First Compost Bin

Penelope_Penguin

I chuck in all my garden and kitchen waste and wait for the worms to do their magic I don't turn - I dig it out every 6 months, put the rotted stuff on the garden, and return that whick isn't done to the heap.

I'll move this to the Greenfingered Board where you'll get more replies

Pink.

Hi counting pennies,

This thread from the green fingered board should tell you all you need to know.

Homemade compost is so exciting!

composting (merged)

I just make sure that there is plenty of brown composting material (insides of loo rolls, egg boxes, fallen leaves etc) as well as green material (grass cuttings, fruit and veg peelings, tealeaves etc) in there too. I never add cooked kitchen waste in case it attracts vermin. Apparently adding male urine can speed up the process too but I've had a bit of trouble persuading Mr Pink to piddle in the compost bin.

I'll move your thread over to the greenfingered board where you'll get lots of help from the experts who post there.

Pink

Farway

I just chuck it all into my dalek, no cooked items or meat, fish as Pink-winged said

Never turn it, just wait for worms and slugs to do it all, it is amazing how it all rots down.

As I am Mr Farway I do sometimes add diluted wee in summer if the insides of dalek appear dry, recycling beer really so ever so green

JohnnyM_2

If you put egg shells in, you get egg shells out.
Stick some leaves in, plentiful at the moment.
I put the contents of my paper shredder in from time to time.
Worth digging some worms out the garden and sticking them in too.

tryingtobegreen

Hi
Ive also recently started composting.
After extensive reading i found out
1, equal amounts of green and brown in the bin, (wet and dry)
2, defo stir it up, this is supposed to get air into it which helps it decompose rather than it all sat on top of each other turning to a whole lot of nothing very slowly
3, get BOKOSHI bins. ALL kitchen waste, cooked and raw, meat and veg can go into these. I have them already and theyre the best things ever. When u empty the BOKOSHI put it in the garden composted as the micro-wotsits speed the composting cycle up really well. Cheap BOKOSHI on ebay
4, if its to dry add a little water, should only be needed in summer really. If its to wet then ur putting to much green and noy enough brown in.
5, when compost complete it will look and smaell like the compost ur familiar with.
6, ive read it can take as little as 12wk if all rules are followed but then again if u cant be bothered and just let nature take its course it can take 2 years or more.

tryingtobegreen

forgot to say.
The bokoshi 'slop' can be added to a wormery if u have one, They love it!
The liquid u collect from the bokoshi is fantastic plant food,
Saving u money on hanging basket food, shrub food etc if u dont have plants then u can pour it down the drain and it apparently cleans them a treat. ive not tried that one as i have lots of plants and baskets that benefit from the feed.
hope that helps

Counting_Pennies_2

Thanks all for your tips.

One question, I have heard you can buy compostable bags. does that mean you just take the bag liner out of your little kitchen scraps bin and put it straight into the compost bin? Does it compost down quickly enough?

Thanks

DCFC79

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Thanks all for your tips.

One question, I have heard you can buy compostable bags. does that mean you just take the bag liner out of your little kitchen scraps bin and put it straight into the compost bin? Does it compost down quickly enough?

Thanks

yes i think they do but i havent looked if the few ive put in have disintergrated, youi can get the bags from lidl or sainsburys, i dont know about the other supermarkets as ive not looked,

Lotus-eater

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Thanks all for your tips.

One question, I have heard you can buy compostable bags. does that mean you just take the bag liner out of your little kitchen scraps bin and put it straight into the compost bin? Does it compost down quickly enough?

Thanks

Not sure, you should read the packaging. I once tried using the co op's biodegradable bags in the compost and they took so long to break down, it didn't work at all.

moneypooh

tryingtobegreen wrote: »

forgot to say.
The bokoshi 'slop' can be added to a wormery if u have one, They love it!
The liquid u collect from the bokoshi is fantastic plant food,
Saving u money on hanging basket food, shrub food etc if u dont have plants then u can pour it down the drain and it apparently cleans them a treat. ive not tried that one as i have lots of plants and baskets that benefit from the feed.
hope that helps

I have used this stuff for over a year now and it's fantastic. You can compost absolutely everything!
Eggs shells are good for discouraging slugs so I still add those.
OH does turn our compost as it does help preventing too much of the same kind of compost getting too wet. The leaves are being collected at the moment and will be slowly fed in until next summer.

We have 2 huge compost bins and haven't bought compost for some years now