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 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.

May be slow worms. Both of our compost bins have several slow worms in them. On hot days they are on top of the matter in the bin but on cold days grey burrow down inside it. It makes actually using the compost a very delicate operation.

I agree it will take approx a year to produce good compost. We have our hair cut at home, and that goes in the mix too. Also tea bags and egg shells.

I would love to be able to buy compost like this too, but not sure how it would be labeled?

Try your local landfill or tip. Both of these near to us make and sell good compost.

I'm in the south too. I live in an urban town. The slow worm was quite coppery. I lifted something and only saw part of it and thought it was a slug. I haven't seen many slugs and snails this year.

My garden is very messy and a bit mad.
Neighbours have had words with me about CharlieAlphaTango's mess, and I said it was the foxes. They'd not seen the foxes.

It's been a while since I've seen a hedgehog.

I think I read somewhere this week that hedgehogs have gone on the endangered list.
Loads round here though.

Badgers eat hedgehogs.

So maybe it is a regional thing.
We also have a CharlieAlphaTango. She loves slow worms. But not in a good way.

My CharlieAlphaTango is a boy cat. He inspired my user name.
He's named from Breakfast at Tiffany's but we wanted a proper name on the bc in case he grew up to be a high court judgy cat.

The revolting slugs and flies are just doing their job but I will admit that we gave up on composting when the rats moved in. Moved from a village where we had a detached garden to a city with a small garden and are not even going to contemplate trying again. Garden waste just goes to the tip, now.

@JaJaDingDong

I think I read somewhere this week that hedgehogs have gone on the endangered list. Loads round here though.

More hedgehogs in the E apparently.

They've declined by 60% since 2000; and since they'd already declined by 60% since 1950s we now have only 16% of the number we had in to 50s.

Our cats used to bring slow worms into the living room, where they'd hide under cushions and freaked out DH who was recently returned from studying wildlife in a less inhabited bit of the S hemisphere where there was a plethora of snakes.

I get rats in the compost bin. To keep them out it helps to keep it moist, and to use wire mesh around the base.

@MikeUniformMike
This made me laugh!:
"He's named from Breakfast at Tiffany's but we wanted a proper name on the bc in case he grew up to be a high court judgy cat."

My cat (Hilda) also has a longer name (Heliotrope) just in case she wants to be a little more formal.

To continue in the naming thread tradition, I could have called him Archer because I've listened most on my life and he can be quite arch, or Sebastian, another BN favourite as he is quite Flytey. Not keen on either name though.

I don't know if you listen to TA, but the cat is called Hilda Ogden.

Heliotrope is probably more suited to a gardener's cat.

She came from a rescue place, and they had called her Hilda. We felt it would unfair to 'rebrand' her (even though I doubt she even registers that we call her anything!) so didn't change it.
Heliotrope is a bit more a mouthful too.

@IDidntChoseThePondLife, CAT isn't really called that but don't tell anyone. It just makes a nice story, and i did call him that sometimes.

He has a proper name but it's not a trendy name like Kit, Leo or Felix, but I had another cat who was called Sylvester, many years ago.

CAT was named before I got him. I adopted him as an adult. He is treated as a prince so I couldn't change his name. He recognises his name.

He's quite a personality.

I had never had a cat until 4 years ago when we got our first rescue, and I was smitten. They are such curious creatures, and Hilda makes us all laugh on a daily basis, staring ramdomly at the wall and wobbling on the fence. The day she fell into the pond was priceless, but she was utterly mortified and couldn't look at us for days. She does come when called though, but only on the off-chance a Dreamy may be on offer.

I didn't want a cat but once I got him I love him. Had to get to know him.
He's such a character, and everything is on his terms.
I even grow him catmint, which he only has access to occasionally as it meant druggy unwanted cats rolling about on the lawn.
He eats weird things like grass, and prefers his water out of a watering can, and has several favourite snoozing sites.
I'd have loved to see the cat falling into the pond.

My pond is just a half barrel with water in it, and CharlieAlphaTango will walk around the edge. Birds come and drink from it.

@MikeUniformMike

Badgers eat hedgehogs.

According to the lovely @HedgehogCabin lady, they don't

Amazing work that she does and loads of info on how to help hedgehogs on her twitter account

They do. They'll eat chickens and lambs too and they have no predators.

I went to turn the compost heap this morning only to discover that DH had put in a load of grass clippings with no brown waste, and it had all gone slimy.i've got lots if cardboard boxes ready to shred, and a chipped up old tree, so hopefully I can get the balance right before too long.

OMG VirginiaWolverine that's a sackable offence!
I noticed mine has slumped in the last day (heap not DH!) so i think composty thing are afoot deep down. I would think that surely in this heat it won't stay slimy for long. You know your heap best of course.

stir the brown matter in well and it will be fine.

DH had put in a load of grass clippings with no brown waste, and it had all gone slimy

Crikey. I think that may qualify for a LTB.

Quite right crochety YWNBU to LTB...