Cardboard is fine and very good to add to your compost - I use loads of it. Ideally you want i mix of something like 50/50 green stuff (grass clippings, dead plants etc) and brown stuff (cardboard and prunings in my case). I just put in whatever will work
I did put in some wool socks a few years ago - they still look about the same as they did when I put them in
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
My current batch has some scraps of 100% cotton fabric and thread in it (the tiny buts left from a sewing project that aren't big enough to be worth keeping). I'll look out for them when it comes time for turning. The thing I have noticed doesn't rot down (or not fast enough to have disappeared by the time the rest of the compost is ready to use) is those so-called compostable wrappers that some magazines are delivered in.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
This video below is pretty good. You don't need a pile. You don't need a compost bin. You can use a rubbish bin with drainage holes. You don't need to cut up everything up but the smaller the bits, the quicker it will turn. You don't have to layer or worry too much about proportions. It doesn't need to be hot. Sun/shade doesn't matter. Worms will turn up on their own. Anything made from plants is fine - cotton, tissue, newspaper, books, clothes made from plants, Q-tips.
If the mix gets too wet, add more browns (wood chip, paper, leaves etc). If it's too dry, add more greens - (grass, prunings, kitchen waste).
I have bins and I just turn it all from one bin to another bin once over a few months and that seems to be enough to keep things aerated (but I don't use grass). I used to turn it often but I don't bother any more and it doesn't seem to a big difference in small bins.
Waste to soil cycles can go from about two months to a year or more depending how you run it, what size bin you use, what kind of work you put in and what kind of bin you use.
Don't worry to much - just start and balance out what you end up with.
Yes, I had the same problem with compostable wrappers. It seems that many are compostable only in commercial composting places. Waitrose have Home Compostable bags that I use and have found they disappear within a month or two.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
😁 with the prices now days I might consider that @Fairygirl
I bought about 20 pairs from ebay years ago that were Polish Army surplus, and very reasonably priced. They have lasted so well. It's only the heels that have worn through - so I should have taken more notice when Mum showed me how to darn socks so many years ago
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Cutting clothes up v small can help them break down faster. I put a pair of knee high "woollen socks" into the compost a few years ago and they didn't change at all over years. I concluded I had been sold a pup and the were not woollen at all.
When 'compostable' packaging first appeared (magazine wrapping etc.) I shredded them in a paper shredder to speed up the process. I still see the bits of polythene in my borders....apparently (I think I read it on here) it will only break down in industrial scale heaps, but that wasn't explained on the packaging. I try to keep seeding weeds out, but leaving the grass longer to give the bees access to clover etc. introduces them to some extent.
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Ideally you want i mix of something like 50/50 green stuff (grass clippings, dead plants etc) and brown stuff (cardboard and prunings in my case).
I just put in whatever will work
I did put in some wool socks a few years ago - they still look about the same as they did when I put them in
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It seems that many are compostable only in commercial composting places.
Waitrose have Home Compostable bags that I use and have found they disappear within a month or two.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I bought about 20 pairs from ebay years ago that were Polish Army surplus, and very reasonably priced. They have lasted so well.
It's only the heels that have worn through - so I should have taken more notice when Mum showed me how to darn socks so many years ago
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I still see the bits of polythene in my borders....apparently (I think I read it on here) it will only break down in industrial scale heaps, but that wasn't explained on the packaging.
I try to keep seeding weeds out, but leaving the grass longer to give the bees access to clover etc. introduces them to some extent.