Compost bin

[woodbloke]

We've had a compost bin for the last four of five years now and always lob all our green and brown stuff (peelings, T bags, egg shells etc) into it. I've also thrown some grass clippings (but not much) and shredded hedged trimmings into it (again not much)
I've never taken anything out the bottom in all that time...but equally, no matter what I chuck in it it's never, ever full. I reckon if I stood there for an hour I could watch the level in the top falling.
So what's going on...is there a 'Danny the Tunnel King' under the bin syphoning off all me lovely black stuff? It's a mystery :? - Rob

 

[Gower]

Was the recipient of a £5 compost bin from the council 3 years ago and like Woodbloke, we've been fastidious in our sorting of waste but far from spreading the garden with the fruits of our labours, a pitiful heap at the bottom after 3 years. I had thought of installing CCTV in order to catch the 'Compost Thief' but Luver says "silly old bugger, go back to your shed" so the mystery goes on. This recycling lark has really caught our imagination though and only a small carrier bag a week goes to landfill, that is if you discount the rumours of what actually happens to the carefully separated
rubbish!
Cheers,
Jim

 

[woodbloke]

a small carrier bag a week goes to landfill
Cheers,
Jim

Jim - same here. You've got the same problem then? Must be a bloody long tunnel then if Wilton and Cardiff are linked by the same compost thief :lol: - rob

 

[Grinding One]

According to the use of composting your suppose to either turn the barrel daily or if its a free standing unit turn the bottom to the top once a month and do not forget to add some dirt to cover the turn...the smell will turn you...people who compost around here have three bins ,install compost in first bin,turn over to second and cover with a lite coating of soil,turn over to third and cover with a lite coating with soil then a week afterward use in garden.
Or you could install worms into your compost and they leave castings(POOP) that stuff will make your garden pop,and you can harvest worms for fishing about a year after installing them.
And remember always keep your compost damp...
Two types of Composting:Barrel with handle to turn 55 gal. size on frame with rollers.It has a door usually on side to put stuff in.Fastest composting there is.
And free standing with walls on three sides fourth side has a 3/4 wall with a hole at bottom for turning.

 

[Gill]

We have a couple of wooden bins which we bought at a discount from the council and we try to alternate a layer of household waste with one of straw, keeping the active bin covered under a piece of old carpet. It took two years of composting our household waste to get enough compost for even one vegetable patch. The bin never seemed to fill!

This year we dug the compost into the vegetable patch, planted a dozen runner beans, and so far this year we've had just shy of 50lbs of produce, not including the beans that have gone towards a multitude of dinners. And the beans are still vigorous! For myself, I'll be happy if I never see another runner bean for a decade.

We have noticed how much the volume of our household waste has shrunk since we started composting and re-cycling. The bins are collected fortnightly but we struggle to fill one land-fill bin bag each month. I cannot recall how many bags we used to fill, but it was much more than that.

Gill

 

[matt]

We have two home-made wooden bins - each about 1m x 1m x 1m. They coped just fine until we got rabbits and started adding their straw etc. Now we have two extra plastic bins and still have to discard some of the rabbit waste to landfill.

 

[Paul Chapman]

So what's going on...

All quite normal, Rob. As the stuff breaks down it reduces in volume. I don't use a bin - just pile it up - and it always breaks down and reduces in height. The longer you leave it, the better it gets.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[SammyQ]

Rob, there's nowt wrong mate; you're just seeing natural settling and void filling thereby as the stuff is 'processed' by bacteria and fungi into smmaller bits (humus). I have two 'Dalek' plastic bins, about 4' high and 2' across each, and I can guarantee 12" to 15" settling once one is brim full and left for three months to work its magic.

Yes, turning the compost is a good idea - I speak as a Biologist of 30 years experience - but NOT once per day!! I turn the completed bin ONCE and then leave the Dalek to get on with it.

Worms, get Tiger worms, BUT DO USE THE SPERATOR AND SUSPEND THE COMPOST/BIN ABOVE SAME - if you want to have any worms left at the end of the day. Black wheely bins, suitably modified, are the canine's wedding tackle when it comes to worms.

I can recommend B&Q or any competent garden centre's 'accelerator' for compost - it is usually a Nitrogen or Phosphate augmentation with "enzymes" thrown in...yeah right...and WHAT organism are the "enzymes" in then? I smell an innoculation of bacterial or fungal spores to kick start things...

The only things that don't come out as dark brown, crumbly, non-smelling excellence are woody twigs and shredded branches. I personally simply chuck 'em back into the next load...they are usually starting to 'spalt' and simply need time for the mycelia (fungus muscle to you) to break 'em up. As stick/twig fragments, they act as structural wotsits inside the heap and allow voids to develop - which enhances drainage and aeration. This permits aerobic bacteria and discourages the nitrogen-nobbling anaerobic lot. Or, you could just burn them and add the "potash" (yup, this is where the name comes from) to the mix?

My strawberries and raspberries are 'normous and prolific this year 'cos I enriched my clay-based, urban, distressed, lino-thin, choclate dust (sorry, soil) with a nuclear attack amount of the first two years Dalek production. Taste? Magnificent!! I dusted under my apple tree too, just sprinkled a few bucket-fulls on top of the soil, starting approximately a yard out from the trunk, where I estimated the root ball started and the crop DEFINITELY improved a year later, as Mr Lumbricus terrestris and his mates incoroporated their free nosh into my laughable soil(?) structure.

I'm not an eco-anything, nor a fastidious gardiner per se, but my Countryman Grandfather's gardening habits made an impression on me and most of it is common sense anyway.

Sam

PS Grinding One? "the smell will turn you"...that AIN'T composting mate. That's fermentation...different ball game,...anaerobic bacteria.... Suspect you've got FAR too much grass in there and are making mock silage.

The soil you add is a good idea and is the bacterial/fungal initial innoculation. There is about the same population of these two in a teaspoonful of soil as there is people in greater Tokyo....

Sam

 

[gwaithcoed]

I have a large compost heap at the top of my garden and keep it covered with an old carpet. Often when I pull back the carpet I find several slow worms.

[/img]

I took it to show to my grandchildren who were staying with us

Sorry I didn't take a photo of it but my hands were rather dirty and I couldn't get to my camera.
The smell they give off is vile and smells like rotting flesh. took many
hand washes before it dissapeared.


Alan

 

[woodbloke]

So what's going on...

All quite normal, Rob. As the stuff breaks down it reduces in volume. I don't use a bin - just pile it up - and it always breaks down and reduces in height. The longer you leave it, the better it gets.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Hi Paul - not convinced :wink: :lol: ...there's somat a nobblin' me compost at the bottom of the bin - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

So what's going on...

All quite normal, Rob. As the stuff breaks down it reduces in volume. I don't use a bin - just pile it up - and it always breaks down and reduces in height. The longer you leave it, the better it gets.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Hi Paul - not convinced :wink: :lol: ...there's somat a nobblin' me compost at the bottom of the bin - Rob

Sometimes animals do burrow their way into compost heaps - probably nice and warm in there. But I doubt that they eat the stuff :? Maybe you garden is on one of those tectonic plates and one day the compost bin will just disappear :? :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Maybe you garden is on one of those tectonic plates and one day the compost bin will just disappear :? :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

...but the compost bin is about 6' from the 'shop door! :shock: :shock: - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

Maybe you garden is on one of those tectonic plates and one day the compost bin will just disappear :? :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

...but the compost bin is about 6' from the 'shop door! :shock: :shock: - Rob

:shock: :shock: Well, if you hear any rumbling noises, grab your tools and run :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Gower]

Rob, obviously the dastardly work of the Anglo Welsh Compost Mafia, the swines!
Thanks for the other informative posts but to give you some idea of the size of my back garden, the composter takes up most of the space.

Had half a day at Westonbirt on Friday showing off my WiZer badge. Didn't meet any Forum members (they could have been avoiding me, come to think of it!) other than Philly, who was busy and Nick Gibbs. I'd hoped to have tried a Veritas Apron Plane but none at the show.
The chainsaw carving was marvellous as usual. So much talent. Did anyone count the wheelbarrows in the Wheelwrights tent, over a 1000 apparently all made from different species. The guy who made them must now be in a straight jacket (hope he isn't a forum member).
Cheers,
Jim :lol:

 

[yo_chuci]

another top tip i've heard is add the contents of your dyson...

there are loadsa organisms etc that are in your carpet and they either feed the heap or become food for the heap...

turning helps speed up process... but i think once a month is enough...

i came to this topic cos i thought someone had built a compost bin lol...

 

[BigShot]

i came to this topic cos i thought someone had built a compost bin lol...

Out of something like Cocobolo no doubt.

 

[dickm]

Don't waste your money on "accelerators". Just make sure your bin isn't in view of the road/neighbours, and p*** into it from time to time!
Composting doesn't work as well up here in the cold North, with cool summers and cold winters. In Milton Keynes, a year's worth of clippings/prunings/veg waste from half an acre would reduce to about a wheelbarrow load of compost in 9 months at most. Now I've still got a more-or-less unchanged pile of moss/grass/stuff that was created in our present garden two years ago...
And given that the last PhD I supervised is now a lecturer specialising in composting, I ought to be doing better!

 

[woodbloke]

Don't waste your money on "accelerators". Just make sure your bin isn't in view of the road/neighbours, and p*** into it from time to time!

I can do that from the step in front of the workshop door...saves going indoors for one :lol:...remember Porridge? :lol: - Rob

 

[SammyQ]

I can do that from the step in front of the workshop door...saves going indoors for one


Having seen Rob's workshop...I distinctly remember a pond to the right as you exit...I am now having profound doubts as to its origin..... :shock: .......

 

[Mailman14]

Woodbloke - I remember Porridge, but I don't get the link to weeing in the compost bin? Did I mis something?

Must admit, have wee-ed in mine a few times. My mum (all of 4'11") said she'd need a step... :roll: