Mum and I dismantled the compost bins today, another step towards the compost renovation. Once the manure bags were moved out of the way and before the bins were even removed, we found lots and lots of red worms. They’re good compost buddies and were all through the compost too.

We were able to lift the compost bins off the heaps and shovel the contents over onto bed 11 as planned. Some of it is pretty much compost, some of it is not very decomposed and there are some heaps of slimy grass that need to be spread out a bit more through the entirety.

There was some evidence of animals, but nothing major. A hole through the fleece led to a little tunnel and there was possibly a little tunnel in one of the bins.

There were  a few fun finds in the compost, including this hollow gourd. It’s strange how the skin is what goes when a gourd starts to go mouldy, but then you put it in the compost and it refuses to break down.

This is the pile we ended up with. The stuff I’d collected from autumn clearing is under the right hand end of the pile.

The last handful of chard has been harvested and I’m now free to finish that bed completely. So  the remaining jobs are:

• Finish off bed 3 and cover
• Plastic needs to be recut for two beds
• Veg bed needs to be measured, edged, manured and covered
• Beds 1 and 7 need to be emptied/weeded, manured and covered
• Bed 11 needs manuring and covering when compost is moved
• Left and right boundaries need to be weeded and mulched (which also involves transplanting some verbenas and calendulas).