Another grey, drizzly morning. The wind has dropped so I am able to put my hanging-basket back up. Last week it was swinging like a pendulum with the little pansy heads jiggling about over the sides. This mild weather has been a boon for the likes of the Viola family. The cold weather normally brings their blooming to an abrupt end but this year as the mild weather continues they have gone on and on.
The basket I have here, is planted with a variety called Arabian Nights, a mixture of pinks and purples. When I bought it, back in October, the colours looked insipid against a radiant sunny backdrop but now under this heavy grey sky the colours glow delicately .
The storms have kept me out of the garden over the last couple of weeks. There has been little damage, the hedges serve as a good windbreak. The plastic covered greenhouse travelled over the garden a short distance and I have now got it weighted down with a few stones and a tub of compost in case it feels adventurous again.
About the only task I have completed recently is sorting out the compost bins. Instead of the usual two bins, where you fill one whilst emptying the other, I have three bins on the go.
A year ago I decided to compost all the paper household waste as well as the usual kitchen and garden offerings.Two of the bins are large, square monsters that must hold at least a ton of compost, the third bin is of the more normal garden variety. The two large bins were filled more rapidly than I thought they would be, so now I fill the smaller bin and transfer its contents to the other two bins as the compost in them rots down.
The main difference I can see, due to the inclusion of paper waste, is the compost is much drier. I am wondering if the paper wicks the water out of the heap. Consequently, the compost is taking longer to decompose.
Well, it’s an experiment and as with all experiments, some problems you anticipate – will the presence of all this paper lead to nitrogen deficiency when it is applied to the soil? – and some problems are unforeseen.
So, watch this space and see how the great compost experiment turns out.
