Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

composting - the basics?

55 replies

bossykate · 14/11/2002 13:46

i'm very keen to reduce our household waste at the moment and am interested in trying composting as a means of achieving this. our local council does special offers on equipment.

i'm hoping someone can give me some basic hints/tips/pros/cons etc. e.g. iirc, you need to have a minimum volume of organic waste during a given period in order to do it. is this right? and if so how much?

i would be grateful for any info.

thanks for your help.

OP posts:
Original poster
bossykate · 03/06/2003 19:09

thank you suedonim and janh.

have looked at the stuff from wiggly wigglers again and it looks like we are doing what you're supposed to...

will stop adding waste for a couple of weeks, top up with lime mix and worm treat and see how it goes. if no improvement will call ww at that stage.

thanks again.

OP posts:
suedonim · 04/06/2003 09:18

Hope that solves the problem, BK. I forgot to ask, what sort of flies are they? The ones we had with the ordinary composter were teeny, like fruit flies and tbh, as they didn't come into the house or anything, I wasn't too worried. I'm looking forward to restarting my wormery when I get back to the UK - how sad is that???

Original poster
bossykate · 14/06/2003 14:01

hi suedonim, missed seeing your message until now. they are small black flies, a bit too big to be fruitflies, imo, but not horrid bluebottles. the lime mix seems to have reduced the numbers, but unfortunately i still can't see any activity from the worms, so came back to this thread to copy my message and do as you suggested and email wigglywigglers.

thanks again

OP posts:
Gilli · 15/06/2003 19:20

Hi composters - I have a big green plastic bin, and a problem with maggots that are around 1cm long, all around the inside lip of the bin. Any idea where they come from? I know there are no food scraps, and I even stopped eggshells to see if that was the problem.

Original poster
bossykate · 15/06/2003 19:40

gilli, that's partly my problem (maggots, then flies of course). i will post the reply back here from wigglywigglers when i get it.

OP posts:
sis · 23/06/2003 15:28

Any news yet BK? I'm sort of toying with the idea of getting a can'o' worms but our garden is so small that if there were a lot of flies as a result then it would create a real problem for us.

Original poster
bossykate · 23/06/2003 16:06

hi sis, not yet. was just thinking it was time to chase them. with the benefit of hindsight, i wish we had got the can o' worms, it looks much easier to manage. there aren't supposed to be any flies except occasional (tiny) fruit flies, which you can control with lime mix. that's why i think something's amiss with ours - that and the fact i haven't seen any worms for weeks now!

i'll give them a call tomorrow and pass on anything interesting.

OP posts:
janh · 23/06/2003 18:09

sis, this is from Simon Hoggart's column in the Guardian last Sat:

"After my not very subtle hints, my wife bought me a worm farm for my birthday. It's a series of heavy-duty plastic trays, with a lid and a reservoir thing at the bottom. It comes through the post; you set it up, then send off for the packet of worms.

A day or so later they arrive in their own sealed bag, wriggling round in the soil, apparently quite happy. They're not ordinary earthworms though; they're special composting worms. You sprinkle the lot on top of the coir matting (provided). There are about 1,000 of them and I'm fond of them, though it's going to be a bugger to find different names for them all.

On top of this you need to put lots and lots of kitchen scraps. Not just potato peelings, broccoli stalks, banana skins and the like, but egg shells, used tea bags - and cardboard. They're very fond of cardboard.

Soon we will get lots of fresh compost, long before it would be ready in a compost heap, and a supply of fluid which I suppose is just worm wee, but which apparently causes houseplants to grow like triffids and saplings to turn into giant redwoods overnight. It's richly satisfying. I visit them twice a day in the shed and they still seem very happy. They're terrific pets, too, since they don't smell and they don't leave hairs on the sofa. My wife found them at wigglywigglers.co.uk. "

He doesn't mention flies (yet....)

Original poster
bossykate · 23/06/2003 18:17

yes, janh, that sounds like the can o' worms...

OP posts:
sis · 24/06/2003 10:03

Thanks BK and janh. Still thinking about it - Janh, it was Simon Hoggart's article that prompted me to revisit the issue in the first place!

Original poster
bossykate · 24/06/2003 10:57

i have just called wigglywigglers.

advice to reduce flies:

  • add lime mix
  • leave lid off for a couple of hours with the moisture mat in place to allow the flies to disperse

advice to encourage visible worm activity:

  • add a little water if contents of bin too dry
  • add fresh veg waste to encourage worms to the top
  • add worm treat
  • add cardboard, paper, egg boxes etc to aerate and dry out bin if it appears too wet

not especially helpful on the phone, i have to say!

OP posts:
sis · 24/06/2003 14:15

Thanks for the update BK.

Original poster
bossykate · 18/03/2004 23:45

well, we just attempted to harvest our first lot of compost last weekend and it was an unmitigated disaster. the wormery had obviously not functioned properly for some time and there was a lot of disgusting, yukky, rotten matter - but no compost and no worms. i'm afraid the waste juggler will have to go. we seem to have done what you're supposed to but it hasn't gone well.

don't want to give up entirely, though, and am considering the can o' worms, on the grounds that:

  • it will be easier to see if all is as it should be (nigh on impossible with the waste juggler)
  • much, much easier and less disgusting to harvest the compost - should we actually get any this time.

has anyone got one of these and how have you got on with it?

thanks in advance

OP posts:
suedonim · 19/03/2004 00:30

Ive got the Can'o'worms, BK, but don't really have much to report, as yet. I started it at the wrong time of year for here in Scotland with its low winter temps. The worms were slow off their marks and then we went abroad to live, so no one looked after them, poor things. I chucked what compost there was, plus worms, onto the garden when I got home, so it might have done some good at least!

I plan to restart again in a month or so, when it's warmer. I must confess, I don't understand exactly how it works, as yet, but I'm quite looking forward to starting again. Dh says I need to get out more often.

I also made compost in an ordinary composter, which took a while but the end result was ok. I really must din it into the offsprings's heads that crisp packets and pop cans do not good compost make.

Janh · 19/03/2004 00:37

bk, did you see Simon Hoggart's bit about his in the Sat Graun a bit ago? He loves it and wants to give all his worms names.

We have a large plastic compost bin which sits on concrete (has to) and does a reasonable job, it has grown billions of worms (we never bought any, just threw some in when we found them in the borders)though I'm not convinced they're the right kind, what comes out of the bottom always has bits of eg eggshells in it, and weeds grow out of it when I use it, but other things do grow too. The can o worms sounds great but isn't very big...do you get much kitchen waste, grass clippings etc? If you do you'll have to chuck a lot of them away I think.

PS Isn't this new archive search wonderful!!!

Janh · 19/03/2004 00:38

Ohhh - just read down a bit and there is Simon Hoggart's bit (quoted by me!)

ScummyMummy · 19/03/2004 00:46

Poor old bk! It's not fair that your fab and laudable attempts to be greener should end like this, is it? Better luck with the Can O' Worms, I hope. I hope there won't be problems when you open it...

Twink · 19/03/2004 01:16

Scummy

We have 3 bog standard plastic ones like Jan's which means 2 are doing their thing while one is being filled. Every so often I get brave and dig them about a bit (technical term 'turning' ??!).

We still have a few egg shells left when I put it onto the garden but the slugs hate them so it's a bonus really.

Original poster
bossykate · 19/03/2004 22:57

thank you, you all had me sniggering

i don't think i am one of life's natural composters - i find the whole business quite nauseating.

have told dh he needs to pee on it next time - apparently human urine is a compost accelerant. maybe you can do wee soaked moltex?

i think we will give the can o'worms a go - and then that's it i'm afraid. to the landfill site our kitchen waste goes...

OP posts:
sis · 19/03/2004 23:56

Bk, my conscience is about to be salvaged by our local authority introducing a 'green' wheelie bin - they will collect organic garden waste including grass clippings on a fortnightly basis and take it to a composite far, far away. I get to feel good without the messy business of composting anything myself! of course it means that when I want any compost, I have to go to the shops and buy the stuff but maybe the council will start selling it back to me at a favourable rate

Tinker · 25/04/2004 22:06

I'm bringing this thread back to life because I've got a composter from the council . Trouble is, best place to put it in the garden is the area covered with bindweed - a composting no-no. So, do I just stick it on the soil, chuck stuff in and hope for the best?

Original poster
bossykate · 25/04/2004 22:09

um, yeah, i think so, and get someone to pee on it from time to time.

OP posts:
Original poster
bossykate · 25/04/2004 22:10

a bit more useful, have a look at this .

OP posts:
dogwalker · 25/04/2004 22:10

Hi Tinker - funny I've just bought one from the council too. God it seems a bit complicated doesn't it. You've got to put it in a sunny place apparently but then it would be right next to the patio so I'm not having that! Where I've put it should be OK, but nothing AT ALL has happened to the stuff I've put in it yet. My kids (boys of course) thought it was funny when I said I want them to pee in it sometimes! I got a water butt as well - did you get one of those too? It filled up with water overnight!

Tinker · 25/04/2004 22:13

Hi dogwalker - did't get the water butt, thought I'd better take this Good Life malarky one step at a time. Quite excited. This year I shall mostly be growing pumpkins