At last...I can compost!

Have just taken delivery of one of the 'on offer' compost bins, and am very much looking forward to making the lovely brown crumbly compost they always have on the tv gardening programmes! Is it really that easy??!! Have been making my way thro all the threads on the subject here, all useful stuff...but just one first question that comes to mind... is it a good idea to put orange peel in the compost? or is it too acid?? I use a juicer daily , and it was mainly why I wanted to get a compost bin, but a mate suggested that orange peel was not such a god idea. What do the experts amongst you think please?

 

I love composting but am not an expert I put orange peel in not in huge quantities though and it rots all right.We have lots of bananas and I was told they didnt rot down completely but ours do okay. Good luck.

 

I am crazy about composting and our allotments the folks know I will share my money, beer or even my wife, but the compost heap is MINE! I have researched this topic beyond the realms of human sanity - the science and the art form. Compost is about balance and time. Left alone, without turning as suggested on TV gardening shows, a balanced heap will completely rot down in twelve months. Sure if you are a MacDonalds fan you can hurry the process along. But why? Take a peek at www.plotkeeping.talktalk.net especially teh do's and don'ts. Anything that lived can be composted. If you want to add material that will attract flies (fish) or vermine the heap needs expert management to keep them at bay and is best avoided. The balance you are looking for is brown to green to moisture. Don't worry though because you know when you've got it wrong. When the heap is maturing it will stink and go slimy if there is too little brown/too much water. If acidity wories you add some egg shells - the lime will balance it out. Play around with the contents and observe, you will soon get a feel for what works. Leave the gardening shows where they belong and think outside the box. Poor Monty will be humping and heaving himself into a sweat turning his heap every fortnight. Meanwhile I will be leaning on my spade grinning like a buffoon whilst nature takes the strain for me. Oh by the way I have two heaps: an active heap and a mature heap, obviously they are alternated.

 

A friend has several heaps - and her best comprised almost soley of guinea pig bedding and orange peel! It smelled divine (though definitely orangey) - and the worms were the biggest I've seen!

I totally agree with the above - don't forget the brown stuff!