Is anyone else fascinated by compost and manure?

[DratherBdiggin]

I have recently tried adding urine (diluted with 2 parts of water) to my plastic compost bin and it has gone mad. every time I lift the lid a warm fug hits me and when i stir in new veg waste, the thing is crawling with worms - tiger worms by the look of them, but where did they come from, and can I transfer them to a wormery so that I save the £20.00 that they expect you to pay.

i am a compost virgin... i have a wormery, but its pretty new.
in answer, i think the worms in a wormery are a specific species, sorry. and it doesnt take much waste...

so, am looking to get a 'normal' compost bin too. any advice or tips for me? i can afford a super-duper idiot proof one if that helps...

Is OK to add lady water ie female urine (in case I get accused of being fluffy)? I thought I read that it was not too useful, but will live in hope.
I have several photographs of the vcompost we made and recently used and often sit admiring it!!
To think I was once a party animal, but this is much more rewarding.

We got two from our local council; they subsidise the cost and send you a voucher for a local Garden Centre. They are on the allotment and we've got a Beehive style from an eBay shop, as it looks nicer in our tiny garden.
Lots of allotmenteers make them from pallets.

I made a super duper compost heap up at the allotment out of pallets and old carpet. my garden one is one of the cheapy council jobbies - £8.00 for a 360l number. There's a nice looking one in the ferndale lodge garden cataloge 2007 which came with this month's edition of "grow your own" It's called the "earthmaker Compost bin" and there is also the envirocycle composter which sits on a base that also collects liquid and has wheels that turns the bin - claims to take 4-6 wks to make compost. These 2 cost £130 each. Also there is the £54.95 Bokashi kitchen compost bin which claims to take 2 weeks once you fill it up, and it has its own bran with microorganisms - from harrod horticultural. All these things I have been ogling and dribbling over. sadly have to stick with £8.00 council job and urine for the present. Does anyone know what they are like? can anyone here afford them ? Xenia?

ooh dratherbdiggin (like yr name btw) those are the ones ive been dribbling asbout (yes earthy, i too was a party girl once, oh how the worms will turn eh? see what i did there?? i am SO witty) i get grow yr own too... i love it. its called gardening porn round here; i sit and ogle it and dream about all the food im gonna grow if i can just spend about 3 million quid on absolutely essential equipment of rthe job...

soooooooo, you reckon that earthmaker one looks good then??

Message withdrawn

Mine has just arrived today, and is sat in backyard (dd2 looked out of her window and thought it was a Dalek!)
It will be going to the allotment tomorrow.

what, mrs, the earthmaker??

pruni - more 'brown' waste...ie paper and card. and yeah, piss cant hurt

its just the cheap one from the council but am excited

im scared of the ones with no bottom as a neighbour had a rat in hers... keep meaning to get a pit dig, lined with strong metal mesh, topped with a council style chopped up wheelie bin and then filled with yummy food for worms (build it and they will come)
am so dreaming tho. as if i'll ever get round to it.
is why im attracted to the aerthmaker

I've been trying to chase up info on whether women's wee is too acidic but can't find any evidence so will merrily start to save my water.
It's better than drinking it which used to be said to keep one youthful!

Am delighted to come across others who wee on their compost. I've been secretly planning this - but my heap is in an exposed site on the allotment, so how to collect the product? I work from home and bitterly resent wasting this precious resource every time I go to the loo. I did spend one day collecting wee in a bucket, then had this image of unexpectedly being taken ill, and my kids coming home and having to deal with mummy's surprise in the downstairs loo . . .so, any other suggestions?

I have borrowed my friends copy of this book and it is quite funny and got a fair bit of information all about wee and compost and using urine as fertiliser. www.amazon.co.uk/Liquid-Gold-Logic-Using-Plants/dp/1903998484/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311896865&sr=1-1
So in answer to your question female wee is fine but what I do is keep a potty outside and my 7,4,3 year old are very keen on al fresco weeing so it is a bit of a "treat" for them I let them pee in the potty then I pour it on the heap. Now sorry if this is TMI but if I feel the heap needs a boost I will also use the outside potty but unlike the kids take it back inside to pee on.

Rats should not enter a darlek type bin if the bin only has uncooked vegetable/fruit/plant waste in it, if a compost heap contains bread/meat/fish/fat you will get rats whatever the shape of the bin.

Male piss is better for compost apparently because the urea content is higher and it isn't as acidic as female piss. OH heard this on a radio prog about Kew gardens. I still piss on our compost heaps though. They are open so not pongy except in a nice way.

@murru36.... when having problems expecting DS I was made to collect my urine so that they could check my kidneys were still OK. V edifying aspect of childbirth. Method: Place large wide-necked jug below undercarriage and relax. :) Transfer jug contents into large canister via a funnel and screw lid on tightly. The type that screenwash comes in are particularly good.