Compost Bin!

[Nat38]

Am thinking about getting one!!
Any advice welcome please!!
If I end up with too much compost, do people take it off you quite readily??

[purplewithred]

Too much compost? No such thing. What you put in rots down to nothing.

Very likely you will get a cheap one from your council, check there first. After that its up to you but consider getting two, one to fill while the other is rotting down. Get a paper shredder at the same time, it makes great compost when mixed with grass clippings.

[Nat38]

Thanks for the advice!!
Have looked at several sites & the council is the best value for money & the most attractive to look at
Have already got a paper shredder & a green compost bag which the council collects-I would just put all that in the composter instead of collectable green bag
I sometimes get flowers from supermarket/florist, when I`m very lucky, can I put these dead flowers in the composter bin??

[SparkyUK]

Yep, you can put the dead flowers in too. I also put in balled up newspaper if I feel like I've only been putting in food for a while to try to balance things out. Egg cartons are good too.

Regarding the councils compost bag, does yours take all food waste? I don't put anything cooked or animal based in mine (so basically just fruit and veg) as they can attract rats and take longer to break down. So you may want to send that stuff to the council and keep the fruit and veg for your bin.

[MrsPennyapple]

I got ours from the local council, have been composting for a few years now. It's amazing how much it reduces household waste. I don't put cooked food or animal products in mine either. Some people put eggshells in, we don't tend to though. Any old soil from tubs goes in, any bits I've pruned off plants, sometimes shredded paper if it's looking particularly wet. Occasionally grass clippings but we keep these to a minimum as when they start to rot they just form a big lump, which doesn't really make for good compost.

[Nat38]

We can`t put food in the green compost bag of any sort, only garden stuff like grass & dead plants/flowers, also no soil can go in it either.

[purplewithred]

There are whole encyclopaedias devoted to compost making and Monty Don probably employs a Director of Rotting Down but the bin you buy will come with more than enough in the way of instructions.

There are two basic philosophies of compost making: Compost Chef vs Garden Dustbin. Garden Dustbin is where you use the compost heap as a garden dustbin, chuck it all in and ignore it and wait for nature to take its course. Compost Chefs are more considerate about what they put in, take care to chop it up fine, turn the heap, keep it just moist enough and talk to the worms to make sure they are happy workers.

Up to you which route you choose.

[cantspel]

I love my compost bins. I have 3 on the go at any one time plus 2 bins of leaf mold.
I also have large empty lenor bottle i make my husband pee into which then goes in as well and it helps kick start any bin that has gone cold.
The only things i dont compost are meat products, pines and citrus.
Grass cuttings get mixed with a bit of brown waste and added.
My worms are very happy workers and gets seived out before spreading and added back to the compost as i dont think they would be so happy if i evicted them from their nice warm home.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Another fan of compost bins. We take the dustbin approach - all veg and fruit peelings and garden stuff go in there and they all rot down. So efficient.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Yes, I treat mine as a dustbin too.