Composting methods

Hi folks

Just wondering what methods of composting are most popular amongst you lot.I'm a head gardener on a thirteen and half acre garden we use an expensive but effective garden tumbler, which produces compost in fourteen days as long as you mix carbon & nitrogen levels corectly and outside temp is @ or above 20 degrees C. This time of year is proving difficult with it as obviously it's no where near that temp at the moment. I should also mention that it is it's first year of use and and mine in using this system. So any tips would be welcomed. But I'm also intrested to hear of other systems that people use and the time scale of turn over with there chosen system. Wormery's are of a particular intrest.

Cheer's Weed puller

[ 26. December 2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: weed puller ]

 

A garden I work in (approx 1 acre) just has three 4ftx4ftx4ft cold heap bins made from palletes and as the first one reduces and fills up it gets transferred from one bin to the next. It's much slower of course and not sterile like hot composting but produces good stuff. Input is a mix of browns and greens including leaves and grass clippings. No accelerators or introduced worms are used but they've been going for a lot of years (before my time) and there's a good mix of natural worms, fungi and insects that do the job.

For compost unfriendly weeds (couch, ground elder, bindweed, tree prunings etc.) there's an area that is getting a 10ft bank built up and leveled. All the junk goes there along with damaged bulbs and other bits an bobs that will naturalise like primroses. I've even got some rose cuttings in there which have rooted quite nicely - I think they like the natural warmth it generates.

With all the holes and hollows it's also a good overwintering spot for wildlife like frogs and hedgehogs. Eventually it will be dosed with Roundup after rescuing any wanted plants and made into a large rockery .

[ 26. December 2005, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

at this time of year the only thing that is going to heat up is traditional dungheap, warm animal manure mixed with straw and new stuff added evry day, kinda difficult to replicate in the garden, in summer you can help composting by turning frequently and keeping the mix balanced, but in my experience the dungheap it the real thing !

 

Cheer's folks
We have an old stationary system as well but the boss is very keen on turning the garden waste over as quickly as she can. Instant gardening here I'm affraid, and was realy just trying to gather up any other practices or methods. Anyone else use a tumberling system?

Weed puller

 

I am most interested in the subject but know nothing about it. All I know is that if you leave old leaves in a black bin bag (watered and with holes)as per Monty Don - they do virtually nothing over a two year period. But the leaves that accumulated between the bags made beautiful compost, over the same period!

My gut feeling is that trying to accelerate the process will succeed but is likely to create more work. If you plant seeds, you let them grow at their own pace. Why not let nature compost at its own rate.

 

Very wise words PeterS. Composting seem's to only have the three types of system, tumberling, traditional boxed in heap, and worms. I supose I should have made this thread more of a Poll than a talking point.

Cheers Weed puller.

 

I have composting worms they are pretty picky about what they eat apparently, not likeing citrus fruits or anything with a strong flavour like garlic. they eat a lot more than their own weight each day and breed. they feed on top their bedding ewhich is hte layer of compost they have made at the bottom of the composting materials you put in and so oyu can keep taking off the bottom layer if you can find an easy way to do it Wiggly Wigglers sell different kinds of bins. They dont like to be over hot and are not frost hardy. I have had mine for four years now and have three bins full - in fact I am coming down worms as they reproduce very easily. I think I must be of a nervous disposition as I worry about them all the time but when I go looking for them they are always fine. I made the second bin myself with an old wheelie bin and putting stones in the bottom and drilling a series of holes just below the surface of the stones to let water out if you put a tap in, got from a home brew centre, you can drain off the liquid for fertiliser then a layer of torn newspaer and a layer of soil of any kind damp it down and put in some brandling worms you haev to start off with just a 2inch layer of compost and build up. It doesn't sound like it fits the bill for you really.Everyone i know who keeps worms gets very fond of them - SAD LOT WE ARE !

 

I'm very fond of my worms, and I worry about them all the time! I think I should go and put them in the shed tonight as it's meant to get really cold.

 

Our two worm bins (normal 'Dalek' bins) have been out in the open for 4 or 5 years without problems. I did have bubble wrap round them for a couple of years in winter, but now don't bother. Unless there is very hard and prolonged frost I think worms should be OK in a big bin.

 

I had a wiggly wigglers wormery 6 or 7 years ago. It got off to a bad start unfortunately, as I kept it indoors the first night, in my kitchen - as was recommended at the time. More than half the worms escaped as I discovered to my horror the next morning...

I had it for maybe 3 years with reasonable success - but i don't think it ever recovered fully. I wrapped it in bubble wrap over winter, kept a watering can under the tap to catch the wealth of worm wee, and worried constantly about them too! I eventually sold it to a friend for her husband's 40th birthday! He was thrilled!

I too can vouch for the lack of action in a bag of leaves. I still have one behind the shed - and have even been known to wee on it from time to time - without success.

I have 3 composters. One open heap behind the shed, and two daleks. I have never tried a tumbler, and only turn my compost twice annually - really just as I'm harvesting the bottom two thirds or so. Butr then I'm not in any hurry. I do compost all my guinea pig bedding, so the heaps are brown more than green - it works really well.

 

how on earth did your worms escape?!

 

I now understand that they can squeeze through remarkably tight spaces - the lid on the wiggler was closed - but they still squeezed out!

I rang WW in distress - as most of them had dried out - every square inch of my kitchen floor was covered in dried out worms, it was really quite upsetting.

They are likely to rise with high pressure apparently - and if rain is due. There wasn't really a good explanation as to their great escape - but most of them came to a horrible end...

 

You've just explained something for me JB. I've often wondered why some days there are more worms at the top of the bins than others. Thanks!

 

I have been following the discusions on composting, I have a couple of "normal heaps" but the tumbling composters sounded interesting, so I thought I'd have a go at making one. I realise not everyone has access to welding facilities but a wooden frame would I think be just as effective. I started loading my new toy 4 days ago will report again in a couple of weeks. Will try a post a photo asp.