long time since i have visited this great site and i need advice.
I have moved to a new house and at the back of the garden is 4 raised beds,tressles for beans etc and three wooden sectioned compost bins.
How should i use these 3 compost bins?
should I use one for gras cuttings and food waste from the house?
and use another one for cardboard ,paper ie slower compostable items?
and what should I use the third bin for?
i hope you people can get me started so i can start my new allotment for next year.
Thanks
pete
No, the way a 3 bin system works is that youre filling one, one is cooking and youre using the compost from the third. If you compost grass clippings on thier own youll get a smelly slimy mess. Brown waste like cardboard and paper wont compost on its own, its too dry. You should try to use all your types of composting material together in even quantities and evenly distributed in the heap.
home compost needs two things, brown stuff and green stuff, and you need them in the ratio 3 green to 2 brown.
Green stuff is stuff that rots quickly - leaves, grass, horse poo and is full of nutrient. Brown stuff is stuff that provides bulk, rots down more slowly, and absorbs the nutrients from the green - hay, newspaper, wood chips.
Not enough green, you get a puddle of slime, not enough brown, you have a compost heap that takes years to compost and hasn't any nutrients.
thank you, i will take on your advice
>> Not enough green, you get a puddle of slime, not enough brown, you have a compost heap that takes years to compost and hasn't any nutrients.
don't you mean this the other way round?
Quote from: jillseal007 on August 16, 2010, 10:52:36
>> Not enough green, you get a puddle of slime, not enough brown, you have a compost heap that takes years to compost and hasn't any nutrients.
don't you mean this the other way round?
lol yes, just testing you 8)
As said above Pete put it all in the one bin, weeds, grass, kitchen peelings, ( not cooked ), newspaper, cardboard, egg shells, tea bags, dead flowers, rodent bedding, nettles, coffee grounds, etc. Keep on mixing and turning it, if it's too wet add shredded paper and keep mixing, too dry add water or grass cuttings. When it's 3/4 full, start on the next bin and so on, where have you been hiding for 5 years Pete, or shouldn't I ask. ;) ;D ;D ;D