[Eblana]

I spent yesterday afternoon kicking myself for turning off Gardeners World every time Monty approaches his compost bins!!!!

Was up at the plot clearing the greenhouse of the Toms, Cucks etc. etc. and also cleared the flower boarder of Dahlia's (40 of them - have the tubers drying off in the PT), Sweet Pea's and also took all the lower growth off the BS's and had a general clean up.  I now have one bay of the compost bins full to about 5ft high with all the green growth and then I started to think that it probably isn't properly balanced now - do I need to put anything into it to balance it out?

[New shoot]

Too much wet green stuff in one go can just go slimy and not rot properly, like a big mass of lawn clippings together.

At this time of year, I clear into one big bin.  Half the leaves are dying and drying out and the temperatures are lower so everything is working more slowly.  Give it a few weeks and the volume will drop.  You can turn it then and add shredded newspaper or more woody stuff if you think it needs it 

Monty makes it sound more complicated than it needs to be in my view 

[Salmo]

Monty never shows a bin that is not perfect compost. I also suspect that he has a man that does all the turning and mixing.

[arugula]

I spent yesterday afternoon kicking myself for turning off Gardeners World every time Monty approaches his compost bins!!!!

You could watch it on iplayer.... Here's how:

http://geektech.ie/index.php/use-bbc-iplayer-in-ireland-2

[allotmentann]

Cardboard is great brown stuff to add. I collect as much as I can, then leave it by the bins until it rains. Then when the cardboard is soggy it is really easy to tear into  small pieces (for quicker composting).

[JamethielD]

Plenty of time to add and mix, nothing wrong with bunging it all in- some will be woodier - not as if it's a big load of grass.
As said before Monty has a great deal of help. He puffs and pants enough on the show.

Shredded newspapers, cardboard, overwinter veg peelings etc

Once the weather starts to improve, empty it out and mix if you don't have another bin - in the meantime do you know anyone with pet rabbits or hamsters or even chickens? Sometimes people just bin that stuff. Quite tempted to ask my neighbours who don't garden but have a lot of pets.

[starry]

I have a friend who has quite a few rabbits and I always collect her (rabbits)bagged waste great stuff I either put it straight on the beds (not as strong as horse manure) or on my compost heap works a treat,

[solway cropper]

I've never turned a compost heap or bin and always get superb crumbly goodness from mine. The trick is not just to mix the greens and browns but keep plenty of air inside it, thus avoiding anaerobic decomposition. I know turning allows air in but if you throw in cardboard tubes, hedge clippings and branches, etc. that creates enough spaces and what hasn't rotted can just be re-used.

[suedenim]

I have pet rats and have added their bedding to the pile. They have shredded paper for nesting material and recycled paper cat litter pellets for the litter trays. Contrary to popular belief they *do* have bladders and are meticulously clean in their toilet habits. It's mice who don't have bladders. In addition to being free, the other big advantage is that it keeps wild rats away from the heap. Rats are territorial and so they stay away from the bins and the plot if they think it's already occupied...

[angelavdavis]

Monty never shows a bin that is not perfect compost. I also suspect that he has a man that does all the turning and mixing.

Haha, my husband and I always watch him on GW, imagining him finishing each segment and shouting "Staff!" to finish whatever job he starts on camera!!! 

I once met him at a book signing when I worked at Selfridges in London.  He really wasn't a very pleasant person at all and made it clear to all that he didn't want to be there, he was just happy for you to buy his books, just didn't want to have to converse with Joe public.  He was a real snob.

At the same event was Dan Pearson who was very friendly, as was Terence Conran.

[Sideshoot]

Ive got two big bins, one has lots of green waste plus a fair amount of woddy cuttings too from my vine prunings.
My other bin ive been keeping just for chicken waste. Every week i clean out the coop and after a few weeks i have a full wheelie bin full of wood shavings and chicken poo mixed up, i just tip the lot into the chicken heap and give it a fork over to mix it up. Should i mix the two heaps or just carry on with what im doing?

[JamethielD]

Personally I would mix them, as the Urea from the chicken manure will act like an accelerant for the other materials.
Plus the compost can be moved from one bin to the other - mixing does help even if only once.
Also leaves one bin to be filled with fresh material.
I tend to bury new material with older but unfinished compost. If I had Montys line of bins I'd just move the material along the line but I don't so tend to empty the oldest bin into a fresher one leaving me able to remove the good stuff at the bottom and start all over again.

[gavinjconway]

Cardboard is great brown stuff to add. I collect as much as I can, then leave it by the bins until it rains. Then when the cardboard is soggy it is really easy to tear into  small pieces (for quicker composting).

I do exactly the same as you... I get about 5 boxes a week at home from my business so they get flatpacked and dumped on top of the heap to get wet... and they keep the sodden rain out and keep the compost heap warm.. result!!

[gavinjconway]

I have a friend who has quite a few rabbits and I always collect her (rabbits)bagged waste great stuff I either put it straight on the beds (not as strong as horse manure) or on my compost heap works a treat,

Starry- rabbit poo is known as a cold manure so you can add to growing plants and is high in nitrogen so added to sweetcorn is ideal.. I had a magnificent crop of baby corn this year and then the maincrop of sweetcorn was looking so good. (I added a layer of bunny poo and straw mix twice and the plants were really looking good..) Because we had so much rain and no sun it was a bit slow and then was hammered 3 weeks before they were ready by the freak frost in September..

[shokkyy]

It doesn't seem to make any difference what I put into my compost bins, they always seem to take about 2 years to turn into nice compost.  And even though I make sure no stones or sticks are ever put in there, somehow they appear like magic in the nice crumbly compost when I go to use it.