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What can I add to my open wooden compost bin?
wendyedon49
Posts: 3
Hello. new to composting so need a bit of help. Have recently made a large wooden bin for composting all garden waste. Not much in the way of grass clipping as most of the grass area is wild. Don't want to add any food waste as there has been a rat problem recently with my neighbour. What can I add to help the composting process?
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in the Spring it’s emptied, the top is often uncomposted so I bag it. Then the useable well rotted stuff is bagged. When the bin is empty back in goes the half done stuff and I start again.
it would all work more quickly if I could empty and remix but my back wouldn’t allow that.
A good mix of brown and green is what you want @wendyedon49, as @Bilje has described. The brown stuff is just card/paper/wood shavings etc, and the green is just pretty much any plant material. If you have lots of heavier, twiggy growth from shrubs/trees etc, they're better shredded or chopped up, or used elsewhere in the garden, as they don't break down so easily. It depends on how particular you are about it. It's really just cooked meat/fish that you'd avoid adding. I also avoid the roots of persistent weeds or grass because they can easily survive in a home compost bin.
In dry parts of the country some people have to occasionally add some water, and it can help to keep turning it, just to keep some moisture in there, but if it's quite open, that isn't usually a problem.
If you're adding grass clippings, it can help to add a good layer of brown, and give it a bit of a shoogle to mix it up, as grass clippings can become a solid, sludgy mass which doesn't break down so well. It does depend on how much of that you have though.
The speed at which it breaks down will depend on the site and location and your general conditions. Cold composting is regarded as being better anyway, so if it gets hot and breaks down more quickly, it isn't necessarily a better product - it's just faster.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Scrunch up letters and junk mail rather than shredding, (no one is going to dive in there and read bank statements) will incorporate more air, and turning regulatory, weekly would be good but every two weeks would do.
A base of chicken wire will stop running acts getting in from the bottom but allow worms to crawl in.
I can see the benefits of a lid but would advise against using carpet - chances are it will contain microplastics which will leach into your soil.
Shredded paper goes in, but not large quantities at a time. Most kitchen waste - but no meat.
Soil from plant pots, including the accompanying horticultural grit!!
NO SYCAMORE SEEDS!! I learnt my lesson the hard way. Oh yes, and no tomato seeds.
I do use pieces of old raspberry canes, cut into 1inch lengths, as mulch, but I guess they could be added.
The idea is to try and retain some heat and reasonable moisture @RobinOak. There are limits to what we can and can't do regarding plastics, no matter how hard we try, and the fact that someone is composting should be the focal point here. It's surely about preventing even more stuff just going to landfill, and that's where old bits of carpet would end up too if they weren't re used.
You could put it [carpet] inside plastic bags [more recycling instead of landfill ] and staple it, to act as a reusable lid. I've done a large 'box' to hide my compost bins. The lid is a timber frame, but is lined with old builders' bags, and those are held in place by left over plastic from compost bags and membrane from redoing the driveway.
It's called common sense, which is one of the most ironic sayings in use. Frankly, I'm more concerned about what water companies are allowed to discharge into our waterways and seas, than a bit of carpet on top of a compost bin.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...