Compost

Composting is a weird art. It is one of those gardening things that can feel like there will never be a result from carefully collecting green stuff etc up and putting it on, day in and day out.

August 2014 - long grass cut from field and piled up.

2015 - lots of green stuff thrown on top.

2016 - left alone and it was too big to turn.

March 2017 -the same pile of grass is now being dug up and put back on the field as a dressing that is being rotavated in! The compost is  quite solid on the bottom and has taken a big effort to get down to this last quarter of the pile and find that original long grass.

As you can see in late 2015 we had time to build a proper compost box (metre square) next to the old heap.  The stuff in there has been cooking away all of 2016 and we left a doorway to take it out the bottom this time.

End of last year we started a new box at the far end of the field for processing next year.

Composting -  Its a long process!

But as not as long as the heap behind the compost which was turf turned up side down to rot in a beehive shape. That heap is only just maturing and it is darn hard work digging in to it to get at the lovely resulting soil in the middle.

Some days I'd just like to have a mini JCB for these hard gardening tasks!