[Bailz]

totally new to composting so i am wanting as much advice as possible as i have been given 4 compost bins in the last 2 day lol all info welcome. p.s. please make it idiot proof lol regards bailz

[simonwatson]

Here's a nice link to a method. http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_pf.php

I use multiple bins and the cold heap route myself. Slowly fill the first bin with layers of green and brown. If it's sited onto bare soil, you should get some loads of good creepy crawlies in it in no time. When it's full, leave it for a while and start a new bin. You can turn out the full bin into an empty bin which has the double effect of mixing and aerating it in one go.

You don't say how much space you have. I have about 3000 sq ft of green garden, including about 350 sq ft of veg growing space and I never manage to fill a 200 litre bin over the course of a summer. This includes putting all the food waste from the house in too.

[Trillium]

I highly recommend you put down sheets of weldmesh below the bins first if they're the open bottom dalek types. This will help minimize vermin getting in and taking up permanent residence and buffet privileges.

There are a lot of google articles and even you tube clips on good composting. 

[solway cropper]

I have 2 daleks, a big open heap and 2 leaf mould cages, all of which are usually full by late autumn and I've still run out of compost 

They're easy to fill if you put paper/cardboard and lawn mowings in.

[fatcat1955]

Idiot proof advice = anything that has lived except cooked meats. all in moderate amounts include wool , contents of the hoover, plant matter , veg peelings etc etc.

[BabyStar]

I am new to composting too. Have got a plastic compost bin and have also built a wooden one. Just wondered with the bin, it didn't come with a base (although I could've bought one) but should it be air tight? I mean either placed fully on soil or a slab? I only ask as it currently resides half on and half off a slab which I'm not convinced is going to do the job?!
Sorry to invade your post by the way but thought it all in the same topic!

[Kristen]

Compost heap straight on to bare earth is best. Worms et al will come up into the heap and help work the compost.

Definitely should not be air tight - but in firm contact with the ground is OK. Wooden ones usually have an air-gap between the boards. The composting process needs air (so called Aerobic composting, otherwise you get a slimy mess which is Anaerobic composting - often found in piles of grass clippings that the air can't get into)

However, its a bit of a trade off because if you can keep the heat in the process will go more quickly. The hotter it is the more bugs and weed seeds will be killed too (but generally speaking domestic compost heaps don't get that hot). The black plastic of Daleks can help, as they get hot in the sun anyway.

Turning the heap occasionally gets air into it, as does mixing the materials some large/rough, some smaller, so that air is trapped between them

Pee on it too. Best compost heap accelerator going lots of Nitrogen which then gets the bugs cracking.

And cover the heap - to stop it becoming too wet due to heavy rain, and to keep some heat in. If the heap dries out to much then you will need to add water (but see "Pee on it above I pee on mine most days, and that's all the moisture they need).

[BabyStar]

Lol, not sure what the neighbours would think it they see me sat on top of the dalek going for a wee!

[compostqueen]

I turned out a full dalek bin of compost on the plot yesterday, which is always a pleasurable job. It's fabulous when it's fully "cooked" and ready to go. Mine had loads of eggshells in it which should be good for deterring slugs!  I was using it to top dress a raised bed which I wanted to use for sowing seeds so I sieved it and chucked the bigger stuff back into the now empty bin.  I incorporated the compost with the bin with the soil on the bed so it had plenty of oomph 

I always add a good mix of stuff, and not too much at once, I lay comfrey leaves on top of each addition. Lady water is the magic ingredient but I hear tell that man wee is best    I turn mine when I feel like it but in the mean time I poke it with a long stick to get some air into it    I do have a life aside from making compost 

[SkipRat]

Lady water is the magic ingredient but I hear tell that man wee is best    

I also beleive that Manly water be a far superior water, due to the fact its all the ales we is drinking in the summers you see,s. You see it may be very nice for you,s women folk drinking your fancy dandy wines an pimms sort of liquids in the hot summer sun. but its not got the goodness of a fine ale. Then of course theirs the quantities that yous women drink, a few glasses of Vino callapso is never going to compete with the pints an pints of the good stuff, its all a matter of quantities you see,s, the more goes in, the more comes out. Recon the best thing yous girls can do is take your men folk to the local drinking house and learns from them, I,m sure if you learns to supp a few pints with em (at your expense of course) then it will put you on a much farer footing in the compostin stakes. Cheerio all.

[mumofstig]

 

[shokkyy]

I've got 6 daleks and 2 big wooden compost bins, plus a leaf mould cage and numerous bags full of leaves rotting. It's a half acre garden, and the bins get the grass mowings as well as household waste. All of them are always full

[mumofstig]

I should hope so with a big garden like that!

It's not so easy with a postage stamp sized garden, though, even after recruiting the neighbours help 

[shokkyy]

Yeah, but I keep getting more and more bins because there's no space, and we're going to end up with a garden full of compost bins at this rate

[r2d2]

i have been peeing in mine, that with alot of duck poo it is really rotting down well,