Council subsidised composters.

[Jamesey1981]

This is probably very old news to most of the experienced gardeners on here, but I think it's worth a heads up for anyone who is a bit of a noob like myself.

My local council have teamed up with a company called get composting and heavily subsidise garden composters and having a look into it a lot of other councils are also working with them to offer discounts or subsidies too.

I just ordered a 330 litre garden composter for a tenner, (they're being sold for thirty to forty quid on Amazon), and they were selling the 220 litre for a fiver, so if you don't have one and would like one, or even if you have several and would like another one then it's well worth having a look to see if your council will pay for part of it for you.

Some water companies are also subsidising water butts on there too, mine isn't but I needed one anyway and the delivery charge with this site is the same however many items you order (£5.99 delivery, which I didn't think was bad) so I got one of those too.

There's no messing about with vouchers or anything, you just put your postcode in and they show you what's available at what price.

https://getcomposting.com/profile/login

They're also a U.K. Company and made in the U.K. from recycled plastic which I liked as well.

Just to be clear, I don't have any connection to the company, just thought it was worth sharing.

[Brambles]

When this idea first came about I got 2 big composters free, that was about 12 years ago now.

I actually had a look on the website a while ago when I needed a new one. My council, it seems don't subsidise THAT heavily so it was cheaper for me to order one from the bay of flea. Which is a shame.

[Jamesey1981]

I think my council are a bit desperate to reduce the waste sent to landfill so they're making it as cheap as they can, we have some of the worst figures in the country when it comes to recycling and landfill so they're trying to get more people to reduce what they throw away.

I would have bought a composter anyway as compost is a good resource and aside from anything else it'll save me taking all my hedge trimmings to the tip, so in my case they've just given me some free money, (not that I haven't paid for it, I'm in a pretty hefty council tax band!) but hopefully it'll get some people thinking about it that wouldn't otherwise.

Now I just need to find a cheap garden shredder and fit some guttering on my shed and I'm all good.

And dig my veg patch, and repair my patio, and learn to do gardening........

[Tricky]

I bought a number of plastic composters but they never worked as good as my compost heap so I've returned to it. If you have somewhere discreet in your garden where you can heap your compost rather than putting it in a bin then I'd do that. It composts quicker, takes much more waste (and therefore gives more back) and gets more worms!
Anyone with allotment knowledge would likely support that suggestion but it may not be an option depending on your circumstances.

The monks used to trench dig their garden beds and then fill it with the latrine buckets and roll the next trench on top of it when it was looking fullish. Cracking black soil full of goodness apparently but I wouldn't go near any soil for planting foodstuffs that had human waste for at least a couple of years for fear of pathogens. Might be an idea for any new beds you'd raise post-apocalypse!

[Jamesey1981]

I think (with my limited knowledge of the subject) a lot of it is down to the ability for air to get into the heap, if you have a loose heap or a composter that's home made out of wooden slats or something then air will be able to get into it really easily, but in a plastic composter you have to really get in and mix it up, which is easier said than done.

Mine is full of woody (but shredded) hedge clippings as well as the usual grass clippings and bits and bobs so it's going to take a little while to rot down whatever I do it in, but my garden doesn't give me the option of a traditional heap anyway, its large for my area but it isn't that large in the scheme of things so a plastic bin is my only choice really.

[jansman]

I have plastic composters Jamesey. They last for ever and take no maintenance. If you don't have rabbits or fowls ( the droppings are are high in nitrogen) then add( your) urine on a regular basis. It's a fantastic activator and breaks the waste down quickly.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I have plastic composters Jamesey. They last for ever and take no maintenance. If you don't have rabbits or fowls ( the droppings are are high in nitrogen) then add( your) urine on a regular basis. It's a fantastic activator and breaks the waste down quickly.

On that note male pee is great on the grass to green it up I have a 5l bottle in the shed for gardening when I don't want to be tramping through the house ... Once full 10l watering can 50/50 with water and water the grass just before rain is forecast........


On that note I've attacked the grass with a aerator several big bags of horticultural grit few bags of horticultural sand

Spiked about 25 holes then hand filled each hole with sand and grit mix. Then did. 25 more and again and again. ..

How's this a prep? Better drainage reduces the risk of heavy rain flooding the garden / house by improving the speed it can soak away.

Finished with a dusting of fish blood and bone compost and grass seed

Hopefully come spring the lawn will be level, green, and less like a bog /swamp

Stripped the veg parch gave it a good dig and some fish blood and bone mixed in too

[jansman]

Male urine is also recommended for spraying around fowl pens to keep marauding foxes at bay. How effective that is I cannot say .

[grenfell]

The monks used to trench dig their garden beds and then fill it with the latrine buckets and roll the next trench on top of it when it was looking fullish. Cracking black soil full of goodness apparently but I wouldn't go near any soil for planting foodstuffs that had human waste for at least a couple of years for fear of pathogens. Might be an idea for any new beds you'd raise post-apocalypse!

The bible for those thinking of a human poop fertilised garden,
http://www.humanurehandbook.com/
I've got two of the plastic composters ( well I've got four actually but only two have compost in them) which live on the front of the house. Makes it easy to fill with garden waste I've removed from jobs rather than struggling it round the back to the two other compost heaps I have. I reckon the compost is probably better from the heaps rather than the plastic daleks and I'd say that is down to the heaps being physically bigger so thus rotting more efficiently .I think our council run or ran a similar scheme but I've picked up mine from off jobs or from freecycle but even if buying them at a reduced cost I'd still say they are worth it.