composting and wormeries

[hatsoff]

does anyone out there find that a wormery is big enough for all their kitchen waste? I got one for Christmas and it just doesn't seem to have the capacity. Anotehr question is does anyone know where i can find a really small beehive composter?

I've got a small worm composter, but no, there's no way it would cope with all my kitchen waste, especially in winter when worm activity slows down, apparently. I'm looking forward to a surge of activity to come!

Have you tried Wiggly Wigglers (mail order catalogue) for a beehive composter?

we have a wormery it took a while to get going - about 7 months - make sure you keep adding paperthey dont like it to wet we put in shredded paper about a carrier bag full in every three weeks, its good but only produces a small amout of waste, quite cute really,

I have a wormery but it wouldn't cope with all the kitchen stuff. It's been almost dormant over the winter but I saw new baby worms the other day so it must be livening up again! I realise mine has been too wet so have begun putting paper in, including any kitchen towel I use.

Where do you folks keep your wormery? I keep mine in the garage as it's too wet outdoors but I wonder if it gets enough circulating air.

I now keep mine in a corner against next door's kitchen wall (we're end of terrace) because I think all my worms froze last year when too exposed. I've also insulated the box with an old cut-up coir doormat, and I slung an old coat on top in the v cold weather - I did wonder about ventilation then, but like yours my worms are now looking very chirpy, so they seem to have survived ok this time.

Hatsoff I got my new Wiggly Wigglers catalogue by coincidence this AM - www.wigglywigglers.co.uk
the catalogue has loads of beehive composters, inc on the back cover.

mines in the garage and they seem quite happy - have put lots of cardboard in it (only undyed stuff), but as one of my main motives was to stop throwing stuff away I'm a bit disappointed that I can't put everything in there. We have a small garden and I chose a wormery over one of those beehive compost heaps(nowhere to hide a big ugly one)thinking one of the options would do - now am beginning to think I need both. The wiggly wigglers one would just about squeeze into the space behind outr garden bench but a smaller one would be better - also - do you think they're a bit smelly to put next to a bench?

Not really familiar with wormeries, but we just got a green cone for all our food waste, is that similar? At first it just seemed to be filling to the top and going nowhere and stunk to high heaven, but now it seems to be working and all the stuff is breaking down and it doesn't smell any more.

One of the advantages of a wormery is meant to be that it doesn't smell, altho you can get little flies in summer, which you're meant to hoover up!!! IME a normal composter will smell at some stage in the process, but not forever. Depends therefore how much and when you use the bench. BTW have you checked if your local council does any offers on compost bins? Ours does, although they're functional not pretty, but dirt cheap and there's a slimline one - they do want us residents to compost.

I've got a 'Dalek' (a council offer as mentioned by tiddlypom ).

I throw a handful of worms in now and then ( and they thrive!), and bit of manure or soil, to help it along. Mine's marginally whiffy, but I expect it to calm down as my Grandad's established one smells only mildly 'earthy' (not offensive) and has done for the last 20 years that I can remember!

It's not particularly nice astheticaly, so I've disguised it with some willow trellis which I'll grow something up soon .

Tiddlypom, lol at 'chirpy' worms! I can imagine them all singing the Birdie Song. I got my WW catalogue too - I want one each of those gorgeous coloured composters!

I discovered last night that there are caterpillars in the wormery. Do you think that's a good, bad or indifferent thing to have?

Hatsoff, I haven't noticed any smell from my wormery, though a compost heap can be a bit whiffy.

it's the compost heap I'd like to put near the bench. Not sure what dh will make of it. I took my ww catalgue to bed last night - I've never enjoyed looking at a catalogue so much. In fact I'd even go so far as to say I read it. I had to stop myself from getting a pen to circle all the things I'm planning to get: nemotodes, one of the insect/bug boxes, some ladybirds, a ladybird house (how cool is that?). I'm even tempted to get one of those birdboxes with a camera in it. don;t you think that would be amazing? DH poured scorn on me for that one saying it would be no different from watching a nature program and that dds would loose interest in 2 days. But they'd be IN YOU GARDEN - and you could watch them hatch and grow each day. Amazing. A bit expensive though. Maybe I'll angle for one next year for Christmas. One day when I have a bigger garden I'm going to fill it with little homes for hedgehogs, bats, dormice. For the moment I think I;ll have to settle for the bugs and ladybirds...

The five quid one is virtually the same as the one I have, except mine's green. It looks like a standard binm such as you'd get in a garden centre. Hth!

Hatsoff, I was reading the WW catalogue in bed, too!! It's better than the book I'm currently ploughing through. Re the camera nest - a friend has one (not from WW, I don't think) and it's fascinating, I can't keep my eyes away from it when I visit!

Would suggest that if you can afford a bit more, get two of the £5 bins rather than getting one larger big. When one is reaching capacity, start to fill the 2nd whilst occasionally forking over the contents of the first.
Decent compost takes about a year to develop, having only one bin would cause it to fill up and leave you with no space for more stuff before it was ready to start emptying out again.

lots of useful discussion on composting and wormeries here . i've got a plain old compost heap now, none of your fancy stuff

Pamina3, I'm in Merton and I got two of the five quid ones as Snugs suggests. They're really pretty big, and so cheap at £5. They were delivered in a couple of days, too.

DD decided to set up home in one - the door at the bottom is like a catflap - so I'll have to keep that one clean until she's tired of it. The other one is full of compostable waste and loveley compost worms.