Composting December waste on the allotment

I have started  to record the different allotment waste left in the Reception bin  at our Community Composting plot   throughout the year.  At the start of December, we had a good selection of vegetables including brassicas  and dead flowers as well as some smelly, mushy pumpkin right at the bottom of the bin. Today,  at  the end of the month  we  had  also had brassicas  but with thicker stalks.  As these would be slow to breakdown in the bin, they are given a good start by chopping them  into short lengths and smashing them  with a hammer to expose more surface for the bugs to work on. ( A photo of my brassica kit is attached). There were sufficient of these to make a complete layer in a pallet bin

Strawberries accounted for  the majority of plants  making two further  layers of “Greens” but as they were pulled up when the ground was wet, they unfortunately  supplied quite a lot of unwanted soil as well. As it is just after Christmas shredded paper from presents and the computer provided most of the Brown layers supplement with cardboard.

Most of the pumpkin was added  to the Hotbins and Green Johanna. As a result of the cafe lockdown closure  these bins have not been fed with cooked food waste recently resulting  in the Hotbins cooling down for the first time in their working life. Still, they have been busy  cool composting the material that was left  in them with the addition of occasion garden waste top ups. They now contain  a mass of worms and some good-looking immature compost.  Most of the 30+ bins on the site are full.  or nearly full, with one Reception bin about to become a working bin to meet the demand. There is also  a new large  wooden bin ready to deal with the January and February  waste. It looks as if another Bokashi windrow might be necessary to get us through to the spring. If you are local to Leicester and interested in being involved do get in touch.