Horticultural

Can-O-Worms update

It looks as if I got a worm composter just in time: my allotment site has banned the addition of household waste to compost heaps, because they are concerned that it was encouraging vermin. Having written recently about rats and compost, I am not entirely convinced by their argument, but them's the rules, so I have to toe the line (barring the lot of peelings I took down to the plot and deposited on the heap before I spotted the sign...)

So thank goodness the kitchen waste now has a destination other than the landfill: the wormery. I've got around to uploading photos of the Can-O-Worms setup process, which you can see in this blow-by-blow photo gallery. Please let me know what you think.

As far as I can see, the worms seem pretty happy so far. I am gradually adding more waste and they are rooting around. My partner is bemused by my daily worm updates but vindicated in his choice of birthday presents.

Stop press: birthday worms

My birthday present turned up a few days early: a worm composting kit, but not just any worm composting kit: the Can-O-Worms with its superior tray system for easy compost production (yes, I suspect such language indicates I am turning into the Jeremy Clarkson of the composting world - shudder).

I guess for some this would be an eccentric gift but it's absolutely spot on for me. I have wanted a wormery for years and have only been held back by - well, I am not quite sure what has been holding me back other than the expense and hassle of setting it up. The setup took about five minutes, and it cost about the same as a slap-up birthday meal - and I know I am going to get a huge amount of pleasure from observing the worms at work, as well as the benefits of the resulting compost and liquid feed.

Like any blogger worth her salt, I shall be blogging my photos of the whole Can-O-Worms setup experience, once I have got the camera cable from the nursery when the baby's awake.

And my first question for any experienced worm composters out there - how strictly do I have to follow the no citrus rule? Presumably the occasional stray satsuma segment won't hurt?

If you're new to worm composting there's an excellent FAQ here.

There's a rat in my heap, what am I gonna do?

(To paraphrase UB40 ...)

Some months ago I was working on the plot when I heard a rustling coming from the compost heap. I am not one of those people who jumps on a chair at the merest hint of a mouse, but my skin crawled at the sight of a rat crawling through my kitchen and garden waste.

I left the rat to it, hoping that it would fall prey to the regular baiting programme in place on my allotment site to deal with the pest problem. But this week I was reminded of the issue of rats on compost heaps, and allotments in general: there was a reader's question about it in one of the gardening magazines I read, which annoyingly I now can't track down and I caught a programme on Radio 4 dedicated to the issue of Britain's growing rat problem. Then on visiting the plot today I noticed a sign warning allotmenteers to look out for (and alert the correct authorities to) any dead rats after the latest lot of bait was laid.   

I am sure there are no rats in my compost heap at the moment - it's pretty sponge-like given the recent rain. I did fall prey to a mouse infestation in the past when I had a Dalek-type plastic compost bin in my garden. I'd failed to mix the browns and the greens properly*, and a mouse had made itself very comfortable in a big lump of shredded paper, until I scared the life out of myself - and it, probably - by lifting the lid to take out some compost. A good mix with a fork put paid to the mouse's papery pied-a-terre and it must have found digs elsewhere as it didn't return.

I think it bears repeating that, as it explains in this Garden Organic factsheet on composting, rats or indeed mice nesting in your heap is a sign that it's too dry. But presuming they're already there, should you worry? In answer to the first point, you should worry a bit - they're a danger to human health and their gnawing can do a lot of damage. But (yes, there's always a but) as this information sheet from the composting group York Rotters points out, it's not the end of the world to have a rat in your heap, provided you wear gloves while handling composting material, turning the heap and so on.

But, presuming you've decided the rats have to go, if only to avoid the prospect of a furry surprise one day when you give the heap a stir, what can you do to evict the little blighters? The sage advice offered by Garden Organic is to "add water until it has the consistency of a wrung-out sponge".  The aforementioned magazine suggested weighting down the heap with bricks to ensure no spaces were left for rodents to inhabit. I remember a work colleague of mine saying he'd constructed a completely rat-proof composter but I never got the full details from him: but the York Rotters do have some practical tips and also suggest various commercially available ratproof bins.

*(You can read an extract of my book on the subject of composting here.)

Introducing two 'common' visitors to the compost heap

One of my greatest  hopes when Rick built the double-bay composter on the allotment was the development of a "wildlife area" at the back - nothing planned, just a random stack of old sunflower stems, twigs and anything too sturdy to break down on the heap within a reasonable time frame.

I was hoping it'd be a nirvana for frogs, toads, lizards, hedgehogs, slow worms, ladybirds, lacewings and other insects beneficial to the plot and happy to gobble up pests. As the woody stuff built up it's developed into a hidey hole for frogs, but today I ticked two more off the list - this common lizard lounging around on the wood frame of the composter in the sunshine, and this rather camera-shy common toad, nestling in a fold in the cardboard that's topping the pile to keep things moist below. (The common toad boasts one of my favourite Latin names, Bufo bufo).

To give you a sense of scale, the lizard was about the length of my hand, tail included, and the toad was about the size of an egg. Not as cute as Duck Dinner Dash's current allotment fauna, but satisying to see nonetheless.

Now I am hoping for a hedgehog and a slow worm to turn up next weekend, or do you think that's asking too much?

Identity thieves wouldn't dare ...

... stick their hand into the pulsing mass of slugs, worms and oversized toads that is my compost heap in search of the  scraps of my receipts. It's the perfect place for all those shreddings you don't know what to do with. Particularly when damped down with a big bucket of stinking comfrey juice.

Or urine.

Both great compost activators, by the way.

And, as I understand it most inks now are made of natural materials and should decompose harmlessly, right? (As always feel free to correct if I am off base on this one).

Me on composting, over at News blog ...

I've written an only-very-slightly ranty post over at Guardian Unlimited's News blog about Compost Awareness Week, comlaining that celebrity endorsement for composting campaigns doesn't work. Your thoughts are welcome - but please comment on News blog rather than here.

Carry on composting

Good to see that allotmenteers are leading the way when it comes to what I call the complete recycling experience - composting toilets. This is Leicestershire reports:

Allotment users could soon be helping their gardens grow -  by going to the toilet.

Plot holders at the Washbrook site in Knighton, Leicester, are planning to install a £4,000 "composting lavatory" to help keep their soil fertile.

I just hope all the keen volunteers don't disappear a year later when it's time to shovel out the fully composted result of everyone's visits ...

Worms: they're rotters

There's no sight more welcome to the dedicated composter than that of a mass of red worms writhing in among the decomposing contents of your heap.

Usually I'd leave the worms tucked up safely with their carpet lid in place at this time of year. But I took this shot while adding some extra cardboard insulation around the edge of one of my compost heaps, which necessitated moving some of the material away from the compost slats.

These fellows are different from the earthworm you'll find in your soil when digging - they specialise in breaking down garden and kitchen waste and turning it into lovely crumbly compost. Given that the soil of the ground was still frozen on some parts of my allotment, the compost must have been many degrees warmer.

I also emptied the other heap of ready-to-go compost that has been cooking for the last eight months, spreading it as a mulch on empty parts of the plot as a protection against the leaching of nutrients from heavy winter rain. It's amazing to think that several months' worth of kitchen and garden waste rot down to a few trugfuls of "black gold". Contrary to people's expectation, well rotted compost smells, well, earthy. There's none of the whiff people expect.

To pee or not to pee

News of the value of human urine as a compost activator usually provokes cries of disbelief and often horror from those new to the concept. But urine is virtually sterile, high in nitrogen and minerals, and there's no shortage of it around: what better way of saving water on toilet flushes and helping your compost break down? And certain male gardeners have assured me that it's quite liberating to make an al-fresco "delivery" to your composter once in a while.

Unless your compost heap is extremely well concealed from the rest of the human race, you may wish to consider collecting your "activator" in a (preferably opaque) plastic bottle to take down to the plot rather than adding it directly. If all this sounds, well, just too weird, you can grow nitrogen-rich comfrey or nettles to cut and add to the heap, and the end result will be exactly the same.

But I'd like to know: how many of you out there use urine as a compost activator? And do you let your visitors into your little secret before or after they've finished your delicious vegetables?

Or have you found another source of nitrogen that works for you? Come on now, don't be shy - share your compost tips ...

Leaf shredding

If you're trying to turn a big pile of leaves into leafmould and, like me, you're impatient, you can speed the process along by putting them on the ground and running your lawnmower over them a few times.

It'll make a bit of a mess but it's great fun. And the leaves will be shredded, so you can sweep them up or collect them in your lawnmower's grass bag, place inside a bag with holes in it or a cage of chicken wire, and let the elements do the rest.