Composting in a small garden

[Lafoosa]

Hi everyone,
We have quite a small enclosed garden and would love to start composting.
However I've never composted before and don't know where to begin.

Do I need a certain container to compost with? Is there a certain way you do it to make sure unwanted critters aren't attracted to your garden?
We can't use things like rat poison or anything like that because we have cats and I also wouldn't want to just kill rats.
We also have a toddler so any way of making it so she can't play in the compost pile would be great.

Thanks 😊

[PigeonofDoom]

If you’re short on space I’d look at a hotbin, bokashi or wormery for composting. All use different methods (heat, fermentation, worms) to speed up the composting process which means you can get away with a smaller container as the compost turnover is higher. All require a certain amount of faff so do some googling and research to decide which will best suit your needs. The hotbin is good at containing smells which deters vermin. I think this is also the case for the bokashi and wormery but I don’t own them so can’t vouch for them! Love my hotbin though. It’s really just an expensive polystyrene box but it’s very useful in a small garden and we put loads of stuff in it (not meat though, alledgedly you can but it hasn’t worked well for us when we’ve put meat in).

[FLOrenze]

Your toddler can make her own compost and bug hotel. Get some bricks or big stones and put them together with gaps in between. No bigger than half a metre tall. Put wet news paper or card on the ground .She can put tea leaves, bits of garden Greenery and little bits of wood or sticks from the park. Put on some form of roof to sit on top held down with a stone. As soon as she/he lifts the lid and gives it a stir she will see wood lice, worms ant and all sorts of critters. We bought a child’s magnifying bug jar so that ours could see them close up,

[MereDintofPandiculation]

I think your cats will deter the rats. Rats are intelligent creatures and suspicious of anything new, so disturbing the heap regularly, eg forking it through, would be another deterrent.

The heap works better if it's warm, and the amount of heat generated depends on the volume. The amount of heat lost through the sides obviously depends on its surface area. So to maximise the volume:surface area ratio means get as near a cube as you can, so use anything you can that will make the sides, and cover it with a bit of old carpet or a piece of plastic if you want to stop your toddler getting into from on top.

It will take 6 months or a year to compost, and the bit on top will be last to rot down, so when you come to use it, be prepared to take the top few layers off and keep to one side before you remove the compost, Then the stuff you took off the top can be put back to start the next heap.

[FLOrenze]

For a small garden, the best composters are the wooden slatted ones. For best results standing on the soil. Do not put any cooked food in it or any fruit. (Fruit Flies are not dangerous but are unpleasant) Vegetable waste should be chopped up a bit. Potatoes peelings teabags and the like just go in as they are. Green Garden Waste chopped up and Grass. Mowings help.

The reason for chopping it up is because, in a small container you won’t get as much heat as the large ones. Try to layer the stuff, i use wet newspaper or brown card, (thank you Amazon). This helps the heat.

Good compost will not smell or attract vermin. When you lift the lid and poke around you should see hundreds of red worms. These are doing the work for you and are a sign of good compost.

It does take a long while, but the advantage of the slatted composters is that you don’t have to turn the compost. Late summer, if you take out the bottom three slats you should easily get a few shovels worth. It is a good habit to dig it out late summer/early autumn and use as a mulch. It does not matter if there are some uncomposted stuff.Put the big stuff back in the composter and the rest n the garden, where the earthworms will take it down.

Sorry that turned into a Compost Lecture.