Well, I have my new composter – purchased for £15 under a local council initiative to encourage home recycling, and complete with a free kitchen scraps bucket with lid. How handy.
The composter is now in position behind the shed, and I’ve put in three or four buckets full of garden waste, leaves, spent compost and a few twigs to open it up a bit. I’m not above "cheating" at this compost malarkey, so I’ll nip down to the farm later and invest the princely sum of £1 in a sack of farm manure to shove in there – it’ll hasten the rotting process by increasing the temperature in the bin, as well as providing nitrogen for the hungry little pathogens busy breaking down all the lignin in the leaves and stems.
From now on it is just a case of being disciplined and making sure that all kitchen vegetable matter goes in, as well as a medium amount of grass cuttings (too much will ruin the structure and turn it into horrid slime) and any other garden trimmings and waste (not too much woody stuff as it takes too long to rot, but some as it helps keep it open and allows air to those pathogens). I’ve set myself the challenge of showing that it is cheap and easy to make decent garden compost (not to mention environment-friendly) – in fact, I intend to prove it so conclusively that Gordon is convinced of the merits and starts his own in order to convert his sticky clay garden into something more usable (he’ll need grit too, but I’m not going to start a quarry just to prove a point – a builders’ merchants will do the job better).
Oh dear
Mmmmmm, composters.
EDIT: mmmmmm.
FURTHER EDIT: woo! only £15!
Garden development
Before:
After:
Note new border, created by first removing the turf, then deeply digging it, followed by incorporation of considerable quantities of well rotted farmyard manure and spent potting compost. Finally the willow tree was heavily pruned and the Euonymus and three lupins were planted.
The soil is rather heavy, a slightly greyish clay. Not the most exciting stuff and probably the sort that would put off a new gardener (or lead to fairly dismal results if they didn’t have some guidance as to how to treat it), but with the addition of plenty of humus and some grit (I’m going to nab some from the parents) I know that it can make an excellent garden soil that will permit a fairly wide range of plants to grow. I’ve not done a pH test, but judging by the presence of Rhododendrons in the neighbourhood, it must be fairly acidic. Not good news for bearded Irises, but an opportunity to play with some Japanese types and one or two of the more esoteric species.
Thankfully, I had some help:
Treacle came out too, but spent most of her time looking for mice under the shed.
Dig for victory
This morning, if the weather holds, I’ll be digging a new border in the back garden, incorporating four bags of well-rotted manure from a local farm and then transplanting a Euonymus bush and a couple of lupins. Heady stuff, but the first steps towards making the garden into the sort of place you would expect to be the garden of the director of a company allied to horticulture. There may be photos.
Let there be light (at the end of tunnel)
Joy at Graybo Towers this evening as news comes in that, subject to references, H’s flat has been let. Of course, this means that muggins has to go and fix the leaky washing machine fitting pdq. Gah. But yay!
Not a good week so far
We had two large new scratching posts sofas delivered this morning (at 7.10am!), a two-seat version and a three-seat sofabed. The two-seat fitted in without too much of a fight, but the three-seat is much too big to get through the door (Hels convinced me when we were in the store that it would fit because the previous owners of the house had a leather sofa in the same room). Consequently, it is now living in the conservatory, which is far from ideal.
So I’ve just called a local and trusted building company for a quote to pull out the window in the living room, lift the sofa through and refit the window and make good. They have a good reputation locally, and the chap says that they get asked to do this sort of thing fairly frequently. The estimated charge? £280. Good job I have something soft to sit down on.
UPDATE: got another quote – £100 – which is a lot more reasonable. And they can do it on Saturday. I think they’re doing it more cheaply because it’s the best laugh they’ve had in ages.
Mower update
The replacement filler cap arrived yesterday.
Mowerman
Well, the mower arrived promptly. I can’t say much for the build quality, as the handles do not fix properly into the base and the safety cable snapped early on (but I’m savvy enough to use a mower safely and can easily bodge repair these things later) – but such is life when you purchase a very cheap mower made in the PRC. It doesn’t so much cut the grass as beat it into submission, but I was giving it a fairly grim acid test on our saturated and rather long lawn.
The petrol filler cap was smashed on arrival, so I’ve emailed the vendor to see if a replacement can be provided. I’ll let you know how he responds.
The main thing is that our lawn has now been cut. I’m rather pleased about this, as it was bugging me to look at it each day, and I was starting to get concerned that the lengthy sward was hiding some wild animals that might leap on me as I walked to the shed.