland. I took them up on the offer and hey presto a few weeks later it was delivered. It took a bit of putting together, but once constructed it fits in well and looks "weathered" and not plasticey at all. I put the contents of 2 of the "daleks" in it, and it isnt even half full! Fabby.Worms.
I have now sited my wormery on my new decking outside my back door. Warm, but not in full sun so the worms should like it. And I believe they do. They seem to be very active. The other night I noticed a dark stain under the tap at the bottom of the sump. I got a bucket and opened the tap...... and got a bucket full of lovely worm juice to feed my plants on.
No pix today, maybe I will get some for my next blog.
Wx
added piccie of compost bin
14 comments:
I'm glad your wormery is good - perhaps you can advise on mine? There are worms but not that many. Should there be loads? Should I get some more? What have I done wrong?
I too have a composter - my Dad bought it for me a few years back. Its quite good - no digging or turning - put it in the top and then when that bin is full you pull out the slidy shelf and it falls down to the middle, where it stays until you pull it out at the bottom as earth... works quite well and is good for bad backs! Your worms sound great!
Faith, where is your wormery sited, is it wet inside? too dry?
On the first warm day this year I gave the wormery a spring clean. It had appeared to be a bit quiet to say the least over the winter. I have the can of worms type, I hadnt got the top layer in use, so I decanted the next layer into the top layer - putting a bit of air into the mix. Then I put the bottom layer into the next layer after putting a new cardboard base in to stop the worms navigating to the sump, then I cleaned out the sump and put the layers back. The once bottom layer became the new top layer. The inside had been a bit on the damp side, so I also left the top off for a while (whilst I was hanging around in case the birds decided I was feeding them live food!). I now have an old dustbin lid covering the lid of the wormery so that it doesnt get wet inside.
You might find that there are loads of worms hiding out at the bottom. Mine had done a lot of breeding in the sump!
Wx
I think we need pictures of this compost bin. buying the wrong one has occupied about 20 years of my life! Have tried swing ones (which you can't swing as too heavy) all manner of plastic. Last house was three wooden ones. ALL a pain in the neck, unturnable, producing hopeless slime however much I studied Messrs Hamilton, Titchmarsh and Don at work. Have recently bought a dalek one which I am not convinced by yet, but early days.
wow it's a frog!
Bit worried that my wormery has turned into a flyery. I think it's probably time I turfed it out but I didn't think ahead and didn't buy one with chambers so will have to deal with the whole thing. Also the worm wee smells as if it's come straight from Hell rather than worms... is there something I'm missing here?
It does look like a frog doesnt it? I hadnt twigged until you said it.
Flies. Mine has some flies, - cant be avoided, I did try the dusting powder from wigglywigglers, but it doesnt seem to have made much difference.
Yes, it sounds as if you need a clear out - it will help get air into the wormery too. The worm wee does smell a bit ;-)
If you decant the worms in bright light they will hide, so the top bit of compost can be cleared into another bucket until you just have worms left. If there is well composted stuff at the bottom, take that out and put aside to be used. then put everything back in all nicely aerated!
Good luck
Wx
Brilliant! Thanks for your help. I shall gird my loins and have a go! (will let you know how it goes... Sunday looks good at the moment - unless it pours down... on the other hand not sure I want it too hot). Ps Thanks for your comments.
Oh blimey it all sounds complicated but I will have a go. I have got an instruction book that came with it all. Thanks for your help Wizzard.
OOoh I want one of those...We have a 'dalek' one and have to take it completly off the compost when we want to put any on the beds in the winter...a right pain.
p.s. what is the wormery in aid of? Do you not get enough in your beds and want more? I don't understand...
Well I never thought a blog post about a compost bin would be quite so interesting!
CJ xx
Phewwwww! We did it! I was smart enough to enlist Tom's help so we could both suffer. I think the problem was the wormery was VERY wet - lesson to add more paper and 'brown' stuff in future. All turned over, useful stuff skimmed off, the rest of it treated with lots of paper and returned. The only problem is I need a new nose now!
DJ - a wormery is another way of composting kitchen waste. The worms tranform your tea bags and banana skins etc into lovely lushious compost.
ChrisH - well done - not a nice job, but you will reap the benefits.
Wx
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