Allotments 4 All

I just have to sing the praises of the black "dalek" compost bins.We are complete novices at composting so I didn't think we would get anything useful out of them.We have put all our kitchen waste in with shredded paper and a few leaves plus any old plants from the lottie and wahey its produced the most amazing beautifully dark compost within a year.
Any newbies out there considering getting one my advice is don't hesitate.You can get them at a reduced rate from local councils and in some cases free!!!

Sorry if this seems a bit of a dopey question, but what's the difference between a dalek and a boxed in pile of compost.
Mine's in a pile with three sided wooden walls. Is that good enough, or do I need to keep it all enclosed?

Not such a Silly Billy!  I have both - I find the dalek is quicker at composting - probably because it is plastic and completely enclosed so heats up quicker.  I find the wooden works well but a tad slower - it is made up of pallets each end, plywood one side and slats at the front so I can get to the stuff easier.

Twinkletoes

Ooops last message should have been for Pumper - sorry Silly Billy

Twinkletoes

It's all so scientific these days   :D

We've found a good source of mulch by the way. We put all the sunflower and sweetcorn stems from up the lottie through the garden chipper, and it's seriously good stuff.
Also, none of the sunflower seeds have developed properly and are just like white skins, so we've added those to it. Several buckets of decent stuff to fling around when it's needed  8)

QuoteSorry if this seems a bit of a dopey question, but what's the difference between a dalek and a boxed in pile of compost.

£5

I also have a couple of bins made from pallets but the daleks seem to be much faster especially if they are sited in the sun due to the being black.

I have 4 daleks. 2 at home and 2 on the lottie, and they and they are excellent. One of my home ones I have never actually had any compost from, it just breaks the stuff down so quick.

Have a look here for low cost bins in your area. They offer deals with local councils, and if you go onto the section "get a low cost compost bin" and put in your post code, it will take you to a section that will show you if there are any deals in your area.

http://www.recyclenow.com/compost/

At the moment in my area, West Sussex you can get a large bin for £10 plus delivery. Don't get one from a garden center!

Steve

I have 5 daleks on the lottie, 4 on the go at the moment.  ;D ;D ;D

You can't decorate a pallet-built compost bin with sink-plunger, etc...
The picture below, I think, used to be on the Blue Peter website but they've removed it:(
Found it at http://www.sepa.org.uk/NWS/thenetwork/2005/apr/resources.htm where it refers people to a Blue Peter page which no longer exists.

Quote from: cornykev on September 27, 2007, 21:00:41
I have 5 daleks on the lottie, 4 on the go at the moment.  ;D ;D ;D

I would get Dalek envy but I have 5 up on the lotty, one at home - all full and 6 empty compost bags all full of weeds waiting to go in. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

3 for weeds and debris, 1 for cooking stable manure.

The stable manure comes from the bottom of the heap & into the dalek.  6 weeks later - black gold.

Hi Darlek lovers
I have three darleks at my lottie and i was happily leaving them thinking yay compost in eight months. But then i saw gardeners world and montie saying that you must turn darleks to get good compost. have any of you successful darlek compost makers turned out and ug back in your rotting stuff?

hopeing that you havent becuase im a bit lazy
x sunloving

I haven't turned mine out but I have got my fork and moved it around and lifted the contents up and down a few times and as I said it has produced some lovely stuff.

we use the 'dalek' on the plot for strictly leaf mould, stacked them all in last year, poured the 'pee' on them from time to time, we've now got half a dalek of nice rich leaf mould and the top half is in the bottom for the new leaves to go on  ;D