alex no

[kaberett]

we have reached the point in the year where, even though I know better -- even though I know that over winter I can't keep even one of them running at a reasonable temperature (or at least have not historically been able to) --

my head is filled with a near-constant refrain of "but what if I got a second Hotbin"



(I hate stinging nettles so much. SO MUCH.)

Comments

[watersword]

ALEX NO

[kaberett]

... ALEX PROBABLY NOT?

[sporky_rat]

Alex, no.
(Sporken, maybe.)

[kaberett]

:D

[lunabee34]

Best Icon Ever!

[kaberett]

:D I was VERY PROUD of the tiny adventure snail when I met it.

[ewt]

A second hotbin is highly inadvisable. I think the only way to do it would probably be to use them in rotation, at which point you may as well just build one of those three-bay pallet things.

[kaberett]

The limiting factor on weeding at the moment is definitely being able to dispose of them (and I have pseudo-infinite shredded paper and partially-composted wood chip) so I'd be envisaging filling one to the brim with weeds etc on day one and leaving it to cook down for 48 hours or so, then doing the same to the second bin on day two...

(Some of this is of course because the plot is bigger than I can meaningfully keep weeded in its current state such that I get a lot of growth in areas as I rotate around trying to keep most of it down to a vaguely reasonable level, where if more of it were in cultivation I might be able to keep on top of things better, but -- still.)

[ewt]

Would putting (non-shredded) cardboard and woodchips on top of the areas not in cultivation limit the weeds some?

I have been using straight woodchips for paths and it seems to work well, the bindweed comes up anyway though.

I also kindof want to put nettles in a retting tank and use them to make thread which I then weave, knit or crochet into cloth but I also know I would get as far as having a mucky tankful of muck and then...stop. Also I don't seem to have many nettles on my plot.

Another thing I have heard of and want to try is a compost tea tower thing. Black plastic waste pipe, mounted vertically with space underneath for a jug, attach mesh/sieve/etc to the bottom, put weeds in top and put lid on. It heats up in the sun and cooks the daylights out of them and the liquid that drains off is essentially fertiliser. Needs emptying every so often to get the leftover fibrous material out.

[kaberett]

I am doing so and it does help a bit but the choke point for that is (still) not having a wheelbarrow & therefore being fairly limited in how much I can carry back & forth...

[ewt]

Wheelbarrows are cheaper than Hotbins...

[kaberett]

but also less easy to impulse-buy online for delivery, and more amenable to minmaxing. :-p

eta I grumped at A about my ongoing failure to get my act together to Sort Out A Wheelbarrow and one is now winging its way to me. <3

[vass]

Okay, refrain in Alex's head, but hear me out... what if you didn't?

[kaberett]

:( :( :(

[vass]

<333

[rmc28]

I have been reluctantly attacking the disaster-garden because the gardener isn't coming, and I can't have a child take a header into the banks of nettles. I got really badly stung on Wednesday but it's better now.

Which is to say, yes, I hate nettles too. Also I am not a gardener. Today's job is to fix the strimmer (after the Obligatory Patriotic Silence at 11am).

[kaberett]

I do not quite buy topical antihistamine by the litre, but I certainly consider it at this time of year.

[el_staplador]

It may help to know that they seem to have quite a backlog of orders, and my first (and only!) one hasn't arrived yet. So by the time a second one got to you Things Would Have Moved On. (Possibly to Even More stinging nettles, I admit, but still, something would have changed.)

Brambles are my personal pet hate. And the wall of ivy.

[kaberett]

Happily the brambles and ivy on my plot are quite restricted, so my allergic reactions to the nettles (and the ANTS good grief) are my main difficulty...

[cesy]

Time for revenge soup?

[kaberett]

my mother has been making it but I am SUSPICIOUS.

[silveradept]

Nettles, no. They are terrible and stingy and they stick around for so long.

[kaberett]

they make my immune system SO UNHAPPY silver

SO unhappy

[redsixwing]

Solidarity, as I gear up for this year's fight against the local spiked menace: Russian thistles.

[kaberett]

oh oof.

(I am making progress against the nettles! and then mulching over the top with PIZZA BOXES AND WOODCHIP. With any luck this will keep them at bay for at least a little.)

[redsixwing]

Get 'em get 'em!

Boxes and woodchips have done wonders here, to the point that I am considering buying one of those garden dump wagons for more efficient woodchip distribution.

Biennial weeds like thistles are a great indicator that whatever piece of ground they are on is good for large, heavy-rooted plants.*snort*