Starting a Compost Bin (Merged Thread)

Farway

Thanks, already had mine some weeks back, there is also £1 off for ordering on line

madhouseof4

Just beware as it can take MONTHS for your delivery to arrive depending on where you live. I'm in Staffs and it took 3 months. I wouldn't touch them again with a barge pole. I probably ended up spending the same as I would have done had I bought one from a diy store or garden centre, with the numerous phone calls I made chasing my order.

mutley74

My folks now got a composting bin..

It was on an offer through the council. Thing is it came with no bottom to it. The council said they dont come with a bottom. So my parents have situated it at the bottom of the garden on a space over the patio paving slabs.

They have added some old scraps of food into and some grass cuttings.

Query is, they now have loads of ants and insects crawling all over outside it - is this common ?

And any other advice on how to use a compost bin is most welcome in getting the best from it.

thanks in advance.

newleaf

They don't need a 'bottom, they need to stand on bare earth to let the earthworms have access. They will help break the stuff down quickly. You can compost all vegetable waste, cooked or uncooked, shredded paper, eggshells, contents of the hoover bag, human or animal hair, wool etc. There is lots of info on the net about how to make 'good' compost, as there is a knack to it - too much 'brown' matter (paper, dust etc) or too much 'green' (grass cuttings etc) can cause problems. This is a good site for beginners http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/composting/index.html Good luck

mutley74

newleaf wrote: »

They don't need a 'bottom, they need to stand on bare earth to let the earthworms have access.

my folks placed their bin on some paving slabs..is that not good? so should they move to be over some bare patch of earth?

thanks

Jayar

atpug, check out the link that newleaf provided. I did and found some great info, including a bit about putting your bin on concrete.

socks_uk

Thanks for the link to the website.

newleaf wrote: »

You can compost all vegetable waste, cooked or uncooked, shredded paper, eggshells, contents of the hoover bag, human or animal hair, wool etc.

I was confused about you saying cooked vegetables because on the website it says this...

Certain things should never be placed in your bin. No cooked vegetables, no meat, no dairy products, no diseased plants, and definitely no dog poo or cat litter, or baby’s nappies.

I don't put anything cooked in mine but it still seems rather slow at composting. I've had it a year and it's nowhere near ready yet.

newleaf

I have always composted cooked vegetable waste, but to be honest we don't waste much food!

Noozan

I have two compost bins, one is on earth and the other is on concrete and they both compost pretty much at the same rate. If I'm digging and find lots of worms, I often put a few in each bin to help things along.

phoilmc

When we got ours through a similar scheme, it too didn't come with a bottom. When we looked around, we discovered you can actually get a bottom for it and although I can't recall the exact price, sure it was under a tenner. We got ours at a local garden centre (either Burston or Ayletts), so try there first. Ours works just fine and the compo is great but as everyone says, you gotta be patient and use common sense. Some people prefer to use a bottom as it helps keeps unwanted visitors out
Hope this helps
P