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Old 02-02-2005, 02:49 PM
bigboard
 
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Mike Lyle wrote:

bigboard wrote:


I have a small wormery that produces excellent compost and liquid
plant food, and takes all of my organic kitchen waste. It sits next
to the bin in my kitchen and was worth every penny. What have you

got
against them?


OK, different strokes for different folks, of course. But I don't see
the advantage over a plain old compost-heap.


I have both. The wormery is in my nice warm kitchen, the compost heap is
ninety feet up the garden.


Likewise, my shredder minces all my woody trimmings which can then

go
on the compost heap. My garden is not big enough to have a pile of
clippings, taking years to rot away, and I don't have a van,

trailer
or the inclination to drive miles to the nearest tip. Perhaps you
could explain why my shredder was a waste of money?


Last time I shot my mouth off about shredders, I was more careful. I
said something like "most people have gardens too small to justify
shredding woody material". Most things you can cut with a spade don't
need shredding before composting, and in a typical tiny garden there
won't be enough tougher stuff to warrant the cost and storage space
of the shredder -- it's simplest to burn or bin what woody stuff
there is, or take it to the Council's composting service if one can.
A barrow-load of hedge trimmings yields how much compost? and uses up
how much nitrogen on the way?


Strangely almost exactly the amount my lawn clippings provide!

But if using a shredder suits your gardening, it's none of my
business: and I can see the satisfying side of it, too. I just don't
want people to go into it blindly -- you'll have noticed I'm a bit
hostile to B&Q "must-haves" and over-consumption of energy!


Oh, I'm with you on that. My particular pet-hate is leaf blowers! I just
think that the shredder uses less energy than driving all the way to the
dump, which I would have to do more than once every time I cut my hedges.
Plus, I don't have to drive to the Garden Centre for compost.


The tumbler, however, I completely agree with you about.


Good lad!

Mike.


--
A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
-- Adlai Stevenson