Composting

Posts

• GemmaJF Posts: 2,286

  May 2020 edited May 2020

  I'm sure you will get a lot of replies on this one, composting runs from fun to science!
  
  The first thing really for success is having a mix of 'greens' and 'browns'. It is the interaction between the materials that really gets things going. Greens are things like grass clippings, veg waste, browns could be cardboard, hedge clippings or chipped up wood.
  
  Then moisture, not too wet, not too dry.
  
  There are different types of composting too, worm compost, where as it suggests worms do the work, cold compost, where worms and bugs eventually break things down and hot compost, where the mix of greens and browns is ideal and the whole heap warms up very quickly, here the work is mostly done by microbes.
  
  At the start though, we all compost whatever we happen to have, in my experience you don't need a perfect mix (unless you are in a hurry for your compost), everything will eventually compost, just avoid very wet as that can cause a lack of air in the compost, then the decomposition is 'anaerobic' and the result is a slimy goop that isn't great for spreading on the garden.
  
  
  

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• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  May 2020

  If you only have a small garden, I suggest a worm bin. That will take all your peelings and so on from the kitchen, and a small amount of grass cuttings. It depend on what you will have to compost. Lots of grass cuttings and lots of hedge clippings, will need a bigger bin than kitchen trimmings and a few weeds pulled out.
  

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• nick615 Posts: 1,487

  May 2020

  .....or, if you want another take on the subject, 'Vegetable Gardening' by Dr W E Shewell Cooper has an interesting section on composting.  As it's a 1977 book, you'll probably need to look on Amazon etc.
  

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• josusa47 Posts: 3,530

  May 2020

  I had a tiny back yard, shingle over concrete, and it grieved me that I couldn't compost.  Then my mum gave me a splendid birthday present:  a pair of old tall chimneypots.  Clandestine composting!  I found and planted up a couple of large pots that fitted in the tops.  Then all the kitchen scraps, annual weeds and dead flowers went into the chimney pots, one to fill and one to rot.  They made very good compost.

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• young codger Posts: 543

  May 2020

  Is it true that potato peelings should not be composted? It is what I heard years ago, so I don't. May be anetdotal? 

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• JennyJ Posts: 10,576

  May 2020

  I put them in. Sometimes mini potato plants grow from the eyes but they're easy enough to squish up and chuck back into the compost bin.
  

  Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  

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• PurpleRose Posts: 538

  May 2020

  Hi
  
  If you have got the space, I would definitely recommend composting. I have a compost bin which is tucked away at the far end of my garden.
  
  You need to have roughly 50/50 mix of green and brown materials. Green include veg peeling, grass clippings and brown, chipped up wood and cardboard. I don't put weeds in my compost bin but I have heard of people who do.
  
  I get my compost ingredients from my garden, kitchen, work (used tea bags and banana skins from colleagues) and every now and again my friend drops off rabbit bedding to add. 
  
  If it is decomposing correctly, it should smell like what I can only describe as the woods. It has that earthy sweet smell. If it smells off or stagnant there are too many greens in it.
  
  I always put potato peelings in my bin @young codger  when I got my first lot of compost this spring, there were a few peelings which had not quite turned so I popped them back in the top of the bin.
  
  Composting is a subject I can go on and on about. I do not know everything. I have picked up tips off here and made mistakes along the way. If you get into it, composting becomes quite addictive.
  
  
  

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• michaelinretirement Posts: 1

  October 2020

  We have purchased a composting bin where we put our garden waste as well as uncooked fruit and veg trimmings from the kitchen. We also add brown matter, mainly shredded paper and torn-up cardboard boxes. We've been doing this since March but the contents seem to be resisting any temptation to rot. Any tips?

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• josusa47 Posts: 3,530

  October 2020

  Have you tried adding some freshly-voided urine?  Have you tried mixing the contents?  Is it standing on soil, so the worms and other detritivores can get in?

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• parrotfeather* Posts: 188

  October 2020

  And is it wet enough?  With all that paper and card and a dryish summer it may be too dry.  Try tipping it out on to a tarpaulin or something similar, give it a good mix up with a fork (perhaps with some lawn mowings to get it going), water enough to ensure it is moist, put it back in the bin and wait for spring.  Making compost in a small bin is never easy as you can't reach the high temperatures you get in a heap 1 metre cubed or bigger, so regular mixing and turning of the contents is important.  Also, cut up any large or more woody vegetable pieces and prunings. Comfrey leaves are an excellent compost accelerator if you have space for a plant or two.
  

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