Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Home-made compost

BigladBiglad Posts: 3,265
in Fruit & veg
I've had a compost bin for several years. Initially I didn't have a clue so put any food waste in there. I've become slightly more discerning so it now consists of fruit and veg - peppers, cucumber, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, celery, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, etc. Just wondering how the resulting compost would compare with shop bought multi-purpose composts? Any tips on what goes into making a good compost?
East Lancs
«13

Posts

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Hi - some soil, some sand ....
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • PlashingPlashing Posts: 328
    I put crunched up newspapers,cardboard pruning's,all my veg peelings, you want a mixture of greens and browns to make good compost,I sometimes put the compost from last years pots I have been growing tomatoes/peppers in.
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    Shop bought compost is mix of just about anything that is plant material, produced on a mass scale it means the heaps produce huge amounts of heat to hugely speed the process. I put absolutely everything that my house and garden produces into my heap, all food waste cooked or raw goes in, dairy and fats too. Thing is I treat mine like an industrial set up with a high labour input and high quantity output. I'm not so helpful with advice on smaller scale stuff
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Shop bought, multi purpose compost is a growing medium to use for planting up  , home made "compost" is a soil conditioner which is NOT recommended for planting up.
      
    It can certainly be added to "potting compost" to bulk it up, or used in the base of a very large pot before topping up with multi purpose compost, but it's likely to contain some un-rotted weed seeds. 
    Devon.
  • DevonianDevonian Posts: 176
    @mattpope5 most important thing to remember is getting a good mix of nitrogen or greens (grass clippings, shredded fresh plant stems and leaves etc) and carbon or browns (shredded twigs and branches, card, paper etc). 50:50 is the recommended ratio.

    And turn it frequently too. Monty Don has some helpful advice on gardeners world site.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    As @Hostafan1 has explained, there is a big difference between ‘potting  compost’  which is a growing medium that you buy to plant into  and ‘garden compost’ which you make in your compost heap/bin. 

    While well-made ‘garden compost’ is a constituent of a good planting medium it is not suitable to plant directly into without the addition of the correct ratios of other mediums, depending on the seeds/plants involved. 

    This gives more information http://www.farminmypocket.co.uk/healthy-soil/compost/compost-potting-soil

    Well-made garden compost can be used as it is for mulching, but be aware that unless your compost has reached quite high temperatures or you have been rigorous about what you have and have not composted, it may contain weed seeds etc. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • PurpleRosePurpleRose Posts: 538
    Hi

    There is a method to composting. You need roughly a 50/50 mix of green and browns, both veg clippings, tea leave, coffee grounds, dead headed plants and brown, shredded twigs, cardboard/newspaper. I compost on a small scale wo turn the heap approximately every 2 weeks.

    I do not use my home compost for potting plants, growing seeds. It is a different consistency to shop bought compost. I use it for mulching my p,ants (the roses particularly like it), when planting plants, I put it at the bottom of the hole before I place the plant in it and then fill the hole and I put it on the top of my outdoor plant pots.

    I do not put weeds in my compost bin. Some people do but I worry about the weed seeds. My garden was very neglected when I bought my home and we have some well established monster weeds with probably extra strength seeds which I do not want to encourage 🤣🤣
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited July 2020
    I put raw fruit/veg waste in mine, as well as teabags, crushed eggshells, dead bits off houseplants, most weeds, hedge and plant trimmings including dead flower heads, grass clippings, shredded shrub/tree prunings, brown cardboard torn up if I have too much grass and not enough shreddings. This year I've started putting in vacuum cleaner emptyings after someone on here said you could but the jury's still out on how well it rots down.
    Thick weed roots, obvious ripe seed heads, anything obviously diseased, badly thorny stuff like brambles, prunings too thick for my shredder and the occasional small amount of woody stuff that I can't be bothered to get the shredder out for go in the council green bin for industrial shredding and composting.
    My compost does contain seeds (there's a small tomato plant coming up in one of my rose containers) but the results  are easy enough to pull up and throw back in the compost bin. I'd rather have as much compost as I can make than worry about weeds, which will come in anyway from neighbours' gardens, council's uncut verges, birds' bums etc.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • PurpleRosePurpleRose Posts: 538
    @JennyJ I empty my Hoover contents into my compost bin. It does seem to rot down. I turn my heap though so it could be the mixing that helps it
  • thrxvsthrxvs Posts: 32
    I am surprised to read that home made garden or allotment compost is considered unsuitable for planting directly into, since this is exactly what I've been using this year with the best results I've ever had... tomatoes, peppers, okra, aubergines, cucumbers, they love it.
    The set up is I have a compost pile around 3 x 3 metres and around 1.5 metres high, this contains everything our full sized allotment produces with the exception of perennial weed roots or parts of the weed that are likely to easily reproduce, these go into a separate area without light to break down. Think all the hedge clippings, leaf mould, cut grass, veg and fruit plants and clippings, small tree branches cut down for bulk, comfrey and nettle plants plus home made nettle and comfrey juice. It all goes in there. There is no household produce in there, it is only what has been produced in the allotment. Takes around 12 months from start to finish and on turning it there are plenty of bugs in there doing there work. Do not underestimate the amount of raw material that you will need for the finished product but I see no problem with using this product to plant directly, it certainly worked well for us!
Sign In or Register to comment.