My first job this morning was to turn the compost to make sure I didn’t let it slide, as per yesterday… Old lazy habits die hard.
When I took the plywood off the top, worms, slaters and other critters were already nibbling into the margins of the pile where it is cooler. After a couple of forkfuls came out of the middle the rest of the pile is still cooking and fairly hot. Didn’t see one piece of citrus this time, so they do disappear eventually. I’ve got rid of nearly all the clumps of hay and wood shavings so everything is distributed evenly, which helps it all rot nicely. No smell at all this time either. I’m not game to taste it yet. Maybe later.
Whilst I’m on this topic, I’ll just say a little bit about construction. You can build the bays on concrete or on the soil/grass, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve said in a previous post, try and locate them high up in the landscape so that the nutritious liquid runs into the rest of your garden.
Old, heat treated pallets are the go-to framework of the thrifty gardener, and I’m no different. I have just lined up four pallets roughly a metre apart coming out of the picture towards the camera, and then screwed a 3 metre piece of corrugated iron across the far side to make the back of all the bays. I had this lying around after we re-roofed the house. One subtle tip is to put thin pieces of tile or brick under the bottom of the pallets. This keeps the wood of the pallets off the floor and so they won’t rot so quick. The whole purpose of a compost pile is to rot things down, your pallets will go the same way pretty sharpish if you don’t protect them. Having them sat in compost slop 24/7 will not help.
Just having a colorbond back means that the pallets flap about, so I put one long beefy piece of timber across the top halfway back from the front. I also used a couple of long pieces of decking above the colorbond at the back because the sheet of metal doesn’t go high enough. I’ve then lined the inside of the bays with patchwork scrap pieces of colorbond, and then dressed up the edges with bits of nice looking decking. The doors are made of another pallet or two, broken apart, and then made to fit the gap. They were completed in March 2020 and the main bays are still great. The doors however need an upgrade, they are rotting, warping and really need beefier hinges.
As a nice touch I covered the top with a few more pieces of old decking and have a plant nursery on top. Right now in the thick of winter, making a nicely cooking compost pile means there is a warm microclimate for the young plants in pots above. Some people actually put a compost pile in their greenhouse in winter on purpose to take advantage of this warming effect. Love that.
