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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 13:13:22 GMT 1
Interesting that you should mention worm compost, Pasha. One of my fellow pub-goers mixes it with peat for his transplants.
Unfortunately, he's socially-disadvantaged, awkward, mal-adjusted and appallingly badly-dressed. I'm very wary of what he says, and would urge anyone who encounters people like him to proceed with great caution .....
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Post by Pasha on Jan 4, 2012 15:37:36 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 17:00:40 GMT 1
I envy you your fishing, Pasha, and I'd stick to that - you get a better class of people who go fishing, unlike some male gardeners, who are known to frighten small children...
But thanks for the input - worm compost is a good ingredient in compost - and like simson, good points come from sources you might not expect...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 17:37:36 GMT 1
So, yes, Elkay, that compost mix of yours, it might be good for water-holding and nutrients but if it doesn't pass the weighing test you might have to reconsider the ingredients mix...
A mixture of ingredients is usually a good thing but often I find that the mixture slumps over time - becomes more compacted - especially when you water it, but the way to avoid slumping is to bottom water. Everyone, except perhaps you, Elkay, will probably want to look away now:-
Capillary rise. If you place a pot of compost mix on capillary matting, then water the matting, water will rise into the pot through the holes in the bottom, to a height of about 5mm.
If you don't have any capillary matting, then a bed of the same compost mix in a tray will do the same job. with the pot settled in the bed.
Pots with holes just in the bottom are designed to be stood on some sort of capillary bed. Air, as well as water, gets in the pot through these holes. Air is supposed to get into the pot through the surface of the compost in the pot as well, but it can't if the compost has slumped, from top watering.
And pots with holes in the bottom don't drain after top watering if they're stood on a smooth surface such as a plastic seedtray, because of a film of 'surface tension' created between the bottom of the pot and the plastic seedtray.
Phew, Elkay. You don't 'arf raise some points...
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Post by Elkay on Jan 5, 2012 18:04:37 GMT 1
Phew, Elkay. You don't 'arf raise some points... [/quote Hehehe, yes but it your fault for being so helpful and informative! I haven't finished mixing my compost yet so I will weigh a litre once I have made more or less my usual mix, then I can adjust it accordingly. I don't have any capilliary matting, and don't really want to use compost for the purpose, but I do have loads of old cotton tee shirts - would they do the job, do you think?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 18:50:05 GMT 1
Dear Elkay,
Please put your old, cotton t-shirts on your compost heap, where they belong. That way, after a while, in a round - a- bout sort of way, you can use them instead of capillary matting, as part of a future compost mix. In their present form, describing them as 'useless' would be to flatter them...
Look, capillary beds are supposed to be like the compost mix in the pots, in terms of the micro-pores running through them, which enables the water to pass without resistance from the bed to the pot, under the force (fluid dynamics?) of capillarity.
Sharp sand is sometimes used instead. But old newspaper doesn't work (I've tried). You can always re-use the compost mix used as a capillary bed, once the transplants have been planted out. Are you always so careful with your money, Elkay???!
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Post by Elkay on Jan 5, 2012 19:30:15 GMT 1
Dear Elkay, Please put your old, cotton t-shirts on your compost heap, where they belong. Are you always so careful with your money, Elkay???! Yes, Annon, I am earning no money and not yet entitled (for another 2 years) to my state pension. So, I am living off my lovely husband, so as the garden is my domain I try to spend as little as possible. However, as I can then re-use the compost used as a conduit for the water to the pots I will use that. I did wonder where the T shirt material had gone that I used as a liner for my begonia pots last summer - they obviously rotten very quickly! I still have a lot to learn.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 21:41:54 GMT 1
No shame in being frugal, Elkay, and you probably underestimate the value of what you grow. It's just as good as hard cash, to the point that when I see a big cabbage transplant I see a £ sign, not a plant.
If we see work in the potager as food production, and not gardening, we change our attitude to what we're doing. We don't spend if we can avoid it cos that would make the food dear, and we don't shed a single drop of sweat more than we have to, cos that makes the food not worth the effort. But when we can get output for nuppence, in the blink of an eye, then what we produce is the reward for doing a job of work like any other, efficiently, for money equivalent.
Big transplants, for me, symbolise units of food for nuppence, and it seems to me you're in that groove.
And when you, Elkay, factor in the lifestyle that you enjoy then the value of what you produce increases tenfold.
It may be that you have much to learn - we all do - but when you make the points you do you also have much to teach.
Best wishes to you and Mr Elkay
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Post by <-Rinky-Dink-> on Jan 5, 2012 22:21:30 GMT 1
Some topics can't be covered without considering technical stuff. If anorak-talk causes your eyes to glaze over you really oughta look away now... Keep the info coming, annon - it is very helpful. Compost is very expensive to buy here, so I tend to mix spent compost with very good quality bought organic compost and my own home made with some leaf mould thrown in Yes, please keep the info coming... I for one, need all the help/advice you can give.
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