Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Thursday 31 March 2011

In the last week of March have ...

Felled a privet and a lilac ( well coppiced them) and cleared out 2 more flower beds of all the old stuff from last year

Moved a load of partially composted leaves into one bin and spread the leaf mold at the bottom of the other two bins onto a raised bed.

Cleaned out the hens and also dug over another raised bed.

Planted out broad bean plants and shallots.


Planted up a couple of pots with broad bean plants for an earlier crop. Also planted nasturtiums in the pots, as a blackfly deterrent.

Sowed Nasturtium, Poached egg, sunflower, assorted herbs and salad seeds into pots, trays etc.

Repotted the overwintering herb collections - I have parseley, sage, rosemary and thyme in one big pot , sweet marjoram, origano, lemon thyme and garlic chives in another and regrowth has started, so I tidied them up and gave a top dressing of worm compost.

Potted on some more tomato seedlings into bigger pots,

Sowed some spinach and chard seeds for later transplanting.


Shredded a load more of the tree twiggery and filled a fourth compost bin with the shredded tree, dug over another raised bed and raked it ready to plant into, emptied out some pots and planted them up with lavender bushes and also planted up more pots with strawberry plants from the runners I potted on last autimn.

I also raked out three of the large flower beds and they looks lovely and tidy now.

And we felled a few more trees and sawed and stacked the logs.


Dug out a compost bin and separated out the finished compost.

Raked over another flower bed and wheelbarreled away the dead stuff.

Cut down several shrubs which had got to triffid size.

Dug another raised bed and added composted rabbit/guinea pig poo and then planted more early spuds


Compostman dug out a brick surround raised bed by the back door which was originally a herb box but has been invaded by geums so it all needed digging out.

I am going to make an annual/wildflower bed there with herbs in pots at the door end of the bed. That will help the bees!

MOWED the grass!! and composted it.

Planted out more shallots and prepared the onion bed.

Tidied up the polytunnel and took more tomato plants outside into the cold frame in there.

And then I had a rest....!




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