Compost bin for small garden

Glitzkiss

Hello all,

I'm moving to my first house having lived in flats for years. This means I will now have a garden :j albeit a small one. I have enough room to start a veg garden and I'm very lucky in that I have several people to advise me on the complexities of persuading veggies to grow for me. However they all have HUGE gardens that make mine look like their drying green :cool: and therefore own massive almost industrial-size compost bins. As there is just me and I only have a postage stamp to look after can anyone recommend a smallish composting system suitable for the low maintenance smaller garden.

Many thanks for all suggestions

Glitzkiss

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jiblets1

I've just bought a wormery - could be worth looking into. There are several threads on this forum relating to them.

Glitzkiss

jiblets1 wrote: »

I've just bought a wormery - could be worth looking into. There are several threads on this forum relating to them.

Thanks for the suggestion however my very green-fingered folks tried this and it didn't work. It may have been the cold weather although I'm sure they kept it in the shed in the winter. I think I'll ask them as IIRC it was small and may be ideal for my dinky garden.

Again many thanks

Glitzkiss

Mrs_Boo_Boo

I managed to obtain a small compost bin from my council. It was made of four rectangles approx 60cm long by 40cm wide which were enclosed in tough plastic and tied at the side to make a square shape. A sturdy plastic net was placed on top of 4 breeze blocks placed in a square and the bin placed on top with a lid. It was fantastic and worked really well. Can't remember website but remember looking at indoor compost bins too which were very compact. Think an accelerator was added to help with the process

looby-loo_2

Hi and welcome to gardening!

I always find it better to have two compost heaps - in your case two little ones. Make one as big as poss for the space then leave it to 'cook' Start another and add to that. I suggest it needs to be at least 1mtr x 1mtr x 1mtr to be big enough to heat up and work.

Use the compost from the first whilst you are building up the first and rotate the two.

This way, you can use the compost from the first heap without having to remove the fresh stuff off the top every time you want it from the bottom.

Mine are made from old doors placed in a E shape, and propped up with stakes made from the door frames from a skip.

jennybridger

i donated a old plastic dustbin which we had cut the bottom out of to someone via freecycle who is using that as a small compost bin.

Glitzkiss

Mrs Boo Boo - thanks for reminding me about the council. I'll pop on to the website of mine and see if they have any good offers. Your small bin sounds just what I am looking for.

looby-loo - thank you for the welcome. I suspect I will be on here with more questions when friends and family can't help. I like the idea of the two bins but suspect 1m x 1m x 1m is still too big for my wee garden. When I say small I mean tiny and the veg plot itself is only 2 m x 2 m x 1m (I think, I haven't moved in yet and the veg plot was one of the things I didn't measure up :rolleyes: ) It's only me I'm feeding though and as long as I get to grow a few veggies I'll be happy

jennybridger - I like the idea of recycling plastic so will have a look on my local freecycle and at our tip for anything I can use. I have a few things to go on freecycle myself therefore it's a timely reminder. Many thanks :T

I'll let you know how I get on and if I manage to persuade anything to grow :rotfl:

ghp

Hi Glitzkiss - have a look at www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk

They have Scottish Government subsidised compost bins ranging from £6 to £25, and as a bonus you get a free kitchen caddy for putting peelings etc in.

The bins are made from recycled materials too! :T

Glitzkiss

ghp wrote: »

Hi Glitzkiss - have a look at www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk

They have Scottish Government subsidised compost bins ranging from £6 to £25, and as a bonus you get a free kitchen caddy for putting peelings etc in.

The bins are made from recycled materials too! :T

:T :T

That's exactly where Aberdeenshire council sent me too. I'm considering getting the Komp 250 as it looks to be the most compact. However if any of the experts can see potential problems with it I'm happy to listen to advice

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/scheme_authorities_april_08/aberdeenshire.html

And the free caddy nearly makes up for going for the second most expensive bin too :money:

ghp

Glitzkiss wrote: »

:T :T

That's exactly where Aberdeenshire council sent me too. I'm considering getting the Komp 250 as it looks to be the most compact. However if any of the experts can see potential problems with it I'm happy to listen to advice

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/scheme_authorities_april_08/aberdeenshire.html

And the free caddy nearly makes up for going for the second most expensive bin too :money:

Looks good to me - I've just ordered two of the Komp 800. I've got wooden slatted ones just now, but I've had them for a while and they're starting to compost themselves! It's also impossible to remove the slats to get to the compost at the bottom, whereas the Komps (and the Ecomaxes from the same source) look as if the compost will be able to be removed easily - the whole of the front opens up on the Komps by the looks of it.

Great prices for all of them!

I also considered a rotating drum as the compost is made much more quickly by that method - had you thought of that, Glitzkiss?

Glitzkiss

ghp wrote: »

Looks good to me - I've just ordered two of the Komp 800. I've got wooden slatted ones just now, but I've had them for a while and they're starting to compost themselves! It's also impossible to remove the slats to get to the compost at the bottom, whereas the Komps (and the Ecomaxes from the same source) look as if the compost will be able to be removed easily - the whole of the front opens up on the Komps by the looks of it.

Great prices for all of them!

I also considered a rotating drum as the compost is made much more quickly by that method - had you thought of that, Glitzkiss?

I did consider the tumbler method as that's what my parents use with great success however I've yet to find one under £70 and I can't afford to spend that much :eek: I think I'll start with the Komp and see how I get on