Composting

[MPH]

I called the local council today after hearing that they are doing the big recycled plastic compost bins cheap.  I have just picked up a 220ltr bin with lid for £10, including a small green bin for the kitchen waste (wish I'd realised as I spent £5 on a bin just for this purpose on Saturday!).

I'll be taking it down tonight but have a few questions...

1) It has no base with it, I guess it's okay just to stand it somewhere on my plot/soil?

2) Is it worth me building another one out of pallets, or will the plastic one be enough for my needs?

3) Is there anything I shouldn't put in it (apart from the obvious glass, plastic, tins, etc!).  I will be putting all of my veg waste, weeds, tea bags etc in it, and the odd shredded paper.  What about other food waste (bread, meat etc)?

I can't wait to get down there again tonight and enjoy some of this sun!

Cheers,
Martin

[MPH]

[aquilegia]

1) Yes - put it on bare soil. The microbes and worms in the soil will make the compost rot down quicker.

2) I have two. One I am adding to, the other I'm either waiting for it to rot or using it. Could do with three really!

3) bread - put out for the birds. meat, cheese, cooked food waste will encourage rats. Don't put diseased plant material on it. I put perrienials weeds into a black bag, seal it and leave it in the sun as the compost bin may not get hot enough to kill these off. When this has turned into a stinky sloppy mess, I put it on the compost. Paper is good if the compost is too wet - best scrunched up rather than shredded as it allows more air in. I save woody prunings to use either as plant support or to keep cats off dug soil.

[Doris_Pinks]

Martin, yup, just plonk it onto soil, put a layer of stuff that is tougher on the bottom, (can't remember what I used last time! Think it was stalks from my hardy perennials) Then start throwing your garden waste on top, and if you can,when it is full, give it a good turn a couple of times, to help speed things up.

I think it is worth building another one, then you have one composting down, and the other being built up.

No to meat and bread, any cooked food will attract rats! With weeds, avoid roots of things like couch grass, ground elder and dandelions, or you may find yourself with a bigger weed problem when you spread the miracle stuff! Also avoid weeds that are seeding, compost has to get to a high heat to kill seeds.
Grass clipping are good, but I usually mix them up with coarser material, straw or shredded paper,to get air in, otherwise it can turn to a nasty slimey mess!

Hope I have answered some of your questions, love to compost ;D And have 4 bins on the go!  (the open one on my lottie is covered with my old duvet to keep it nice n toasty :) )

I am sure you will get other replies giving you the information I have probably forgottten, such as natural activators to get it going....come on one of you men will tell him surely!! :o

Good luck
Dottie P

[MPH]

Thanks aquilegia -

Could do with three really!

What do you do with it all!!  :o

[aquilegia]

need three really for rotation - one bin to be adding to, one to leave to rot and the third to be currently using.

I use loads to mulch everywhere and dig into my horrid clay soil. One bin is only enough for one bed! (my bins may be a bit small!) I'm also rather cheap, so I mix homemade compost with sieved garden soil (we've recently dug a pond, so have lots to spare) to put in pots.

[tim]

Have a look at HDRA's leaflet. = Tim

PS We have 5 (1mx1m) & it's not enough!!

[MPH]

Thanks Doris.


I think that I'm going to need more pallets than first thought too!  :o

I'll have to make do with the plastic bin for now (should get me going), and start a pallet heap in a few weeks, ready for next years crop.  

Well, off I go to make the most of the sun and get some more clearing done!

[gavin]

What goes in?  Anything - almost!

The main no-noes

• potato (any part - foliage, root, or stray)
  
• brassica roots (leaves, heads and chopped stalks generally fines)
  
• meat, dairy, fish material
  
• faeces from carnivourous animals (cats, dogs)
  
• Cooked food
  
• Glossy or coated papers, because of the chemicals used in their manufacture, or the metal-based inks used.

Good luck!  With a health warning - it gets addictive!

All best - Gavin

[allotment_chick]

I agree Tim - I have three boxes made out of ten pallets for manure (new, rotting and black gold) and then there is one green one from the council, the three wire mesh ones, and two x three boxes for compost (as aqui describes).....this is why I needed a second plot as I was running out of growing space!).  Then there are the three in the back yard at home!

Martin you will be amazed at how much green stuff you can get off an allotment - all the weeds (but I'd recommend drying and burning pernicous weeds and weeds with seed heads), grass mowings, trimmings from your crops -  the list goes on...

I personally believe that turning the compost heaps in autmn and springs is one of the best jobs   :D  and when you finally get the lovely crumbly stuff (which does often take longer than you think - hence the need for several boxes for different stages of cooking) it is extraordinarily satisfying!
AC

PS Gavin - no potato waste - can you explain futher as I chuck everything from the spuds on mine!   :o

[Multiveg]

Potatoes - they can be just as bad as weed roots - small pieces of spud could sprout. Also, if you put shop bought spud peelings in, there could be a risk of diseases being passed on (seed potatoes are more strictly regulated than the potatoes for the cooking pot). You could use potato peelings in a worm bin though.

Don't forget that (using Bob Flowerdew's terminology) personal liquid waste can be used on the compost heap (it is an activator).

If you are going to use compost just for the flower border (i.e. non edible foods), then animal wastes could be composted. The compost from the compost toilet at the Centre for Alternative Technology is used on the flower beds.

[MPH]

Thanks for all the tips, taken on board.  I'll be filling the car with pallets on Friday for some building on Saturday!

Think I may need to start again though, didn't realise about the potatoes sprouting even when chopped!!

[MPH]

Oh, and I'll be filling some empty plastic bottles too  ;)

[Multiveg]

http://www.cat.org.uk/vt/vt_map3.tmpl?subdir=vt&cart=10842283273322557 - look at number 27 on the webpage. Some stage, I will upload my pics of my visit to the centre for alternative technology - got some pictures of compost.

[Mrs Ava]

Buggeration, and I knew about spuds, and yet still they end up on my heap, and the warning is, even the peel will grow!  I know, it is!!  Oh well, I shall avoid putting spuds on from now on, promise!

I have 2 pallet bins at home for the garden, 1 monster pallet one at the lottie, and one pile of grassy/weedy turves all upturned at the lottie.  Can never have enough, and I shall be doing my usual and growing a pumpkin in each of them.  ;D

[tim]

OK - so what's wrong with potatoes on the heap - that's where we grow some of our best ones!!

I know I've shown this before, but it's interesting to see how far a cubic metre will spread??  Looks nicer on the ground, doesn't it! = Tim

[derbex]

Timely reminder about the spuds -I've got some that have sprouted that I was going to put on the heap, I'll chop them up and give them to the worms now.

They do sprout in the worm bin but eventually die off from lack of light and the little darlings eat them.

Amazing what a thorough job they do.

Jeremy

[gilgamesh]

Most of the good stuff gets recycled through the hens and the rabbits (12 hens, one rooster, 4 buck rabbits, at least 1 doz does) so our potato haulm goes in the compost because I'm normally desperate for green stuff to go with the poultry/rabbit byproducts, shavings, and straw. The shavings mean that I need to plan to leave the stuff a full 2 years, as they are slow to rot down. One week's cleanings more than fill a bin (when we went to wheelie bins a few years ago, we grabbed a stack of the neighbourhood's old black sack bins), and a layer of brassica stalks or spud haulm at the bottom is very wecome to stop it going anaerobic or waterlogging.  

[aquilegia]

Say if one was following Bob Flowerdew's human waste composting tips - is it ok to use that compost on veg? (Mr Aqui, not myself, is the provider of such stuff - it's much easier than popping indoors and the bins are well hidden from neighbours!)

[gillianbc]

I think so Aqui.  I too have read Bob's advice and recently trained my own Mr.BC to give our compost bins a treat.  It seems to really hot them up and rot stuff down pretty quickly so I guess anything nasty would be destroyed.

[derbex]

Amber Nectar -or at least it once was ;D