[TTG]

This has probably been answered before so forgive a newbie asking again. What can be composted? I know grass cuttings, non-invasive weeds, plant cuttings and leaves from root vegetables etc. can be composted. Even eggs I've heard. What else? In particular the food waste we produce. Is it anything that hasn't been cooked? Does that include stale bread or not. Just wondering because I'm into recycling and anything at home and at the allotment that doesn't end up in the tip is good as far as I am concerned.

Anything on the allotment that can't be composted will probably become victim of arson. The ash from fires is good for plant growth I believe. It is high in potash if I remember correctly. Just something I once got told about 30 years ago by an old gardener.

[Ice]

Egg cartons, shredded paper etc can also be used.  You need to make layers of wet and dry stuff.  Definately don't put cooked food in though. 

[Christine]

Anything that was once living will compost, but some items are best avoided. Meat, dairy and cooked food can attract vermin and should not be home-composted.

For best results, use a mixture of types of ingredient. The right balance is something learnt by experience, but a rough guide is to use equal amounts by volume of greens and browns
Some things, like grass mowings and soft young weeds, rot quickly. They work as 'activators', getting the composting started, but on their own will decay to a smelly mess.

Older and tougher plant material is slower to rot but gives body to the finished compost - and usually makes up the bulk of a compost heap. Woody items decay very slowly; they are best chopped or shredded first, where appropriate.

Greens?
Comfrey leaves, Nettles, Grass cuttings, Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
Tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds,  Young green weed growth - avoid weeds with seeds, Soft green prunings, Animal manure from herbivores eg cows and horses, Poultry manure and bedding

Browns?
Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes, Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste, Cardboard tubes,   Newspaper, Bedding from vegetarian pets eg rabbits, guinea pigs - hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings,  Tough hedge clippings,  Woody prunings, Old bedding plants, Bracken, Sawdust and wood shavings (well you can if you must) and fallen leaves can be composted but the best use of them is to make leafmould.

Anything else?

[KathyM]

I'd be interested in hearing more views about what pets' beddings can be composted, as I breed fancy rats which are obviously omnivorous and I've been advised that I can compost their cardboard bedding when they're adults as they eat v. low protein as adults (kitten bedding is a no-no I've heard)?

[The Norfolk Turkey]

Kathy, this might help:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=37823.msg503112#msg503112
as it was in a similar vein.
As to what food goes in, its depends how you compost it, you can get big sealed compost barrels that will stop (or at least strongly dissuade) vermin from getting in, anything thats been alive will compost -its only a matter of time!!

[GreenOwl]

You could get a wormery for your cooked food I believe .....

[tode]

I think its all a question of proportion rather than any particular ingredient being "forbidden" (apart from meat, which would probably attract rats etc)
We throw just about everything in, but with all the garden rubbish, the cooked food etc represents a small fraction.
Never worried about cat litter: all the neighbours cats come and relieve themselves in the garden, so compost or garden, not much difference 
Anything that hasnt broken down after 6 months can go on the bonfire.

[mashauk]

I thought cat litter was an absolute no no, at least for compost to be used on fruit & veg?  I always throw mine away in a bin bag, poor bin men!

[mumofstig]

After posting the question on here last year the consensus of opinion was, that,  as the cat uses clay based litter and the poop is scooped as and when necessary, the contents could go in the compost. It was the poo itself that was considered a problem!

When next door's cat uses my garden i remove their presents as well!

[Tattyanne456]

 Did anyone mention teabags, coffee grounds, the contents of the hoover, pet hair etc?

[fekq]

we have a "green joanna" compost bin (cheap from council website) that has a sealed base. we put all our food scraps in, cooked and uncooked, and no probs with rats or mice. mind you, we do have two cats on site...

[tode]

Am just wondering now if I havent made a boo-boo 
We prepared a lot of tomatoes yesterday, and all the raw pips went into the compost. Knowing how resistant the seeds are, maybe we'll be having cherry tomatoes all over the veg patch next year 

[TTG]

Excellent Tode free tomatoes. I guess you can always replant them somewhere more convenient. Mind you from what I learnt from my Granddad's experience any tomatoes that do come through will most probably end up with thicker skins. I think it is a mixture of our climate as most commercially grown varieties are in greenhouses so grow with thin skins just how we all seem to like them but once grown outside, especially in our climate they adapt by growing a thicker skin. Of course that works for us too as how many old fellas on your allotment have that leathery, been outside all the time look?

For some reason you don't get the same tomatoes when you use the pips from shop bought ones. One time a relative was eating what was supposed to be THE most delicious tomatoes on a holiday in Spain. They took a load of the pips and took them home to plant. Outside first then later inside. Kept the pips for a few years I think. The outside ones grew with really thick skins, but did very well despite different climates. He tried in a greenhouse and same thing although not quite as bad. Still, I have to agree that they were great toms. You just had to chew away a bit at the skins. I think he kept on growing them from pips collected. If something is good keep doing it I guess.

[tode]

Mumofstig: how do you go about removing cats' prezzies?
Our cats are educated, and bury their little packets, like a good cat should.

[TTG]

My method is to just remove the cat! Catapult with dried peas works well, much more accurate with practise than just throwing stones. I wonder how many panes of the greenhouse my Grandad lost that way!

Sorry didn't mean it.