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Effective use of compost bin

Garden noobGarden noob Posts: 260
in Tools and techniques
We've been struggling on with one compost bin, but recently managed to free up a bit of space for a second one in a difficult-to-access part of the garden. We'll continue to use the original compost bin as normal, but on the days we generate a lot of garden waste it'll go in the new compost bin.

I've read that worms prefer kitchen waste over garden waste. Should I add kitchen waste to the new compost if I want it to work efficiently? It's a bit off faff to do so, but I might be prepared to do it if it will accelerate the composting process.
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  • Holly 3Holly 3 Posts: 36
    edited March 2018
    I heard they don’t like onions?
    rest should b fine as long as it’s mixes well so it don’t go all slimy lol
  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904
    As Holly says, as long as you have a good mix of "brown" and "green" it should work away ok.
    If you put a great dollop of grass cuttings in, for example, you'll get a slimey mess but if you mix it up with prunings and dryish trimmings, it'll be fine.
    Uncooked household waste can then go wherever is convenient.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    worms don't like onions as Holly says,and nor do they like citrus . If you want to encourage worms, they need " bedding" too, shredded newspaper / junkmail works well for that. 
    I'd avoid anything meat based in your bin when adding kitchen waste.
    Devon.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I have shedloads of citrus and onions and my worms seem happy as Larry. They adore book paste, so any old paperbacks you no longer need - whack them in.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    ah well, we'll agree to disagree.
    Devon.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=726 

    • Any raw vegetables, except for onions, shallots, leeks and garlic that are best used in small amounts or cooked first
    • Any cooked vegetables
    • All fruit, except citrus peel, which needs to be limited or preferably cooked before adding
    Devon.
  • paul_in_surreypaul_in_surrey Posts: 239
    Oh no, I've put loads of orange peel and onion skins in our composter. Do you think this just means wormeries or does it also affect general composters? Also, what do you think it means by cooking? Should we just boil them for a few minutes - as that's pretty much the only cooking method I've mastered?
    “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    i would break anything down as small as you can gets it, shredding paper and chipping woody stuff works best, smaller the possible as worms only have little mouths, bake eggshells in the oven as that makes them break down nice and small and it helps the worms breakdown material as they eat the shells and use it to break material down in their stomachs
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    We put onion skins and citrus skins in our compost heaps and it doesn't seem to have any detrimental effects - not loads at once, and we don't eat a lot of citrus anyway. But, as per Hosta's link above, I wouldn't put them in a wormery.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    onions and citrus go into my compost bins, but not into the wormery. I have plenty of worms in my compost bins, but I suppose in the more concentrated , worm rich "wormery" onions and citrus are best avoided.
    Devon.
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