My Compost Heap Hell

[IDidntChoseThePondLife]

Hi there, I have a new compost heap in our new garden. It's one of those black plastic ones with a lid and it's in a shady part of our garden.
In it, are loads of veg peelings, grass, pulled up plants, coffee grouts and uncooked veg/fruit waste.
I opened the lid yesterday and saw the hugest slug I have ever seen, and got a face full of fruit flies. [scream]
I was hoping for friable compost, it has been 3 months after all .
I worry that I have just created a massive salad bar for slugs, rather than anything else. Is there anything I can do to speed it up?
It's hot in there and smells sweet, so it should be doing it's thing, but a lot of the material in there is quite large, and I don't want to empty it all out and cut it up.
Have you got any quick tips for me?
thanks

I tip the black bin off, rake the contents onto a piece of ground cover, or tarpaulin, then put bin back and fork everything back in, mixing and aerating it in the process. Best if it is kept in the sun.

Nightmare-haunting even. Yeah, it's something I'm very aware of if I'm ever tempted to encounter wild animals. They don't require their food to be dead, they just require it not to move.

Slugs and snails are great for compost as they help with breaking down organic matter, what you don't want is them eating your plants later

Slugs and frogs in a compost heap are a GOOD sign!!!

Also mine takes a year to break down and it's in sun. Currently mine is full of ants and I was so worried about them I've loosened the lid for them cos it's so hot in there! LOL

I saw snakes in the garden today. They were not big. About the length of a large earthworm, but fatter and with a snake head.

The first one I thought was a slug until I looked closely. It was a reddish brown colour.

Been turning the compost.

We gave up on a black plastic compost bin. It was smelly, it didn't really work and was a pain to get the stuff out of the stupid little hatch at the bottom. Plus you couldn't really see what was going on with it.

We've got a traditional open compost now ie scruffy heaps in varying states of decomposition in the Corner of Doom behind the shed. They are in permanent deep shade but 'cook' much faster if aerated by forking out and forking back in again. 6 months to fragrant friable 'black gold'.

If you have the space and can put it out of sight, OP , go old school.

I love compost. It's magic.

I saw snakes in the garden today. They were not big. About the length of a large earthworm, but fatter and with a snake head.

The first one I thought was a slug until I looked closely. It was a reddish brown colour.

Maybe a nest of slowworms? They are a coppery colour.

I’m feeling chuffed, I have a beautiful bin of compost solely made from kitchen waste. I can barely believe it’s worked!
The bin is in full sun, yes there were fruit flies/snails/slugs happily living in it and doing their thing evidently. I was really sceptical that just kitchen waste on its own would compost so here goes with a second bin. Some garden waste will be added too but nothing too woody.
I’ve never added paper or cardboard, I think heat and enough moisture is the key. My kitchen waste included coffee grounds, crushed egg shells, banana skins etc but absolutely nothing cooked - no signs of rats either 😀

I started it mid March so 5 months.

Are you willing to share a photo of your blessed compost @Strawberrycreamsundae?

This is mine 😁

I was so pleased the first time I got compost.

I have 4 compost heaps on the allotment that get a turn about once a year. I've enough space that I just can just leave them to rot down.

One dalek that produces compost once a year. And a hot composter that I've only had a couple of months. I've got high hopes of that.

Moved to a much bigger garden (though still small) so will probably need to finesse my composting technique.

I have emptied the dalek now. Lots of lovely compost.

Maybe a nest of slowworms? They are a coppery colour. Ours were a pale lichen green -adults, that is, not babies.

I do the same as Barking. At any one time I have two filling, one maturing and one emptying. When I've emptied one, I tip the next oldest into it (this is the only aeration it gets) and it takes over as one of the "filling" ones. I probably hit the bottom of a bin about once every 9 months. Compost is beautiful, black, friable. This year, with shielding and the Covid compost famine, I used my compost in all my pots (I used to use it mainly as a mulch), and it has given as good results as bought compost.

I think the key to good compost is moisture and not putting anything in in a layer deeper than 6 inches. Heat is a bonus.

You know it's doing well if you lift the top few inches and find a sphagetti-rttglike mass of worms.

I would love to be able to buy compost like this too, but not sure how it would be labeled? I know I don't want peat - Monty would never forgive me. I have heard that you can buy it from some local councils, but Lewisham don't offer that unfortunately.
My soil is pretty poor so needs some loving compost goodness, but I don't think I'm going to be able to produce enough. Our garden is too small/overlooked to inflict farmyard manure on our neighbours.
I agree with you though crochetycrochet it is magic, and is also incredibly satisfying. DH says it appeals to my inner peasant!

My compost IDidn’tChoseThePondLife

Yours does look a bit dry OP, I would give it a soaking and keep it in full sun if you can.

With a compost bin you need green and brown matter to get it going. It sounds like you are doing well with green but missing brown. You need shreaded newspaper, if you a shread your mail put that in. Agree you need to water it a bit as well.

Ours were a pale lichen green -adults, that is, not babies.
That's really interesting Dint. I've never come across a green one. Ours are always a deep pink/brown coppery colour, the young being slightly paler.

DH says it appeals to my inner peasant!
DH and I have been known to wander down of an evening and admire the compost heap with a glass of wine.

my goodness @Strawberrycreamsundae it's wonderful!
Ain't nature grand.

It was a slow worm Mere. Thank you.
I thought it looked lizard-like.
Wow!

My garden is wildlife friendly, but I didn't expect slow worms.

You need shreaded newspaper Doesn't have to be shredded, just don't put a big pile on. Some people prefer to avoid the inks i newspapers. We put sheets of cardboard on, and egg boxes are really good, too.

Crotchety
You're probably right, this site describes them as brown or grey

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/reptiles-and-amphibians/slow-worm/

I suspect ours were grey ones, which in my memory is the pale greyish green of lichen (or algea?) on old walls. We don't get them in our current garden, it was our previous one, 30+ years ago.

Great news, MUM - how exciting! . And slowworms keep the slugs down too. Although after Mere's nightmarish account of the encounter she witnessed I'm trying not to think too much about the eating habits of my garden's inhabitants.

Perhaps the colour variation is regional? We see them most years in our garden and they are always coppery. They look just like the photo on the website of our local wildlife trust. I'm in the south.

Our garden is too small/overlooked to inflict farmyard manure on our neighbours.

If you can find a source of well-rotted stuff it should be fine. Dry, dark and crumbly, it's not at all smelly. There used to be a stables near us which was only too happy for gardeners to wear down their manure heaps. BYO sacks and shovel and pop a couple of quid in an honesty box. I used to rope the kids in when they were little. They were as happy as pigs in proverbial!