compost bins

[kittypants]

advice needed for compost virgin.start at beginning!an speak slow please.

Do you have a compost bin already?

If not, you can get them from your local council quite cheaply. You just put in all your leftovers, peelings, teabags, coffee dregs, crusts etc. Not supposed to add meat, i think it attracts rats.

You turn it every so often - but i leave that bit to dp so am a bit vague on that. There's a hole at the bottom, and you can get the compost out the bottom when it's all rotted down, and add more stuff at the top.

You can also use bokashi (not sure how to spell that) You buy little bins, add food and throw on some bokashi that helps it all rot down faster.

were waiting for it to arrive,im getting excited!
whats bokashi and where do you get it?

have you decided on a site? should be accessible but they are rather ugly. and you'll need somethign in the kitchen to collect the potential compost in, pref with a lid as sometimes fruit flies arrive esp in summer.

i know nothign of bokashi, this might be a different thing entirely, like a wormery? anyway compost takes quite a few months to get going, just looks like a big bin of veg peelings and then it suddenly all happens and is great. i don't turn mine but i am lazy.

we have big garden so site out way should be fine.we brought lidded kitchen caddy with it.if to small i have old lidded nappy bucket which was to small for our many nappies waiting to be washed!i just searched that bokashi,theres thread and link on mn about it.still not sure what it is as very scientific for me!

can you stick bio degradable nappies in it?we use cloth but we are going away and sister is looking after children but refuses to use cloth!

no meat, no woody stems. Teabags, egg shells, fruit and veg trimmings and peelings, cut flowers, mown lawn stuff all great. Put in sunny position as heat is major factor and aeriate (Ie prod it abaht now and again iwht a big pointy stick!)

We put our moltex nappies in ours, tear them up a bit first though, they take ages and it helps if there is lots of worm activity. DS3 is 4 this summer and his moltex nappies from when he was a baby are just about rotted down now. They do contain gel but this is moisture retentive so actually quite useful in compost.

Urine is a great excelerator so if you have boys get them to wee on your compost heap when they are playing in the garden.

Smash up eggshells they take ages to break down if whole.

ooh yes i put woody stems in mine even though i broke them up and it is compacted as hell. do learn from my mistakes kp!

i put in credit card bills and other confidential stuff, no identify theft here no to nappies, you need a really big compost bed thing to break down the waste, something like 3x4metres i think(?), theoretically possible but practically not.

Any sort of animal manure is also a good accelerator - we put the guniea pig hutch waste in ours and all the pooh and old straw from the chickens too. (Not too much though as makes it very strong, too much nitrogen and phosphorous think, and this can burn the plants).

another reason to convince dh we need chickens!he wont let me!

so yes or no to biodegradle nappies?one said yes one said no!we dont eat meat anyway so thats ok.boys will love weeing in it!

i think i heard somethign recently about not weeing on the compost, new horticultural research? ooh worms lots of worms will come, they are smaller and redder versions of normal earthworms.

so no wee!

oh i got interested re the nappies and had a look here scroll down to daiper disposal and have a look at 'composter diagrams' - so yes you can, but the frame thing is 8'x4' and it is more wormery than compost. i expect you could compost the non-used bits of nappies but woudl be rather a hassle and nasty job to dismantle them.

i have found the wee thing too, apparently it is too acid and will kill the worms, although it does have nitrogen and phospates which is good for compost.

aaahh so maybe not!thanks .i'll be asking loads more i expect when it arrives!

oh so what to do about wee?

Think I heard the same about the wee thing, shouldn't wee in a wormery compost bin.

We have a big heap at the end of the garden which is mainly garden waste and animal bedding waste.(Which gets wee-ed on!) Outside the kitchen door we have a lidded bin for kitchen waste this is full of small dark red worms - it produces fantastic compost - we didn't put the worms in they just found the bin.

so i dont actually add worms,they just squat!

Yep - but they are very productive and helpful squatters.

yay for worms

I think that eco nappies are ok in a wormery but not your usual compost heap/bin.
Agree re crushing eggshells too!
Try to add a mix of things, such as "green" waste such as grass cuttings and veg peelings and "brown" waste such as ripped up cardboard and shredded paper, this helps the compost to form.
No cooked food or cat/dog poo (cat litter ok thou) and no meat.
I also add the contents of my hoover bags (gather you can add the miele bags too but not tried this yet) after I have checked as they consist mainly of cat fur and dust!
Is loads of info on line now too so happy composting...

Oh good idea about adding hoover bag contents and bag should be ok too as it is paper.

Hows the composting going? Mine is brown/dark ...does that mean its on its way?