General Chat

composting bin and its not looking very composting i can see last weeks banananana skins and paper, how long does it take ?

Months, years even, to get good compost - depends on size of the bin!

Hi love, i dont have a garden but my Mum says about 6 weeks,


Caz xxx

If you want it to compost quickly buy some Garrota
( not sure on the spelling) from the garden centre,

Val

Have you tried turning it as well .

Hubby says depends on bin and what you put in, normal compost heap that doesnt get hot can take a year before useable.

Make sure you have try and wet in there to help and definitely no cooked food waste cos you dont want Mr Ratty coming for tea


d x

Thanks Mac lol

at least 2 years for a good sized composter, to reach compost stage,,,,has it got any warmth to it,??

go to garen centre and see if you can get some of them little wormy things,,they are better then Grotta,,

thanks warmth only from sun, and its in a spare wheelie bin and a small dust bin, thanks i will be more patient xx

Hubby says put a spot of lime in it and pee in it but think specky already doing that, at our old house hubby used to go in shed at night do the busines then into compost pile.

Woodlice and worms are good if they are in it and watch out for Mr Slowworm he will like it in there.

cant believe I just wrote that word run a mile from them wrigglythings

I have a compost bin and my garden waste, veg peelings etc rot down quite quickly. My bin is roughly size of a wheely bin. I get several lots of compost a year

NB Your bin needs to be on ground NOT sat on concrete or a slab. A layer of grass cuttings will help it heat up and as someone else mentioned some Garrotta will help stuff to break down

Puss

Hubby says needs air from bottom as well as top, wheelie bin will have no air flo unless you have chopped bottom off.

it need air in ,,have you drilled any air holes in the bin,,,?

if you dont layer the stuff in right it will take ages to turn,,,

I have drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of my wheelie bin compost, and put an old washing up bowl under it to catch the overflow.... water that down well and use it when you water with the watering can!

I have really good compost in the spring and then late summer.... but the leaves from all the trees take a bit longer to rot down so I compost those in a separate area. I also have a wormery... and have a tray full every couple of weeks in the summer, but it takes longer in the winter.

It took about a year to get everything going properly though... once it has started, it seems to get quicker... or maybe that is just my imagination.

Love

Daff xxx

ahhhhh thanks we put holes in black one on bottom to encourage worms, thanks guys , just given him is orders to get peeeeeing, lol.

A guy in my local rag this week, The Bucks Free Press died from inhaling fumes from his compost bin!!!! Has anyone ever heard of this before?

yikes ......... yes a way to dispose of specky

didnt he have some kind of fungus growing in his compost? appears he was allergic to it!!

my composting bins gave me lovely compost that took roughly a year to "make"
there was NO air getting in at the bottom and no one peed in it !
i put in grass cuttings, veg peelings egg shells and stuff from the garden including weeds
never had any problems, just lovely rich compost every year :-)

Most important thing is to WATER it - and you need lots of worms. I have 3 wheelie bins full.

I Use those huge tubs that trees are transported in as my compost bins, I have one full and another half full so far with all veg and fruit peelings, except for spuds as my hens have them after I've cooked them. I also rake around in my hen house and roll there poo in the shavings from the floor, I pick it out and add that to the bin, since the end of March my bin is now half full of worms, I don't add much grass to it as I have a lot of lawn and I dont want a stinking mass of rotting grass, all in all I am pleased with how its all working, I cover mine with an old piece of carpet.
Those tree pots have holes in all the way around the bottom, having it in a tub like that does mean I don't get rats and the like especially with live stock in the garden.

Gillie XX

Happy composting Lorraine.