The Compost bin is working!!!

[Zak33]

Lo dudes.

Last year I got a Composter for my garden I didn't really understand just HOW MUCH green food waste I would put in it...but let me share

I have a typical Ice Cream Tub sized box in my kitchen, and I put peelings, cores, skins, leeks tops, stalks etc in it. When it's full, I take it out to my garden and whack it in the composter.

The composter is the size of a proper black household waste dustbin, but upside down, with a removeable lid. It's open at the bottom, and every now and then I give it a monster mix with a garden fork, to mix the soil frm the garden and the fod waste.

NO MEAT goes in it. Just green stuff. From my kitchen. Sometimes I put the contents of a lawn mow, but not often....grass goes sludgy. Dead flowers, when Sair's lucky enough to gettem

So....from spring last year, I have used the composter. It's partly hidden by a bush, but must be in sunlight, to warm it and speed along the decay. Lid on, all year round, to keep the warmth in.

I empty this plastic tub from my kitchen 3 or 4 times per week, And I chop all the vegetable matter up fairly well, so this tub is FULL when I empty it. 3 or 4 times per week. That's a LOT of stalks, skins, rinds, roots etc. And we don't waste much I cook with everything and never ever peel spuds as I like skins, even in mash.

So, 10 months, 3-4 times per week, makes about 14 times per month, and that's 140 tubs of greens.

The composter is only 1/4 full and it's rotting well, doesn't smell (except of woodlands) and my wheelie bin for collection is NOTEABLY emptier.


and by summer I'll have some compost for my garden

Ihave to say....if you've got room for one, and you like a bit of veg/flower growing you should get one.

Plus...if you're a fisherman, the WORMS in it are excellent bait

[Funkstar]

What are things you should avoid putting in a composter?

I've always wondered about tea bags and use filter coffee papers with coffee.

It's organic waste (ok, with some processed paper), but how well does it decompose? or does it not?

[Zak33]

well....good question

I DID put teabags in...but they weren;t rotting.

Turns out they're made with bleached paper, and the bacteria can't eat them up

Not tried filter papers ...

but the coffee grinds and tea leaves..YES...they rot fantastically

[Behemoth]

We were doing this, then the thing got blown over, and well nobody as gone out to put the thing upright yet.

[SilentDeath]

reminds me of a website I saw where someone hid a quantity of raw beef in a garden and then let it rot. I cant imagine how horrible it must have smelt, think they left it a few weeks in summer.

[Behemoth]

reminds me of a website I saw where someone hid a quantity of raw beef in a garden and then let it rot. I cant imagine how horrible it must have smelt, think they left it a few weeks in summer.

All we need to know is that it smelt bad !

[Funkstar]

Thanks for that Zak.

I don't have a garden, so no point in having a composter. But when my parents finally get round to getting one I'll probably save up my green waste and take it up there.

I can see what you mean about tea bags, filter papers are brown and unbleached so they should be fine.

[Splash]

I live in a flat, and the communal "garden" is little more than a lawn, a hedge and a few flowers but I bought a composter last year in a an attempt to landfill a lot less stuff. We recycle all we can, and compost a surprising amount. The breakdown of waste is surprisingly fast, too.

There's a guy that comes round to take care of the flowers and everything, and he seems grateful, as do the others who live in the flats as it's kinda turned into a communal composter.

All in all it's got to be a good thing.

[dangel]

I'd like to do it but i've got a stream at the bottom of my garden, and therefore asbo rats who'd really appreciate being fed regularly..

[capt_cornflake]

We put loo roll inards in as well which rot down nicely and add a bit of texture (particularly if we've put grass clippings in recently).
I stick tea bags in and not noticed a problem (but we tend to use clipper teabags which use unbleached paper).

Just moved into a new house and the composter was about 1/4 full of nothing but grass clippings (nice). I suspect it may take a while before we can get anything other than sludge out of it...

[Mrs Dak]

I was composting at home until I went out to the bin one day, lifted the lid, and a rat scrambled up the inside and peered at me Is possibly the quickest I have ever moved Got Dak to empty bin and going to try again up the allotment.

[mycarsavw]

Been doing this for yeeears and couldn't agree more.

Egg shells compost too for what its worth as do grass cuttings toast and cereal

[Zak33]

good point...my egg shells are all in there too

the coolest thing is how fast it rots down to a fraction of it's size...so while this lot would have filled many wheelie bins, it's not that big anymore AND it's not in land fill, in tesco bags.... it's gonna be in my veg patch

[Zak33]

We put loo roll inards in as well which rot down nicely and add a bit of texture (particularly if we've put grass clippings in recently).
I stick tea bags in and not noticed a problem (but we tend to use clipper teabags which use unbleached paper).

Just moved into a new house and the composter was about 1/4 full of nothing but grass clippings (nice). I suspect it may take a while before we can get anything other than sludge out of it...

tbh, I'd dig out the grass sludge and get it mixed with some soil fast, cos if you leave it, it won't do anything for a long long time.

Loo rolls tubes...good point, except they get used to start my fire

[Zak33]

We were doing this, then the thing got blown over, and well nobody as gone out to put the thing upright yet.

I dug mine in a bit, altough not a lot, so I can still get to the sliding door at the bottom..and mouinded up soil around the rest of the thing, so it's very stable.

Was worried the cat would knock it down while chasing enemies out of his garden...he hits stuff hard, at full tilt, and would knock it over otherwise.

[capt_cornflake]

tbh, I'd dig out the grass sludge and get it mixed with some soil fast, cos if you leave it, it won't do anything for a long long time.

Checked, and I was thankfully mistaken. Looks like only a few inches of grass clippings, and a nice pill of well rotted compost underneath. A bit of a mix and I'm sure it will be fine.