War on Brambles

So now I had a load of pallets in the garden, I could build the compost bin, except that the space for the compost bin had vanished.

I’d cleared a way through this thicket in summer and even excavated a compost bin sized shelf in the depths. With my usual brilliance I did this just before going to Japan for five weeks of prime bramble growing season.

By the time I got back, it was Brambles: 1, Guy with sycthe: 0

So last week the war on brambles was resumed with a vengeance. Now we have a way to the compost bin site, and after some digging about in the depths of the jungle, I even found some paving slabs to make it marginally less treacherous and discourage the brambles a bit.

At some point when I’ve finished the first compost bin, and I’ve got the vegetable beds prepared for next year, and built the privvy, I’ll make the ground under the slabs flat so they don’t wobble, and maybe even cut some steps.

There are a couple of other exciting developments coming along that may result in a lot more progress, and a lot of extra visitors. I’ll say more when things are a bit more certain…

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October 1, 2011 at 3:35 pm

Oldfool

My first pallet compost bin has rotted down however I have a new one next to it. It never did compost as I could not get it to heat up but the worms moved in and vegetable waste disappears in 3 or 4 days. All that’s left is egg shells, corncobs and worm crap. That works for me.
If we did not manicure this place regularly it would be grown over in 5 years and would completely disappear in 10.

October 2, 2011 at 8:46 pm

Andy in Germany

I think this garden would vanish as fast: in five years it’d be brambles to six feet, and in ten it’d be Ash woodland (I must have about thirty ash trees in the garden already).
Hopefully it should warm up in a few weeks, I wondered about painting the outside black to increase passive solar, but I was too impatient and lazy.

October 1, 2011 at 3:53 pm

John Romeo Alpha

It’s so hot and dry here that I ended up making garbage jerky or even biltong rather than compost. It always seemed to cook and dry rather than compost. I’m sure there’s a formula, or perhaps a season for it. But it seemed a little excessive to drip irrigate the compost bin. It looks like you won the battle with the brambles. They tend to win the war, though.

October 2, 2011 at 8:50 pm

I don’t claim to have ‘won’: perhaps won an honourable draw so far, at best. The trouble is that by cutting the brambles I makes the perfect conditions for brambles, so they grow back rapidly: I’m actually trying to stop nature doing what it wants and that never ends well.

So I’m working on a compromise where I cut enough back to access the garden and have space for things like a play area,, and let it do what it wants for the rest of the time.

October 1, 2011 at 9:42 pm

Tony