COmpost for Idiots? Any hints?

[madamez]

The council seem to have stopped taking away the cuttings of the quatermass plant and other weedy things. So I might as well make compost.
Do I need Special Compost Pot to put it in, or will an old bucket do? And what (apart from weeds and unwanted bits of veg) can I put in it?

Oh, and also, I kind of envisage having more compost than I will want as only have a patio and pots (though my courgettes are thriving) so final questions: can you sell spare compost on ebay?

if only it were that simple.

when you make compost it doesn't happen quickly and you don't get the stuff you buy at the garden centre for planting your tomatoes in. But anyone with a garden will take your home-grown compost away and use it.

Otherwise, look here www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/gh_comp.php
or just google compost and see if you can do it. You really need a bin the size of a dustbin for it to work, and it needs to sit on earth not on a patio. for kitchen waste you could get a wormery, try wriggly wrigglers

Check with your council, quite a few offer free, or at least discounted compost bins. We paid £15 for a compost bin, kitchen bin and a book, plus they delivered.

As for what to put in it, you're supposed to alternate between "green" waste and "brown" waste. Green is things like vegetable peelings, plant cuttings etc, brown is things like dried grass clippings or shredded paper. Avoid putting weeds in because the seeds etc don't rot down so you'll just be spreading them back on your garden.

I can't imagine you'd get more than you can use, we've been putting stuff in ours regularly for 2 years and it never gets more than half full. We haven't emptied it yet becuase according to my Dad (the expert) it isn't ready.

you are supposed to wee in it to get it going

Ah. I haven't got any earth to put it on: patios front and back and small strip of soil and stone chippings where the rosemary and lavender are.
Mind you, I supposed I could put it on a tray of earth...