compost help please :-)

[pinksparklynails]

hi lovely ladies! & gents

I've just moved into a lovely little cottage with a nice little garden, and I'm wanting to get a compost bin so I can start growing veg and fruit in the summer..

can I use any old outdoor storage bon/bucket with a lid? or do I have to get a proper compost bin from B&Q?

also.... what sort of things do you put in your compost bin?

(sorry to seem daft, just a newbie to garden-y things as I've never had a garden before)

thanks in advance

It needs to be bottomless, on earth so worms can get in and out.

Put all kitchen waste in - veg peelings, t bags, eggshells etc. (no meat)
Shredded paper and cardboard
Annual weeds, not pesky weeds which might reappear in the future
Lawn mowing cuttings

Mix it all about now and then. Water it once you've added a layer.

Very exciting!

oh fantastic, so I just water it everytime after I've put something it? I can't wait xxx

You really need 50% greens and 50% browns - so for every bucket of kitchen scraps add a bucket of cardboard/shredded paper/newspaper etc.

If it gets too dry add water
If it gets too wet add more browns.

The smaller the bits that go in, and the more you turn it the quicker you get compost.

We don't water ours.

We have loads of slow worms in ours.

We also have great compost. From time to time I bung in some "compost accelerator" which you can buy from garden shops like B&Q, but I don't think it makes much difference.

I water ours loads, it makes it rot down a lot quicker. Except loads of grass cuttings, which get sludgey. It takes a bit of practice to get the consistency right, but it's all good fun.

You can put leaves in as well OP, but they take ages and ages to rot down. Probably best to have a separate leaf composter.

thanks for all the advice everyone, very greatful! xxxx

Have you googled it OP, there's loads of info on gardening sites.

I've just learnt something I didn't know on the RHS site; apparently they don't need to be on bare ground. If they are on a hard surface you just need to mix soil into it. You learn something every day

ohh I'll have a look in Google now! xxxx

Check with your local council. Mine do a deal on compost bins - and deliver them free (with kitchen caddy).

Don't think you'll get compost in time for this year though - takes a while for it all to rot down. Rots very quickly in summer, very slowly over winter.

Happy composting!

All of the above, I would advise not adding fruit peelings as these attract fruit flies. The more you chop up the stuff before it goes in, the quicker it will rot. Rather than water the compost, I put in slightly damp newspaper pr card board.

I think its important to work out how you will extract the finished compost. Also how you are going to turn the compost. Also how you are going to keep the compost rat free. Personally speaking one of the self turning things o stilts seems good to me.

You can buy compost worms from Amazon, if you need them.

If you put grass in (I don't), try to only put a little at a time. Don't put cooked food in or dairy - you can put raw fish bones in if you have them. Also ash from the wood burner is okay (if only a little).

You want at least half of it to be cardboard etc or it gets too sludgy.

My Mum never puts eggshells in because she already has super gritty soil. I garden on clay so I do. I do put lemons etc in although it says you shouldn't.

Some people say it should be in the sun on soil - however if I have a sunny spot I put plants there so mine lives under a tree.

Also, to get compost quicker, you can turn the compost with a pitchfork. However, you may get grass snakes or slow worms nesting in which case it's kinder to leave them alone.

I have never had rats in the compost. No cooked food should ever go in there.

Your council will probably do cheap compost bins - check it out, because it's loads cheaper than garden centres etc. They will often send you out a helpful starter pack with advice and some liquid called compost accelerator which gets the microbes going and makes the heap really hot. I wouldn't worry about buying worms or anything - I find they get to the heap by themselves without any problems!

It is useful to have a container with a removable lid that's reasonably wide so you can get a fork in and give it a quick stir every week. This really helps - I used to leave mine far too long, and then it just sits there as a cold wormery instead of being a hot heap. Things still break down in a wormery set up, but it takes aaaaages. Ideally, you want it to get nice and warm as this kills off any pathogens in there. So something you can cover with an old bit of carpet is a good idea.

A lid also means you can shove loads of water in if it gets a bit dry. (Actually, the best thing is to get your fella to have a wee on it occasionally - I kid you not - but I have yet to persuade mine to do this. He is too embarrassed about the neighbours seeing).

Oh, and I made a thread about bokashi composting that might interest you. This is something that you do in addition to composting, rather than instead of it.

I have three as i fill in turn and they sit in shade under conifers. I keep an old 1960's enamelled casserole pot in the kitchen and add all veg peelings, tea bags, egg shells etc and then trundle up the garden and bung it in the latest one. Grass clippings, annual weeds and wood ash also go in plus torn up brown cardboard, saw dust from when we cut up logs, some leaves from deciduous trees, chopped up sappy plants. Every now and again I turn it using a long handled garden claw tool and after a few months out comes lovely crumbly stuff. Dh has a pee in it every now and again

I've also brought seaweed back from the seaside and after a good wash, chopped it up and mixed it in and also comfrey leaves (you can often see these growing on verges)

Gatekeeper I have 5-they look like an army of daleks

Hi, another newbie to composting here - doesn't the wee make the composter smell? Just told my dh about it and he's not keen. Also, can it be children's wee or my wee or does it have to be a man's? Ta x

No it doesnt smell. Male wee only. To do with hormones.

Yep adult male wee. Apparently. It's a well known good thing, but we haven't tried it.