Worming the Compost and Planning for Next Year's Rotation.

It's time to seed the allotment dalek compost bin with worms from my home compost heap.

Here's what they look like close up: 

Although I have removed any horseradish or mares' tail along the way there are a lot of grass roots and such like in the allotment compost heap. I'm hopinge the little slithery tikes will help break them down over the winter.
 
Meantime here's the state of play from a rotational point of view. I now operate a five year rotation of Potatoes/Beans/Brassicas/Alliums/Other Roots.

Next year's bean patch - currently leeks for the winter: 

Next year's Alliums patch

And in between them next years Brassica patch. (Currently lettuce rocket radishes watercress and lambs lettuce - and in need of a weed)

Next year's potato patch.   There are still parsnips and spinach beet growing here alongside the perenial globe artechoke. beyond that all the carrots have gone.

Last of all, this year's brassica patch is to be next year's  Other Roots  (other than potatoes)

I will be treating each of these areas differently over the winter in readiness for their new role next year.

Compost - The Worm Turns

I've been prompted to this post by the Drooling Vegetable http://www.thedroolingvegetable.co.uk/ ,who doesn't believe that composting is possible without devoting half of your garden to it. All you need is a couple of 'daleks' and some squirmy friends:



Here's a 'dalek': (available from local authorities and 'green' agencies free or at subsidised prices)



And if you open the 'control panel', you'll find this



Close up:




These are 'brandling worms' and they'll save you the trouble of turning your compost heap because they mix it up for you, accelerating the breakdown of kitchen and garden waste so that in a matter of weeks the volume of your compost heap is dramatically reduced. In summer this is more dramatic than in winter. This colony has been to-ing and fro-ing between my two daleks for over ten years, surviving temperatures from -10 to +28 degrees C.

Brandling worms can be bought by mail order, but we got ours free from the zoo. (We bought some zoo manure, 'zoo doo', about a decade ago, and by the time I got around to digging it in these had colonised the heap.) I read that they are sold as bait for anglers, so that might be another cheap and local source.