Hi,
Just has a question regarding compost. When I first started I put in only the things the books advised: peelings, raw veg, paper, grass clippings, etc.
I always avoided putting in cooked foods, whether it be veg, pasta, rice, and so on. I didn't put meat in or fruit with thick skins like bananas and oranges.
What is the reason for not putting in cooked food such as pasta and rice and cooked veg?
A man on the allotments says he shoves everything in and has done for years (including meat), so I've been starting to do the same in the last couple of weeks but just wanted to get any comments back on this before I get carried away!
I'm still keeping meat to a minimum as I don't want to attract critters more than they already are.
Many thanks.
There seems to be a widespread belief that rodents only eat cooked foods, meat, & fish I don't know where it originated.
I have always composted all of them without any problems the only time I see rats is when the river floods & they have to move out of their burrows they get a fork or spade through them & are added to the compost heap as well. The only times I have had rats in the compost heaps it has been intentional. Meat, entrails, bones, fish, roadkill & rotten cabbages are always buried at least 6 inches deep in the heap to avoid unpleasant odours.
Our allotment rules ban us from adding meat to the compost whether raw or cooked.
Not sure if this is the case on small scale home composting, but the recycling man from my local council said that when they collect cooked food waste they take it away to a special place for it to be broken down in vats that take away the gasses it produces, that are otherwise not good for the environment. He did mention the name of said-poisonous-gas, but my memory is failing me at a very young age. What was I talking about...??!!??!! ??? :o ::) ;D
Quote from: Barnowl on February 16, 2007, 09:25:28
Our allotment rules ban us from adding meat to the compost whether raw or cooked.
Ours too.
A friend puts dead lambs and other creatures in his, and everything left over from the kitchen. But he has a smallholding and no neighbours, so does not have to worry about possible smells and rats. I used to put "everything that has ever been alive" in mine when I had a long garden and no neighbours. It was pulled apart by foxes/dogs/cats etc, but no real problems.
Now I have very close neighbours I am too considerate to do this, but have hated putting cooked things in the general bin for landfill, so have just bought (£10, subsidised by Council) Green Cone, and buried it in allotment. It is supposed to "digest" all these cooked things and release "nutritious fluids" into the soil, so I am hoping it will feed the apple tree it is under. I feel much better now that chicken bones etc don't have to go in the kitchen bin and out to the bin men and land fill.
Green cone £10 from council? WOW!!!! They are 185 euros from their website.
What is thwe cost from the council ofthe shaker powder which is required to be added every time you put something in it? It is 7.50 euros per sachet direct from the company
£10 is good, isn't it...
Sad story: I fetched it from a garden centre they deal with, and received a notice from the Police this morning. Apparently I absentmindedly drove 36 mph in a 30 zone (I am usually VERY careful about speed limits - it must have been a wide empty road) so it's going to cost over £60 after all! :'(
I'm so traumatised I missed your question. We get a kitchen caddy, shaker jar and sachet of powder included in the £10 kit, but to replace it costs £7.25 for 3 sachets, £13.45 for 6 sachets.
I'm inclined to start it off with what I've got and then leave it to fester. It's buried really deep (could hardly climb out of the hole once I'd dug it) and there is no access to the open air except when you take the lid off to put more stuff in.
It's Rother District Council in East Sussex if anyone's interested. I had to be quite persistent to find out how to get it, as it doesn't seem very well advertised. I'm glad I've got it, in spite of the speeding fine.
185 â,¬ is about £125!!!! In sterling the Green Cone costs about £65! Are you possibly looking at the Green Johanna plus accessories? The Cone "digests" the waste ie it disappears, but the Johanna turns it into compost that you can use elsewhere. Rother does it for about £20: "Green Johanna composter/food digester are available for East Sussex residents at the subsidised price of £19.95 including home delivery (Normal price £113.74)".
http://www.greencone.com/home.asp?lang=1
No I was looking at this site
http://www.greencone.ie/greencone.htm (http://www.greencone.ie/greencone.htm)
But have just found this site toohttp://www.greencone.co.uk/shopping.asp (http://www.greencone.co.uk/shopping.asp), Where the prices are as you say.
There is a link on the second one (bottom left) to find out (via postcode) if your local council is doing them. Unfortunately in my area they are not yet.
I bought one from http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/in_your_area.html but it hasn't been delivered yet. It's been 5 weeks now, I rang them a week ago, and they said it would be delivered last week, but there's no sign yet. ???
I always seem to have problems composting - do you think a bit of soil in the compost causes big probs? :-[
No if anything it actually helps... bringing in micro-organisms.. Top quality compost is loam based ie from stacked turf which brings loads of soil with the roots!
;D
My local council want £48 for the green cone, and as saddad says Luckyme a little soil every time you top up the compost can only benifit your compost. ;D ;D ;D
Gloat alert ;)
I have just tipped out my first ever compost. I started the dalek this time last year, it's had stredded brambles, weeds, grass, kitchen waste, garden/allotment waste and halloween pumkins.
It ate everything (well mannered ;)) and turned out the most amazing crumbly brown stuff - well it was crumbly and fluffy after I have sifted it.
All on the strawberry bed.
Feeling a bit smug :-[ ;D but no point telling anyone at home - they just don't understand....
don't blame you, smp..lovely feeling to think you've turned all the stuff people would put in the green wheely bin into strawberries ! ;D
SMP - how did you get your compost out of the dalek? I've had mine since last year and when I open the hatch I can see that at the bottom is all nice and brown and crumbly, so I scooped some out but can't get to the rest.... I want it for my plot!
:)
I think sally was asking how you physically get the compost out. I know the problem-especially if you put big bits of twig etc it can get jammed up. I find bashing a fork in the top will help to push stuff through.
Sorry to hear about the delivery delay from the recyclenow site- I've just ordered from them and recommended them in a new thread this morning!