[teflon]

How long does it normally take until compost is ready to use?I mean if i had all the right ingredients to hand, kitchen waste,grass cuttings, cardboard etc; and pile them all into a bin when could it be used?
   

[GrannieAnnie]

the way my Brian does mine at the moment, about 10 years!!!!

He cuts the grass and puts the whole lot in my 3 pallet bins, about 2 ft deep.  then we clean out the chickens, so 2ft of manure and shavings.  then the manure he can't get in the bins, he makes a bonfire and burns them so then we get 2ft of ash.  Takes much longer to rot tat way, so that's how NOT to do it.  I usually just chuck eveything in and after 6 months to  year I have lovely black compost, but someone will come on soon and tell you how to do it PROPERLY!!!!! lol

[Rampant_Weasel]

anything from 6 months to a year, i use 2 one filling and one thats filled and rotting, i try and leave at least a year b4 i use it then its really good stuff
does take a bit of trial and error to get it right tho.

[mumofstig]

Last year was my first with a (dalek) compost bin and it took till the autumn to fill it as the level drops all the time   When i tipped it out in march it was all good to use except for a few woody stems. Wasn't like potting compost quality (like it always is on Gardener's World) but good for digging into the veg beds
But be warned i only got about a quarter binfull out you don't get much out for all that stuff that you put in

[strangerachael]

If you can be bothered to turn it regularly that makes a big difference. Chopping things up really small before adding also speeds things up.