The Perfect Home Compost

[LittleWingSoul]

I have 'treated' myself to a lovely wooden composter (pic attached!) for our tiny garden.

I am lucky in that my local council takes our food scraps - cooked/uncooked, bones, bread, everything and anything. It also takes our garden waste - clippings, leaves, small branches etc - separately.

Which means I can probably be very selective so as not to overfill my compost bin.

What would you put in it to get optimum results? Keeping in mind that I don't have to put anything in there that will slow it down or potentially ruin it!

Don't put weeds with seed heads in there, otherwise when you use the compost you will spread them all over the garden.

Soft leafy stuff, some used compost from pots, thin twiggy bits chopped up small and veg peelings would all be fine, but don't have solid layers of one thing. It will also need to be kept damp-ish.

Following because my circumstances is the same as yours.
Also, I think your compost bin is very cute!

I put all raw veg and fruit scraps, tea leaves - but I open the used tea bags now just for the leaves as the bags don’t rot, no weeds, leafy green arising, fallen leaves, twigs.

Ripped us newspaper and tissues are good for balancing out the green. I think the key is regular turning... I think the more oxygen you get in there the quicker it will turn? I also put in hair - from drains, hairbrushes, home hair cuts etc.

Two turnings there might be confusing. I meant regular turning it over, and the more oxygen the quicker it will mature into usable compost.

Your bin is adorable!

Fruit and veg peelings, grass cuttings, soft garden cuttings, occasional layer of cardboard. Anything woody, or with seeds go on the bonfire instead. Fork it over regularly.

but I open the used tea bags now just for the leaves as the bags don’t rot, Some do, some don't. Depends which tea you use.

Egg boxes work well (although they can also be used as compostable pots for starting seedlings - no need to disturb roots, just plant the cup. In theory, anyway. Over the last 60 years I've accumulated so many plastic pots, seed trays etc that I think my greater contribution to the planet is to keep re-using them rather than throw them away in exchange for newspaper pots and egg boxes.

Some people worry about toxicity of inks - useful rule of thumb is to use cardboard which has been used for food wrapping.

Also, the occasional handful of soil to bump up the supply of soil microorganisms.

Yes: fruit and veg peelings
Green waste and prunings (cut up stems)
Cardboard and soft brown garden waste. About 1/2 to 2/3 by volume. I rip up cardboard boxes

No: cooked food or meat
Autumn leaves (make a leaf mulch pile under a bush)
Sticks
Weeds with seeds or diseased plants

A corkscrew compost aerator is so much easier than a fork. Also stops rats nesting in it. I use mine briefly whenever I add a box of food waste.

Ideally you need a second bin or somewhere to put the half done compost. It can take a few months to mature and you don’t want to be adding new stuff in that time.

Red compost worms will find their way into your bin eventually but it’s quicker to add a couple from a friend’s bin or fishing shop. They’re different from earth worms. When you empty the compost just move a few back into the bin for the new stuff.

All really good advice, thank you! Will have a look for red worms... We are constantly buying live feed for our bearded dragon so no stranger to purchasing creepy crawlies!

I didn't know about the second bin thing though - would you say this is 100% necessary @peakotter as like I said, it really is a tiny garden, no 'fallow' spots, I'm afraid!

Tea bags I'll give to the council, and will be careful with cardboard that looks inky too.

And aerating! Will look up a Cork aerator.

All really good advice, thank you! Will have a look for red worms. Tiger worms are what you are after. Eisenia foetida. Since it's autumn, try looking under heaps of rotting leaves. They're very rapid breeders.

If you have no space for a second bin you can dig the not quite finished compost into the garden and let it finish in situ. Depends what you want the compost for?

You can even compost directly into the ground, start to finish - it's called trench composting.

It’s not totally necessary. But you either need to separate out the good stuff from the not-ready, or have a couple of months when you store it elsewhere.

Compost is made quicker when it’s hot, and you have most to add during autumn. I’d suggest putting a barrier like cardboard over your compost in June. Then add extra stuff on top without stirring. In September take off the top level, which won’t be ready, and you should have lovely mature compost underneath. Then put the top stuff back in the bin. A wee bit messy but it would save space.

(Or to make it less messy, put a plastic box with holes in it on top of the compost in June. Again, put new stuff in the box, lift out in September and use the stuff underneath on your beds. Tip the box stuff into the bin and you’re ready to start again.)

Does that make any sense?

@peakotter that sounds like a brilliant idea! If I use a cardboard box instead of plastic, it combines both the barrier and less mess options! You reckon the heat of just June to September would do the trick?

@bewarethebeardeddragon I remember trying trench composting back when I had an allotment, I abandoned the plot before I ever had a chance to see the output (and a beautiful polytunnel structure my dad made me too, which still makes me feel sad to think about!)

So one more question I think... With a previous dalek model I had years ago I remember citrus peel, egg shells and banana skins hanging around forever in there. Is it ever worth it?

That's such a shame about your allotment.

I used to cut citrus and banana peel into fine strips when I had a one bin compost system. The smaller the pieces the faster they break down. I do not do whole eggshells because I find they never breakdown. I wash them, dry them out then crush them into powder and either add to compost heap or add to my homemade tomato fertiliser

I know... It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to it after all the work I put into it, but I had become a single working mum and had no car at the time either and it became untenable. I went back there after a year as I still had the key and the whole thing was completely overgrown... I did actually cry!

But this is the first garden I've ever owned (rented all my adult life!) so it's a happy ending/start! I have to keep reminding myself I can actually put things in the ground, after years of having a portable potted garden!

Potted garden for rented homes...

Breaking free from the pots! Needs a bit more thought this year, it was a bit higgeldy piggeldy!

It looks utterly gorgeous!

Ahh thank you @bewarethebeardeddragon It was a labour of love considering the before pic (Jan 2020, and this was 'after the builders had cleared up after themselves, apparently!)

A blessing in disguise of lockdown/wfh, as I wouldn't have had time to do it otherwise

Wow - that must have been a few skips worth! You must have worked very hard and the results show it

@LittleWingSoul, do have done an amazing job - it looks fantastic.
Can I ask where you got your cute wooden compost bin from?
Thanks

@AcanthusFlower Sure, it was from a company called Cheshire Wood. It took about 7 weeks to arrive but it is handmade and painted and arrives pre-assembled (like a beehive, you stack the layers) and I am very pleased with it!

@LittleWingSoul Thank you, will take a look.

I composted in my back yard for years, very successfully. I had enough to spread around my entire garden each summer. For me, the key was red wiggler compost worms. They are amazing. I think I got a shovel full of mature with the worms in it to seed my compost.

It sounds kind of yuck, but it's really not. They look like small, clean, red earthworms.

They would even break down corn cobs.

My other secret was turning and mixing the compost regularly. I had something called the garden claw that I would sink in and twist.

I so miss my compost. Living in an apartment, we put our organics in a big bin and it is taken somewhere central.

I think I really need to get some of these red worms! I wonder if you can get them in the post... Can't think of any local angling shops, but then it's not something I've ever looked for!

Ditto something to turn it.

@LoveFall that's a shame you've lost your outdoor space, but good news about more and more places taking organic waste.

The reason I think it's always been natural to me to compost is because I grew up with it - before local councils started taking food waste, my parents kept an organic waste bin in the kitchen (they called it "el bio" - Spanish!) to add to the outdoor composter. The thought of not composting has always felt weird to me. So much so that when I first lived alone but with no garden, I kept it all in a vented plastic box. Needless to say... It just rotted and was really rank I ended up burying it in a nearby nature reserve... I hadn't realised it needed to sit on soil!

Then when I lived in a flat I had a (really smelly) bokahshi bin that my parents had the joy of emptying onto their compost for me when it got full.

Lucky my council has collected in the interim since bokahshi and my lovely new beehive composter!