Composting questions

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Stephen
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Should I not mix the gardening compost into pots?
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All weedy, I'm not even sure which is the plant we are trying to grow now.

Or is our compost not getting hot enough?

Here are our bins. Four of them
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I have since emptied one of these into the other to make a single better-filled bin.

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I'm emptying the LHS, and what gets sieved out will go into RHS.
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Primrose
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Difficult question Stephen. I don,t know what temperature commercial compost is made at but i somehow doubt our domestic compost heaps at home are able to reach the same consistent temperatures.

My rwo cages for example are located for garden pleasant viewing in the shadiest corner of the garden and rarely get exposed to the sun except very briefly for the odd hour at the height of summer. I suspect this probably makes a big difference to the ongoing heat within the cages and the ability for weed seeds to be destroyed. My compost cages are open wire. I see yours are wooden which may help them retain heat for longer but are they located in a sunny position?

I also don't know whether shredding compost material into finer shreds helps the decomposition much enoughc in terms of the heat generated. There's quite an art in successful compost making and I suspect some of us just throw stuff into a cage and leave it to its own devices (guilty as charged these days,) which may not help the heat process. On the other hand I,ve always thought that turning material probably dissipated whatever heat was building up and slowed the composting process down so would be interested to hear some other views on this.

What's the quickes way ever to get a compost heap to really rot down quickly and kill weed seeds in the process? Are there any magic answers? Would burying a large metal container full of boiling water in the middle of it act as a hot water bottle and markedly speed up the process for example?

I tend to forget what topics are covered when in the magazine. Is it time for another compost making article?
Stephen
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Hi Primrose
Like yours, these are located with a fence to the south, beyond that a footpath then tall trees, so certainly shady (and less attractive as spots for plants).
We try to shred (my Ebay bargain £25 shredder is at end of life really) as much as we can, woodier stuff goes on the paths predominantly but we add some to the compost. Mostly at this community garden there is too much woody, brown cuttings than soft green material.
I have read the Ken Thompson book throughly but the compost bins are certainly less important than the plants.

My sister, with her six (yes SIX!) metre-cube bins puts sheets of cardboard across the top of the full bins, I tried this but felt things became too dry underneath, but it may improve heat retention.

On wire bins, I created one for the leaves last autumn and the leaf mould is already in use! They decomposed really quickly. Certainly more quickly than in the plastic fertilizer bags I use on the 'lottie.
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Stephen, I know it is not easy, but why not try to avoid putting seeding weeds into the compost in the first place? We use four ex-dustbins as compost bins, after drilling holes into the bottom and sides. They are used for all the green stuff from the garden, vegetable kitchen waste, egg shells, mixed with a lot of corrugated cardboard etc, but I never add weeds with seeds to them, not even our lawn cuttings because they are likely to be full of dandelion, daisy and other seeds. Luckily, we have a fortnightly garden rubbish collection (paid for) and that's where all the 'baddies' go.
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Mine is exactly the same & I just can't get them hot enough. I have been given 2 hints both I have tried & both successful, although the 2nd is easier & safer.

1) Heat the well rotted compost before using over a fire. I flipped the incinerator (only fire allowed), lid upside down with metal mesh over the opening so when I burnt the canes & woody stuff the soil got well hot. Fiddly & the smoke coming out the side holes was hard to avoid, so streaming eyes & pretty dodgy flipping the lid contents. There are probably better solutions - but not the microwave which I have heard people use but I can't guarantee there is not a tiny bit of wire in mine.
2) Clear plastic laid over a low pile of sifted contents as the weather warms. The warmth will encourage the seedlings to grow but the plastic will overwhelm them as they kind of melt in the captured hot air underneath as they pop up.
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Colin2016
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I use the pallet bay system 4 bays in all.

They get hot 60/70 degrees at the start then cool down.

What works for me is making sure it is wet, shredding anything that will fit the shredder plants, stems, trees, cardboard rolled up using a Bosch AXT 25 Garden Shredder.

Turning within each bay keeps it cooking.

Grass gets it hot quickly, manure gets it hot as well.

I line the bay with cardboard and cover with plastic on the tot also my beds have a roof over them.

at the start I pile it as high as possible and as it sinks keep adding more & keep it wet.

It is usually ready for adding to my beds after 6 months.

Looking at your picture Stephan I would suggest it is not big enough and looks dry.

I use to sieve mine but found it was a waste of time found it was easier to barrow to beds and remove any large pieces for shredding.

Hope this helps.
Stephen
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Hi all
Yes, all suggestions help. Most of which I follow, some of which are beyond my control as there are multiple gardeners and non-gardeners involved.
Thank you all.

On the allotment, I have a pallet box & several plastic daleks. Lifting the lid on the daleks certainly shows the heat generated in the initial stages of decomposition, but this falls away quite quickly.
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Shallot Man
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When I had a plot. I lined the inner and outer pallet boards with slab polystyrene. Worked a treat.
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