compostng question

newbie8

so we have one of the old compost bins (plastic bin, open top with holes all around the bin and no open flap at the bottom!) which were left by the previous owners and plan to start using it.

I have read that you can pretty much put anything in and make sure its a mixture of green and brown items, and not to put any meat or cooked vegetables.

We have been putting small amounts of cooked meat i.e. leftovers and also cooked vegetables, do they advise not to incase it caused rats etc or is it because it does not make good compost?

Also, whats the score with onions and onion peels, coffee grains and tea bags.

I havent given the compost a mix its all just built up and pretty hard to mix, is this going to be a problem?

Thank you all

fwor

Meat and cooked veg will compost just fine, but don't underestimate how attractive it will be to rodents. For a while I put small amounts of fruit and veg in mine, and it very quickly got resident mice!

The teabags may be a problem, as many makes have a plastic mesh outer which never rots.

Mixing speeds up the process, but it's hard work - I don't bother, and live with the fact that mine will take longer. If your bin is not too big and has no base, it shouldn't be hard to tip over to rake out the good stuff at the bottom and then tip it back up again.

lou37

Onions and onion skins are fine. I add all fruit add veg peelings/discards. I also add tea bags, but I do find the bags last a long time - they do break up in the end though. If they're still there in the compost when it's ready, I just add them back to the bin to carry on composting.

wallbash

Bob Flowerdew makes his compost in 'weeks' takes us mere mortals months. I only empty my large compost box once a year.

C_Mababejive

Dont put big root weeds in like dandelions ans they will only re-generate !

Orange_King

Don't forget the nutritious "golden shower" every now and again......

Del_Astra

Regarding the tea bags, I understand they use plastic in the bag of some tea bags, to make the stronger so we don't burst them open.

If you open the tea bag throw the bag part away and just use the tea you get round the problem. Can be a pain depends how many tea bags you go through.

If you don't fancy the "golden shower" idea you can buy stuff that does the same thing, its just not very MSE when you have a free source naturally available.

newbie8

Thank you all,
tea bags we have the paper ones (I'm sure :0) ) and we tear them open before putting them in.

Can I ask the golden shower, is this basically pee in the bin, (Not literally directly into the bin-might get odd stares from the neighbours hahaha) if so I did see a video of this on youtube and thought brilliant idea, and also onto the soil was a good idea too. Does it matter how many times it gets a shower or is it the more the better?

We dont put weeds in the same compost bins, put it into the council green bin along with the leaves twigs and stuff that take a long time e.g sweetcorn cobs. council has started charging so we thought we may as well use it to our advantage as they havent asked for the bin back, and just keep stuff that take ages is there.

Also, another question, I read that if we put grass directly into the ground to compose the grass will actually 'eat' the nutrients from the soil and so keep to a side to compose down, but will it 'eat' the nutrients from the compost bin whilst its rotting down? Does that make sense to everyone?

Thanks

wallbash

Also, another question, I read that if we put grass directly into the ground to compose the grass will actually 'eat' the nutrients from the soil and so keep to a side to compose down, but will it 'eat' the nutrients from the compost bin whilst its rotting down? Does that make sense to everyone?

No. Just try and get a varied mix , keep it damp but not too wet and patience is a virtue.

cootambear

Orange_King wrote: »

Don't forget the nutritious "golden shower" every now and again......

dirty devil

savemoney

I use compost powder you can get it at wilkos for around £2.20 it last ages