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!


Sunday, 14 April 2013

Sunday in the polytunnel


A busy and productive day today :-)

Lots more summer bulbs planted



See how well the herbs are now growing in the cold frames in the polytunnel! This is Lemon Balm and Tashkent Mint, both growing really well now. Solidago in the front of the photo is also shooting away.


Here are some overwintered Spinach and also Watercress plants - I ate some of the Watercress today for lunch - yummy!


Here are some of the Polytunnel White and Purple Sprouting Broccoli also mature Spinach - the outside plants are very poor ( after the wet year last year) but these are looking good so we will be eating them this weekend I think



This is a product sent to me by Gifts with Style  for review -  an eco friendly product from the French Design brand Lexon - eco friendly because it is a wind up bamboo and corn based plastic radio , which is perfect to take out into the polytunnel ( where there is no electricity) and which will play for 30 mins on 2 mins windup ( you can charge it from the mains as well if you want to)





It arrived on Saturday morning, in cardboard packaging, and I am so pleased with it! I had one of the very first Trevor Bayliss BayGen clockwork wind up radios and did quite a bit of media work promoting it back in the 1990's on behalf of Friends of the Earth - in fact we still have the one of the first Baygen radios in the loft and it still works, even after so many years :-) but...it is HUGE and does not last very long before you have to re wind it and is mechanically very noisy. 

This wind up radio, on the other hand, looks really good, is very small ( in this photo it is standing on a 4 inch square pot in the polytunnel) and quiet and light and portable, is easy to wind and needs very little winding, works out in the wood or polytunnel or wherever I have no electricity, and sounds really good. 

I know I could use earphones and my smartphone,  but I actually don't want to block out all the sounds around me ( or have my phone with me!) while working outside - so this little radio fits the bill perfectly :-) I am impressed with it and enjoyed listening to Radio Four on it, whilst pricking out some tomato plants and drinking a mug of tea. You can find it on the Gifts with Style website  - look for  Lexon Safe Bamboo Eco Friendly Radio

I am now feeling much happier - I have planted some veg seeds, pricked out some tomato plants and put them in the cold frames and I have the scent of pricked out tomato plants in my nostrils - to me that is the smell of Spring.

What smell makes it Spring for you?

8 comments:

  1. The smell of violets, I think, that you have to go down on hands and knees to catch.

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    1. Oooh yes, that IS spring as well! I think, for me, the elusive, delicate scent of Bluebells en mass in a wood.

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  2. The smell of someone giving their lawn its first cut. You would smile at my DB. He uses his (non i pod) thing in one pocket then has a cable leading to a mini speaker in the other pocket. Hey presto, mobile music. I can hear him coming and it always makes me smile as it reminds me of the big ghetto blasters people wandered around with on their shoulders!

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  3. The smell of tomato plants.. bliss !

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    1. I love all things tomato-y. Except the yellow stains I get on my clothes as it is quite hard to wash out.

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  4. I love the smell of tomato plants, you know the good times are coming with that smell.

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  5. My hyacinths are smelling lovely! One smell I love that I always forget until I open the seed packet is... carrot seeds! They smell weirdly good! :)

    I'm also a tomato plant smell fan! :)

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Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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