Getting the HotBin and Wormeries back in action

 

This is what the repair to the HotBin looks like, once the glue had set. 

Once the Hotbin was back in place, I loaded  it up, as per the instructions, and as I described back in my  original post about setting up my new HotBin

Wood chip, some compost from a bin, paper and then grass, paper, grass, leaves to the very top. 

While I was in gardening and composting mode  and mowing, weeding and tidying outside, I got the Can O Worms and Hungry Bin going again. The worms inside looked very happy!

Busy day in the sunshine

Two years ago (I know, I know) rats ate into my HotBin.  Tony the inventor very kindly sent me a sample of the material it is made from, and suggestions as to how to repair it. 

 Last year, I got COVID-19, and that, and the effects of Long covid, means a lot of non essential stuff just didn't get done around Compost Mansions. 

But now the weather is nice, and my torn bicep is not so painful, and I've recovered from the after effects of my first covid vaccination, I'm finally getting on with stuff.

(We've also got several raised beds infested with bindweed and couch grass, and nothing beats watching them shrivel up and die in a well run HotBin!)

So, we removed all the old compost from the HotBin, dismantled it completely, I cleaned all the fine compost from the base plate and Compostman did the repair to the rat hole.

Hungry Bin and Can O Worms sort out

@hungrybin @omlet @wiggled

I posted a couple of days ago about the HotBin sort out and I have now sorted out the various wormeries which live by the polytunnel as well. One of the reasons I got my hands so dirty yesterday :)

I first emptied out the Can o Worms wormery, bought from Wiggly Wigglers many years ago now and still going strong! I harvested three bucket fulls of lovely worm compost

.

I then emptied out the Hungry Bin tray and got another bucketful from that.

I don't need the compost just yet so I used  a spare CoW I got from Freecycle to store the compost in, five trays full of worm compost - that will allow it to dry out a little and I can use the worm juice in the polytunnel.  I added a top tray with the contents of the kitchen caddy so any remaining worms will move up into the top tray out of the finished compost.

Looking into the Hungry Bin this shows that worms do not eat compostable caddy bags - these obviously need to go into a compost bin for other compost creatures to munch at them. I have added a caddy at the foot of the Hungry bin so we all remember to put the bags in there.

Job done. You can see the orange rubbish bits bucket on the  far left hand side then moving to the right, the "compost storage" Can o Worms, next to it is the "working" Can o Worms wormery, next to that is the Hungry Bin wormery, then the caddy I have put down for the compost caddy bags collection, then the HotBin and the plant hardening off bench with some brassicas waiting to be planted out in the ( newly dug) veg patch. Finally the wooden bench with cold frame on top, containing various perennial plants waiting to be planted out into the new Bee attracting bed by the House.

I got a lot of work done in an afternoon. This area tends to be a bit of a dumping ground ( the outdoor equivalent of the Study of Doom!) and so it was good to sort it all out. Now this area is nice and tidy again.

Wrapping up the wormeries.

We have colder weather forecast coming so a couple of days ago Compostman and I   wrapped up the Can o Worms and the Hungry Bin in bubblewrap. They were moved into the Polytunnel in December 2012, and the worms have happily carried on munching our veg waste but I want to make sure they stay cosy and happy and content, even if it does get a little colder in the next few days.

So with bubblewrap around the body and fleece over the top of the wormeries the worms inside should be ok - and I can still get to lift the lids to keep them fed.

The worms are still very active. Hello worms!

I have also grouped all the more vulnerable plants together and draped them with fleece - they should be ok until it gets to below -5 all day - if that happens I will have to get out more fleece, net curtains etc.

Off to harvest the Spinach now - don't want it to spoil from the frost.

Putting the Wormeries to bed for the winter.

With the increasing likelyhood of cold weather I have moved the Hungry Bin and Can O Worms inside the polytunnel for protection against the frost.

Looking on the bright side.

Five reasons to be cheerful, despite the rain!

Tomatoes are FINALLY beginning to turn red - not just the very early Latah we have been eating for a couple of weeks, but the "maincrop" varieties.

Lots of salad leaves waiting to be planted out.

Peppers are setting nicely. This is a HSL "Yellow Banana"

Pickings from the polytunnel for lunch. The bag contains Watercress

And finally - I bought a second hand Can O Worms from a friend - Tom Cat decided it would be a good place to doze! Tommy had an encounter with a Weasel earlier in the week and has had to see Holly the vet, as a result - he got a bit ripped about :-( but he managed to finally kill the Weasel - brave but foolish puss we say.

He deserves a comfy place to snoze in the sunshine after protecting us all from a Weasel!