What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[GillyBee]

There is general advice now to wear mask ond gloves for handling compost after a couple of cases where people managed to get a lung full of aspergillus fungal spores and failed to survive the encounter.....

[Yorkshire Andy]

There is general advice now to wear mask ond gloves for handling compost after a couple of cases where people managed to get a lung full of aspergillus fungal spores and failed to survive the encounter.....

Bet Jansman still has a COVID mountain of masks

[Frnc]

There is general advice now to wear mask ond gloves for handling compost after a couple of cases where people managed to get a lung full of aspergillus fungal spores and failed to survive the encounter.....

Jansman mentioned a harmul fungus that grows in garden soils, likes roses I think. I'm gonna get some waterproof work gloves if I get back into gardening. I am at least watering the anti-intruder bushes at the back.

Just been looking at some water bottle holders that strap to a bike's handlebar and stem. Maybe something for next month. I did have a bottle cage clamped on, but it does come loose if there's enough vibration. I have two cages on the frame anyway. Bit skint now as new SSD, new kettle, cycling shorts and prep room drawers repair.

[jennyjj01]

Leave it and chuck some sh1t around it just don't burry the crown
I like the RHS site no messing clear info

Got to get me some of that good 5h1t

In the words of Catherine Tate's character 'Nan' "What a load of old 5h1t!"
I'm chuffed to bits with today's bargain: Half a dozen huge heavy bags of well rotted horse muck. All bagged up and loaded into my car for £5 the lot. Bags so heavy that two of us struggled to get them out of the car. And I saw the HUGE heap that it was dug out from. It looked really rich, dark and crumbly, almost like peat. The seller swears blind Grazon has never been used, though I have been reading on how to test for it.
I don't know what dose rate to use it at, but once i've tested it with some beans or peas, I'll be buying loads more.
The local allotment club had been getting similar at 60p a bag, but smaller bags and it's sold out quickly. I'm going to share my 'source' with the club.

For the gardeners...... The seller said it's been rotting for almost 4 years. If that's true, can I just use it dug in or on the surface?

I have free fresh stuff available. Might not bother with that.

[GillyBee]

Sounds like you have lucked out there Jenny. That is "black gold" for gardening. If it no longer has any look or smell of the original "ingredients" and is more like a rich peat you can use it straight away (once tested). Your courgettes/squash etc will LOVE a spadeful as will any fruit trees/bushes/rhubarb on the plot.

[jansman]

Compost and gardening. I usually just wear ordinary work gloves,simply to protect my hands from damage. I don’t treat it like a surgeon handling a patient.

[jansman]

There is general advice now to wear mask ond gloves for handling compost after a couple of cases where people managed to get a lung full of aspergillus fungal spores and failed to survive the encounter.....

Bet Jansman still has a COVID mountain of masks

It’s a good job - we HAVE to wear them when going to Radiotherapy,and advised to wear when out generally.

[jennyjj01]

Sounds like you have lucked out there Jenny. That is "black gold" for gardening. If it no longer has any look or smell of the original "ingredients" and is more like a rich peat you can use it straight away (once tested). Your courgettes/squash etc will LOVE a spadeful as will any fruit trees/bushes/rhubarb on the plot.

Black gold indeed. It really is very dark and smooth like wet loam or peat. No strawiness.
The chap showed my where it came from. He had a heap about 7 metres square and nearly a metre deep with a big black hole like an opencast mine
For a quid a BIG bag, all ready dug out and bagged up and loaded into my car, it can't be bad. The chap lifted and moved them effortlessly, but they were so heavy, we had right fun getting them out of the car. A right circus, with one bag spilling. You have to have been there, by lamplight, floundering and laughing, decanting muck into carrier bags and ferrying it to the plot on a 'borrowed' wheelbarrow.
There was hardly any smell at all. It's too good to put into my compost heap, where I'll be putting some free 'fresher' stuff.
But crikey...... Thinking of 5 year timescales just to make compost. That grates in my 'Want it now' mindset.

Now.... Testing for grazon. I know to try a few peas or beans. I can hardly wait to start those tests, which will take a few weeks to see results.

[jansman]

Sounds like you have lucked out there Jenny. That is "black gold" for gardening. If it no longer has any look or smell of the original "ingredients" and is more like a rich peat you can use it straight away (once tested). Your courgettes/squash etc will LOVE a spadeful as will any fruit trees/bushes/rhubarb on the plot.

Black gold indeed. It really is very dark and smooth like wet loam or peat. No strawiness.
The chap showed my where it came from. He had a heap about 7 metres square and nearly a metre deep with a big black hole like an opencast mine
For a quid a BIG bag, all ready dug out and bagged up and loaded into my car, it can't be bad. The chap lifted and moved them effortlessly, but they were so heavy, we had right fun getting them out of the car. A right circus, with one bag spilling. You have to have been there, by lamplight, floundering and laughing, decanting muck into carrier bags and ferrying it to the plot on a 'borrowed' wheelbarrow.
There was hardly any smell at all. It's too good to put into my compost heap, where I'll be putting some free 'fresher' stuff.
But crikey...... Thinking of 5 year timescales just to make compost. That grates in my 'Want it now' mindset.

Now.... Testing for grazon. I know to try a few peas or beans. I can hardly wait to start those tests, which will take a few weeks to see results.

In Summer,my compost is made ( now to July).I keep it turned. It doesn’t take five years!

[jennyjj01]

But crikey...... Thinking of 5 year timescales just to make compost. That grates in my 'Want it now' mindset.

Now.... Testing for grazon. I know to try a few peas or beans. I can hardly wait to start those tests, which will take a few weeks to see results.

In Summer,my compost is made ( now to July).I keep it turned. It doesn’t take five years!

Phew. Thank Goodness for that.
My two plastic bin composters look to be nearly ready to use after just shy of two years of being progressively fed. But they seem to have odd Tardis like property that no matter how much goes in, they never get full

I've decided, more and more that I'm going BIG on the compost making, not just progressively feeding. I'm going to race to get a big steaming heap, in the hope that I can use it sooner: Maybe even as soon as next year?

Plan of attack.....
Get an enclosure made up from pallets, locate that on the allotment.
Put the word out to street neighbours that I'd like their grass clippings into my wheelie bin, any time.
Acquire at least a few car loads of horse muck. Mix of mostly fresh stuff or the ripest free stuff I can get for free.
Adopt the contents of the office shredder on a regular basis.
Beg green waste and coffee grounds from a certain cafe. If they haven't already got a better disposal route. Maybe provide them a couple of bins, which I'll empty by rotation.
Adopt the almost unlimited supply of cardboard from work.
Scoop up more of the vast droppage of leaves that are virtually outside my front door.
There's a copse outside the allotment fence. Forage there for dropped leaves and green waste.
Objective to add >100Litres of ingredients each week. I think the green will be hardest.
See if I can get a couple of cubic metres by early summer.