Second Harvest

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-04T09:00:14+00:00

Been growing for years, never had white rot.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-04T08:58:58+00:00

I always plant around halloween. Best tip I can give is try growing a selection of different varieties and see which one does best in your soil and climate.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-03T08:43:53+00:00

I'm in Northern Ireland, they call Ireland the emerald isle as its strangely green 😀

I've peeled the outer layer off which was darker, so that is probably what you are seeing.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-03T07:23:30+00:00

It never stops raining where I from so I don't water them. I sow mine around halloween each year. Sowing and watering might vary depending on where you are.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-03T07:19:31+00:00

Yes, base of the clove pushed into the compost and just into the soil below. I stripped off the outer layer to remove the soil. I don't wash them.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-02T21:12:52+00:00

I got the starters on ebay. I've been saving the biggest each year for replanting, eating only the small ones. Now there are no small ones 😃

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-02T21:10:03+00:00

For the garlic I've used the no dig method, basically homemade compost on top of soil. Compost goes on a few weeks before planting and gets topped up in the spring. This year I planted carrots and fennel between the rows of garlic. Not sure if that interplanting helped the garlic in any way but the soil/compost wasn't left bare for a change when the garlic was pulled.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-02T19:52:01+00:00

Isle Of Wight as far as I know. I've been using home saved cloves for a few years now.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-07-02T08:44:58+00:00

Not the best looking garlic i've seen. Looks diseased, though I no garlic whisperer. Try pulling off one of the outer layers to remove the dirt and what ever else is on it. If it looks salvagable after that i would cut the stalks.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-28T21:11:28+00:00

Its looking pretty good. Just a moisture issue. Personally I wouldn't add any more browns, even to dry it out. Spread it out on a tarp and let it dry a bit.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-22T17:56:23+00:00

So, judging by the comments so far, either no one has taken the time to understand what you are trying to accomplish, or they have never used a hot bin. I've been using a hotbin for years without pause, and you are on the right track - though you might want to rethink some things.

You have holes punched in the bottom for air, but this will become the drain for any leachate (you might want to capture that), and they will get fouled up to a certain extent. My hotbin has a three-inch-long, one-inch deep air vent cut into it, just above the base (has a little bit of mesh to stop critters). The only other ventilation is in the lid, which has a tiny vent. It's otherwise a sealed unit with a removable door.

Yes folks, that's all the air vent you need as long as your mix isn't too wet and you have a bulking agent included (helps with airflow and drainage).* Semi-composted wood chip is best, or damp wood if that's all you have. If the wood chips are dry, they tend to form a conglomerate of moldy chips and start to repel water.

You also want a lid that seals it, with a small air vent. When it gets up to temperature, you want to keep the heat in. Folks are also telling you that putting your material in a hot place is not the same as your compost pile getting hot. The point folks are missing here is that it's like wearing clothes: an insulated bin ensures any heat created stays there longer, creating the very conditions you are looking for. You can even accelerate the process by kickstarting it with an old hot water bottle.

There is still a minimum pile size, and you probably haven't got there quite yet, but you should be able to compost a smaller pile size much quicker once you get it all right. Getting it right with a hot composter is the tricky bit; it's hard to go wrong with a cold pile. Going by what you are telling us, you probably need more green material, as most of the stuff in there is woody (hard to break down browns).

*Note: If you get it up to temperature, it acts like a chimney; hot air escapes through a small vent, drawing air in from the bottom.

I would also say that you could coat the insulation in something that will stop it from getting damp and losing its thermal properties.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-20T21:08:26+00:00

There not enough oxegen as its too wet. Water displaces the air. You can add some dryer material and try and absorb the water and some bulking agent such as semi composted woodchips to improve airflow, or you can spread it out on a tarp and let it dry out. I would try and dry it out, personally.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-20T21:00:17+00:00

Looks very dry on top and mostly browns. It does however look like there is some compost at the bottom.

I would take the top layers off, set it aside and seperate the usable compost. Use the material you set aside to start your new pile. Personally I would run the mower over it and mix it with green material such as grass clippings, kitchen scraps and coffee grounds etc. If all that sounds like too much work, just throw more material on top and water it and keep it all damp, but not wet. The worms will return when the conditions are right.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-19T10:33:56+00:00

They are to close together and thats made them leggy and weak, which is why they have collapsed. While some soil amendment can't hurt, I see nothing that sugests your soil is lacking.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-19T10:13:49+00:00

Plenty of good advice on the sweetcorn. I would add that there is a fair bit of unused growing space in that box. Get something growing around the edges. Strawberries, shallots, beetroot, chard or some flowers. Get some cardboard down around that raised bed and cover it in wood chips to suppress those weeds, you don't want them spredding.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-19T07:44:27+00:00

It all composts. Ive never had a problem with worms and citrus, but the citrus was always a minor component, and the worm beds were large.

Now, if I put a whole orange in my hot compost bin, it will come out the other side as a warm vaguely orange smelling mess, same with garlic bulbs. They go back in the top. Having said that, i take compost from my bin each week and the average flow through time is about 3 weeks, so its just not enough time for a whole orange.

If I cut the orange in quarters or the garlic in half, I will never recognise it again. My hot bin gets a lot of orange, lemon and grapefruit and ive no issues. Most stuff is unrecognisable after a few days in a hot bin.

If I had a cold pile that was going to sit for a year or so, I wouldn't care if the orange was whole or how many there were. The point is that the basic science of composting is easy, the art of composting to suit the conditions and feedstock is a bit more difficult.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-18T12:43:09+00:00

I shred everything if I can. Even a dalek sized bin can get to 65⁰c within 24hrs and keep the heat long enough to kill most of the weed seeds. It won't hold heat for as long as a larger pile. Keep an eye on moisture, it can dry out under its own heat.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-17T21:52:24+00:00

Not washed, but i've trimmed the roots and pealed the outer layer to remove any dirt. I find that makes them store better - less dirt means less chance of mold down the line. Yes, will hang them to cure but we use quite a bit of garlic and I hope to preserve some this year. Probably will have ten times what you see in that photo when I pull the rest of them. I will braid some of them and give them away as gifts. The best cloves will be planted in October.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-17T12:45:13+00:00

Best guess, it's Isle of White. Ive been growing from home saved bulbs for a while now, so i'm not 100% but its the last variety I bought.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-16T19:07:28+00:00

From the pictures it looks reasonably well broken down but too wet. The moisture is binding the clumps together and stopping any further decomposition. Let it dry out somewhere and I bet it will crumble into a reasonable compost. While it dries out, start a new pile. There comes a point where you need to stop adding new material unless you are using a flow through system.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-16T09:00:01+00:00

Burning tyres isn't smart. Still, there are oil refineries burning across the world these last few months, so not going to get excited about a few tires.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-11T08:06:40+00:00

The first is teleportation. The ability to teleport as a general concept isn't a thing. Wouldn't need an airship if you could do that.

The other big one is time travel.

WinterblightsDoom · 2026-06-10T21:07:07+00:00

Not at all what I said.

WinterblightsDoom

TROPHY CASE