Time to up our compost game.

The time has come!

That's right the time has come to sort out our compost. We have had a compost heap for as long as I can remember, but what have we done with it?

In short.....Nothing!

So its now time to do something about it.

This is what our compost heap looks like at the moment.

It contains the usual suspects like grass cuttings and garden waste. The heap starts off fairly high and does indeed compost down quite a lot. But we never do anything with it. And with the price of compost getting more and more expensive we should really be using what we have got.

So we built a temporary compost bin!

I say temporary as we have some works planned for next year which shall include more permanent compost bins.

But this will do for now, the plan is to compost all garden waste, kitchen waste and brown waste.

Brown waste will be stuff like cardboard, egg cartons, egg shells.

I'm not sure of the ratios that are needed, but I'm guessing to aim for about 50/50

From what I have found out from the internet and of course the good ole YouTube it seems you fill you compost bin up and leave it for a few months, turn it out into another compost bin if you have one and let it sit for a good eight months. This should complete the composting process and it should be ready to use on your garden.

Bear in mind though that any large or woody waste from your garden should be either chopped up small or put through a shredder. We don't have a shredder at the moment so its the old fashioned way for us.
This just helps the material break down easier and quicker.
I'm going to source a thermometer to keep a check on the heat in the compost, ideally it should range between 65ºc - 75ºc.

So its as simple as that really, most of us don't do it as there is always something better to do, but we are going to make an effort and see how we get on.

Comments

Stuffed Chicken, wrapped in Bacon.

Here's a different take on the good old chicken breast. Why not open it up, stuff it and then wrap it in Bacon.
Sound like a good idea? Trust me, they are lovely.

As with any of these recipes that calls for you to stuff something. The world is your Oyster! Only your imagination limits what you can put in there.
Tina is a dab hand at making these and this last time she made them I asked her to put a Scotch Bonnet chilli in mine, that gave it some serious heat!

This recipe will feed two, if you need more you can just adjust the ingredients to suit.

You will need:
2 Chicken breasts
6 Rashers of bacon/jambon sec
Raclette cheese, you can use cream cheese or any other cheese.
1 Scotch Bonnet chilli (optional)

Method/ How Tina does it.

Open up the chicken breast, scoring the side of it with a knife to flatten it out.
Put the cheese and optional chilli on top of the chicken breast. Then roll it so the filling is inside.
Lay out two rashers of Bacon and place the chicken breast on them, wrap the bre…

How to make Fresh Red Chilli Pickle.

Fresh red chilli pickleLal mirch ka achaar I love Indian pickles, my first experience of said pickles was a jar of Pataks chilli pickle that we picked up to try. I ended up putting it on everything from my cheese sandwiches and salads right through to curries and cooked meals. I have been searching the internet for a good recipe so we could make good use of our massive chilli harvest. For this recipe you will need:
1/2 cup of Fresh Red Chillis 3 tbsp Mustard seeds 2 tbsp Fennel seeds 1/4 cup Mustard oil 1/4 tsp Asafoetida (we used ground mace) 3 tsp Salt 2 tbsp Lemon juice
First up you need to cut up the chillis, I cut them in half and then slit them along the length. I also left the seeds in as we quite like the extra heat. Now put the chillis into a bowl and cover them with the salt, this will draw out any moisture in the chillis. Leave them sat in the salt for an hour minimum, longer would be better.
Now you can turn to the mustard seed mixture! I use a spice grinder to blitz up the seeds. Onc…

Ideal tools if your old, disabled or able.

This is going to be a review, I was going to aim it at the elderly and disabled. But in fact it's going to apply to everyone. No one is left out here, it caters for all.
I had never given it much thought before, when I was young fit and able bodied.
But now I am on wheels these things do crop up, and when it comes to gardening the tools you use do come into it.

When I first got home after eight months in Hospital I decided that I would try to do what I could in the garden, within reason!
I could get onto the John Deere tractor to cut the grass (we have since sold it) but when it came to the flower and vegetable beds the tools we had were either too long for me as I was now sat down or the Hand tools were too short for me to reach the beds.

So this brings us to Wolf Tools (Wolf Garten).
This is a range of tools with interchangeable heads and lots of handle options.
I went for the 120cm long handle and the 35cm short handle, they do more sizes and are made in either Aluminum or wood. Some…

The Paraplegic Gardener

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