Got room for a pig?

Why doesn't the compost bin work well? Just keep adding shredded paper, sawdust, ash to it all now and then...

I have 2 black compost bins, and an area where I chuck other stuff - ie. the half bag of solid lime, the ash from the fire, large woody offcuts, and the sawdust from cleaning out the guinea pigs.

I have noticed that tunnels are appearing in the black compost bins ( because I chuck in food waste too). Luckily we have 2 cats and we live far from neighbours. I suspect we have rats, but I'm hoping the foxes, badgers, weasles, stoats, owls, and other birds of prey are keeping their numbers down.

My sister tried a worm bin once - she managed to drown them all - they are quite hard work to get established. . . . . . .

To be honest, I have never managed to get compost that looks like it does in the adverts - ie, lift the bin after a year and find what you'd get out of a bag you buy from the garden centre. . . . . . . .

What I do find amazing though, is the way you can keep on filling it up. . . . ..AND . . . .IT . . . . NEVER . . . . GETS . . . .FULL !!!!!!. . . . . . . now that's magic!

why did I not think of that!!!

Having said that, I just planted out the last of my artichokes into a flower bed full of rodent holes. . . . . . the beasties are everywhere.

I know about Viels disease - the deadly one you get from wet rodent pee. But is there any other rodent danger I should know about?

I have a feeling it is a rare disease, but it's one thing I remember my hubby telling me when we began dating - it was his excuse for not licking his fingers when eating crisps.

By the way, Grandpa LOL at your rat observation. Then hubby told me that the compost bins we left at the bungalow worked very well. It seems they just have to be left on their own for about a year before using the stuff. Makes me think I need at least 6 of the things to use in rotation.

With the composting, if you have the right mix of wet green stuff - grass cuttings etc - and dry stuff, it should get quite hot and compost down quite quickly. But that type of composting relies on air getting in, so you have to stir or fork it up a bit from time to time, and make sure that grass cuttings in particular don't go into a solid wet mat that keeps the air out. But things will compost down without air, it just takes much longer - a year, maybe, rather than a couple of months. So the other approach is just to pile it up and leave it, then start another pile in the mean time.

I just bung all ours onto a big open heap a fair way away from the house and let nature take its course. Eventually I start another heap, turn the old one from time to time then use it when it looks ready. I've got some hotter heaps, more carefully built, elsewhere, as well.

we have two big heaps in square frames made from reused wooden crates. We're not particularly careful about managing them, all sorts go in there except fat and meat. Use one for a year and then cover it up to stop weeds/grass growing on top, then let it moulder for about a year while we use the other one.
I think ideally we could do with a third frame so that we can empty the dormant one into it after 6 months to turn it and fluff it up a bit. It seems to rot down really well, loads of worms etc. and the volume shrinks to at least a quarter of its size. The resultant compost is just like the stuff in the shops, in fact i think it might even be better!
the only thing we leave out is big/long sticks because it makes turning it nigh on impossible, but if we had a chipper I would put that in as well as I think it gives the soil really good bulk.

You need to think of your tiger worms as pets. They can't manage too much at a time. They don't like citrus or too many onions and they can't deal with coconuts or avocado seeds. (Mine are kept strictly vegetarian except for squashed snails). Fruit flies can be a problem this weather so site your wormery carefully.