Yet another compost question....

Trout69

Hi All,
I've been hunting around and so far havent had much luck....this is my predicament.

I moved into a terraced house will quite a smallish yar, there was already one of those darlek type compost bins in there, full to the brim. It has a flap at the front near the bottom which im assuming is to get the compost out of (once it has turned into compost)...

The problem is, as i understand it, compost needs turning and due to very narrow openings (both in the top and from the flap at the bottom) i cant seem to get any air into the pile so it doesnt seem to be doing alot. I have tried poking a garden cane around inside but this doesn't seem to have much effect. Does anyone have any ideas on how i can help break this down and make it into a useful compost heap?

Regards

Donna

ssray

It will break down, but you could turn it from the top, shove a rake down there?

Trout69

ssray wrote: »

It will break down, but you could turn it from the top, shove a rake down there?

I've been trying to use a garden cane, but not sure if it is actually doing anything...i'll keep trying though. I guess one good sign is that i keep putting things in it and it doesn't seem to be overflowing, so i'm guessing something is happening.

Hopefully whatever the previous residents have put in there does breakdown and leave me some lovely compost next year. I best get poking it for now though

Thank you.:)

TonyMMM

If you can - lift the bin off the pile and move it a couple of feet away, then just fork the pile back into the bin through the top giving each forkful a good shake to aerate it as you go.

Trout69

TonyMMM wrote: »

If you can - lift the bin off the pile and move it a couple of feet away, then just fork the pile back into the bin through the top giving each forkful a good shake to aerate it as you go.

Oooh i never thought of this, I thought it was a solid structure so had a bottom on it. I'll have to investigate when i get home from work, and hopefully this will solve the problem....and i'll at least be able to see what was put in there before i moved to the property.

Thanks for your advise. :j

mansars

I bought a compost aeretor this summer after covering myself in compost one to many times trying to turn it.

Search compost aereator in Amazon, it was only £13 delivered....and well worth it.