Sunday 10 May 2009

Sunday 10th May 09

Well, a quiet day, had hoped to make it to the allotment to put in my spuds, which are very well chitted, but lots of things got in the way.

It was a busy family day in the morning, boys playing Wii Music and I don't know what else going on, and then I spent some time repairing the broken tiles around the raised beds.. they are quite brittle and a kick will break them. Several have been kicked and therefore I have had to remove the soil from behind them, excavate a space for the tile to slip into, and replace. Fortunately, when I recovered the roof tiles, I got some spare, so more can be kicked and I'll be able to replace them for some time to come...

I added some home-made compost to the soil as I'd taken out loads of roots and it did seem quite impoverished. It won't be long before we can replant that bit of bed. Tomorrow maybe?
Also made some more growing medium, compost, leafmould and loam.

I popped down to Country Fresh to get assorted veggies, some for Tony's quiches for his birthday party tomorrow. Also brought back plenty of compostables... and a huge pawpaw (papaya) which made a good fruit salad base and lots of strips for drying.

In the evening I helped our eldest with some homework (amazing!) and then did two lots of washing up. Gill made quiche bases (pastry) and a chocolate cake in the shape of a narrow boat, as Tony is more than keen on canals, and is one of the lock keepers at the Foss Barrier.

3 comments:

James said...

Does your compost toilet smell?

Could you imagine having one inside? Say in a downstairs toilet?

Compost John said...

Nope, it doesn't. There are two reasons for this, firstly, the cover material acts as a physical barrier to the odours, plus a biochemical barrier, as the partly composted sawdust is biologically active, and the microbes therein 'eat' the long chain odour molecules which are adsorbed into the damp partly composted sawdust.
Secondly, most compost loos are ventilated in a way which draws air over the deposited material and up a flue.
There are lots of professional designs for compost toilets, some off the shelf, some build your own.
Mine is a commode and a brewing bucket, with the composting happening down the garden.
John

Anonymous said...

My friends children used our composting toilet last weekend and think that is really fun, but they are 5 and 10 years old.
Even their mother was impressed. The joy of them is that you can sort out toilet facilities in a the middle of nowhere.