Compost

I am no longer able to turn compost in bin. What is the best way to work it.

 

Easiest solution would be to introduce worms and let them do the turning for you.

 

I have never turned compost.
I just fill the bin add composter and let it go.
I had some great black compost last autumn.
Now the bin is full again and I've only just started lol.

 

I never turn mine either ... I have two bins (black daleks) and when one is full to the top I close it down and use the other one .... this spring I turned out the full bin ( after about a year and half) and pleased to find lovely crumbly black compost !! took a while, but I am pleased with this ... and have now closed down bin number 2 and re-started filling bin no 1 ...

Val

 

So far I've had no luck with composting. I'm clearly doing something wrong.

I've tried a well ventilated bin, in which everything just sat there for over a year and was still very much recognisable afterwards. I've tried a proper compost bin which did better, but after nearly a year again I could still recognise bits. And up my land I have an open heap, which is theoretically large enough to generate and sustain its won heat, which it started to do in winter oddly enough, but then I turned it and it cooled right down and stopped rotting.

I'm thinking of converting my green waste wheelie bin into a composter by drilling some drain holes in the bottom so that excess moisture can escape, while earthworms can get in.

To be honest though, I think my most recent failure is partly due to the severe winter we've just had. I think the cold just got in and killed off all the bacteria, and froze the compost material solid.

 

Hey Clueless, how annoying! What's your mix of green and brown waste like? Are you layering the pile?


I also have a new wheelie bin which I plan to drill to make a compost bin fairly shortly.

You'll need holes up the sides too for ventilation.

 

The bin attempts have been a mix of shredded paper (for the 'browns') and veg peelings, grass clippings etc for the greens.

The big heap was a mix of bracken and grass, which was just loosely piled in Autumn, and then fresh horse poo was added in winter. When we added the horse poo, we moved the heap such that we started with a layer of manure, added about 1ft of the half done compost, then more poo, then more compost etc.

The big heap activated nicely when we added the poo. It actually got hot enough to steam even when the air temperature was sub zero. My dad, who usually knows more than me, suggested we turn the heap. This was while it was freezing outside. I did raise the concern that if we let the cold air in, we'd kill the good bacteria, but he insisted the bacteria would survive, so we turned it. It was that hot that as I was stood on the heap moving it with the fork, I could feel the heat coming right through the soles of my hobnail boots. A week later when I checked it again, I found my reservations were well founded. The heap was cold throughout, and at the last check still hasn't reheated. Still, now we're having warm weather again, maybe the bacteria will start to breed again and get the heap going soon enough.

 

Earthworms won't do the job. You need brandling or tiger worms as they are the ones that feed on veg material (including paper and card). Our bins are currently full of zillions that survived the winter and they are chomping their way through the material we add almost as fast as we add it.

Whenever I remove compost from the worm bins I rescue any worms I find and chuck them onto the 'big heap' where they continue to do their stuff provided I keep the heap covered and moist. The 'big heap' works over a two year cycle, at the end of which I get lovely friable compost having only turned it once.

 

has anyone tried a green joanna? I have one, its a bin which you can add all your food waste to, it is safe from vermin, has a bottom with holes to allow worms but not vermin in. I find it very satisfying to recycle all my waste, however have not discovered how to empty it to get at the compost as its too heavy to turn upside down. I think I'll have to take it apart! i have had it for 2 years and must admit it is only this year that the worms are really accumulating in sufficient numbers to break it down properly. I add all my cardboard to it too.

 

I turn my compost once when I move it from the big heap into bins for the second year of composting. It gets a good mix up then and once it's in the bins I have a stick with two hinged flanges on it which I can push into the compost and as I pull it out again, the flanges open up and brings a load of compost up from the bottom.

I do this periodically when I am feeling energetic but by and large I like the idea that it just sits there doing its own thing without being interfered with too much.

These sticks are available on most gardening websites that I frequent.

Susanna

 

If they are honey bees Armandii, i'm sure these people would "bee" interested.

http://www.cheshire-bka.co.uk/

Have got an iron rod in my compost heap. It was cold at the weekend. Just tried it again & the middle is starting to heat up.

Bacterial activity increases as the weather warms up.

Once it goes nuclear then i've got 2 more dumpy bags nearly full to add to it & then do a "Brian Furner" to it

 

Hmmm this is sounding more complicated my the min, I have just got my splot and was just planning on putting all my green wast in one corner which I have built up from all the turf I had to lift to make my beds so it could magically turn into compost ready for next year - this is obviously no the case lol

 

I'm of the mind, like a few on here, that it's best left alone. I fill a dalek through summer with kitchen waste, grass clippings, newspaper and cardboard and leave it. I may stir it occasionally if it stinks and add a little water if it seems really dry. Come early spring it's perfect for use after clearing the top of winter-added-unrotted stuff, which goes back on the bottom. Mine's in full sun which does help too.
Just have a go, Becks, and see what happens.

I also bed the kids gerbil in a little sawdust and throw all the old toilet rolls and some other cardboard in. He chews them to tiny bits which all goes in the compost weekly. Lovely stuff. Probably even worth buying a gerbil as a shredder!

 

Well I do have 2 Guinea Pigs Ethel & Marge maybe they will help lol well if nothing else it will give the old guy on the site opposite me something to moan about if it all goes wrong he he