2023 - What I did today

The Hotbin has come up to 22 degrees C overnight. Not bad as it was only 17 degrees outside! I've had to clear my fridge out as I seem to have nudged the temperature setting and lots of my veg has gone off. So, bad from a food point of view but good that it's meant another bucketful of food scraps to add to the Hotbin. I have one squash from last year that rotted on the inside before I could eat it but looked and felt fine from the outside. I'd already scooped all the rotten mush from the inside, but the outside was absolutely solid and impossible to cut with a knife (I have already bent one knife trying). I wanted to add it to the Hotbin rather than giving up and chucking the whole thing in the rubbish, so I decided to try hitting it with a hammer to see if that could break it up. Worked beautifully and I spent 15 minutes smashing it into little chunks on my kitchen floor. I did put it in a bin bag to contain the mess, but that quickly split and I still had to lift chunks out to get them even smaller so I ended up absolutely covered in bright orange semi-rotten squash splatter. With the extra food scraps today (plus paper/card and bulking agent) my bin is now pretty much filled to the point where the hot composting is supposed to get going. I'll check it tomorrow morning, but then it will be Friday before I can feed or check on it again due to my shifts this week.

I've also shifted lots of seedlings outside to sit in the carport. Probably the wrong week to do it, but I can't wait until I'm actually at home all the time or I'll miss the window to plant things out. Hopefully they are shaded enough in the carport and can sit in there this week then move into more sun next weekend before getting planted out the weekend after. No babying! I've also completely failed to pot anything on this year, so all my seedlings are crammed into small pots with several others. They will have to go straight from there to the garden and I will just have to hope they aren't too small/stunted when they go in he ground to catch up/fight off pests. I'm all about the tough love this year! (However, if it works, what a time saver!)