Home Composting Advice

Townie · Home Composting Advice

I'm after a wee bit of advice here, hoping someone can point me in the right direction...

I would like to make my own compost. I'm not sure which bin to go for..

Do I buy the plastic ones from my local council?

Can I make my own up from pallets?

Do they smell?

What about vermin, rats or mice?

I would really like to know if I can compost the following... I have loads of grass cuttings, chicken poo & sawdust, and also rabbit poo and sawdust, can these be successfully composted together?

thanks in advance

p.s. i need to make sure that it's not messy looking as i'm overlooked by my neighbours all our back gardens back onto one anothers.

wildgarlic

Hi Townie

How much space do you want to give over to your compost? There are quite a few options. We got the wooden compost bins from the council but we've got plenty of space. They do smell a wee bit but nothing too bad.

I've got a handy little booklet called Composting For All by Nicky Scott

Townie

I'd have room for 2 or 3 but i guess that's size depending

Julie

Gordon uses dead chest freezers with drainage holes cut in the bottom.They are insulated so get very hot and speed up the process. He layers grass cuttings and fibrous matter with plant waste and household stuff to keep the balance right.

Sassinak

iI don't think I'd fancy digging the finished compost out of the bottom of a chest freezer. I have enough problems reaching a pack of food laid in the bottom lol

Julie

I believe he turns it into an empty one once, and then when it's finished bags it up or uses it.
You could always delegate that sort of job Sass, bribe Philby with something

Use your womanly wiles.

Diana

Don't get the black dalek shaped ones from the council for about £6 - they're rubbish. The slightly more expensive square and hexagonal green ones are really good though.

I'd say make your own out of scrap/recycled wood (ask your local sawmill if they have any rejects stuff - our's do it really cheap). That way you can make the size you need (stakes in the ground then nail on some planks). Make it with a removable front too (I slot in extra planks to the front as the heap grows - makes it easy to remove a plank at a time when you're emptying/turning the heap).

Smooth Hound

i use pallets, ive also got a tatty box with a few of the planks taken out of the top at the end, you get air in from the bottom and it works well, if you have room for 2 all the better, so you can fill one whilst using the other, but not sure how much space you have. each one covers approx 4 ft by 5/7 ft , so if you had 2 that would be about 8ft by 7ft

Pauline · Compost

Rabbit and guinea pig poo can be composted, along with straw and hay and shredded newspaper. Grass cuttings can be composted too but don't put them in big piles as they go slimy.
I started with a Council square compost bin, but quickly filled it up and realised I needed two- one to fill while the other one was composting.

The two I have are great- open topped ones (if they are wet, vermin don't tend to want to use them- I occasionally get a mouse or two, but soak them in spring so they leave).
I usually plant on top of the compost bin which is full and then shift the compost in the spring of the following year.

Lovely seeing it all crumbly and rich, replenishing the earth again.

pete_inthehills

where is master composter when you need him?

As one of his volunteers I can try and give you some advice.

It doesn't really matter what you use to contain the heap, I use pallets but I've also got the black daleks.

What matters is the ingredients. You want a nice mix of greens and browns. Greens provide water and heat and carbon, browns slow it down, dry it out and provide nitrogen. You don't want your heap to get too wet otherwise it'll go anaerobic and then it will smell. But you don't want it too dry either. Greens are grass cuttings, weeds, shoots. Browns are twigs, paper, dried stalks. So you have to balance wet and dry, green and brown but you need air pockets within the heap.

Its a good idea to layer your heap and turn it regularly. It is suggested that you turn it every week, but my heaps only get turned once a month.

I also close down a heap after a while and don't add anything else just to let it all break down. The top bit probably won't compost, but you can always use that to start your next heap.

does that help.

pete
inthehills

Townie

Perfect, thanks everyone...

I'll contact my local council and buy a couple of the hexagonal bins with the lids I think..

So is chicken/rabbit Poo/sawdust and straw classed as brown waste?

Diana

Straw and sawdust - yes

Not sure about the poo - it's high in nitrogen so technically I think it's classed as green waste (but will need watering as will the brown)

Townie

Thanks Diana

mastercomposter · Master Composter - better late than never!!

How did I miss this thread?

Your compost bins no longer come from your local authority - they have all signed up to support the national scheme run by WRAP. Go to wasteawarescotland.org.uk to see the selection of compost bins. If you have large volumes of garden and kitchen waste I would advise the 800 litre KOMP compost bin. Though the smaller ones are quite capable of composting large volumes.
Pete was right (thankfully as he is one of my Master Composter volunteers) - you need to balance out the "green" material - garden waste like grass, or kitchen waste like peelings and fruit, which is full of water, with equal volumes of brown material - such as cardboard, shredded paper, egg boxes etc... If yu don't want to turn the material too often, then add egg boxes (closed - to provide pockets of air), toilet roll tubes, or kitchen roll tubes - all add browns and more importantly air, which the bacteria need to feed off, to break the rest of the material down.

There are other things on the market now, one of the more expensive but effective items is called a green johanna, which takes 2 parts kitchen waste to one part garden waste, and is genuine hot composting. Trouble is, it is expensive at around £100!!

Best of luck with the composting, remember it will take awhile to get the compost.

As a foot note, anyone living in Aberdeen, or Aberdeenshire interested in spreading the composting message, please consider volunteering for the Master Composter Project. You can contact me on my work email mcnorth@tiscali.co.uk

Thanks.

peppercat

Has anyone any experience of rotating bins as I find it very hard to turn my compost and tend never to do it so it takes ages to be usable and still full of weed seeds. An (even more) elderly friend has a rotating drum composter which he reckons gets his compost to a state usable as mulch in 2 weeks - certainly when he opened it to show me steam came forth indicating much more heat than I ever get - and it was very easy to turn, however vastly expensive at well over £200.

mastercomposter · Tumblers

I haven't had personal experience of them, but several of my volunteers have had them. My only concern for them is they can be hard work once full. The best thing about them is you get compost really quickly.

I would say - if you don't want to turn compost - then put lots of egg boxes (closed) and toilet tubes and kitchen roll tubes - as these will provide prockets of air at source. They add "brown" material as well which is good to mix with the greens.

I guess it all boils down to how much work you can do, and how quick you want the compost.

Master Composter (Chris)

Maria

Remember a good post about how to make a great compost tumbler (from buzz lightale i think) will try and find the link for you.

Forget-me-Not · Tumbles and cones

I was thinking of his tumbler too

Did you find it?

Also could I get a green cone at the Sept thing too please MC?

Beth

mastercomposter · Green Cones

Hi,

I am getting forgetful - what Sept thing? I can arrange to get you a green cone - or you could get one from where I would get it from - Aberdeenshire Council. They are still £10 (retail price is around £60). I can get an order form to you, or you can get one from their website.

All the best Chris (Master Composter)

Forget-me-Not · Green cones

Sorry I'm probably getting confused about a different post!!!!

I'll get one from the concil.

Beth

StuP

I believe peeing on the compost is very beneficial too - helps it break down quicker and uses an excellent resource that is most often just flushed away! Of course if you don't want to offend the neighbours then don't pee on it directly - I have a 'special jar' in the garage.

Maidenstone

I use 4 same-sized pallets (ask businesses if they have any spare ones, if they do they are often more than happy to have you take them off their hands) placed in a square either tied at the top and bottom with baler twine or nailed. Just don't put too much squodgy stuff like grass clippings - put those around your fruit bushes as a mulch. I've always had good compost from these pallet bins, like fine soil, and a joy to use.

Home Composting Advice

Compost

Master Composter - better late than never!!

Tumblers

Tumbles and cones

Green Cones

Green cones