Composting again

[Freeranger]

Watching my backlog of Gardeners' World videos, and Monty tells me that garden compost tends to be too green and nitrogen rich because of things like grass cuttings. He said you should chop up brown, woody stems for the carbon to balance it out. OK. Dim question coming up....what if you have lots of brown old dead grass, like a miscanthus-type thingy and lots of dead sedge/rushes? Am I right in thinking they'll have given up their nitrogen and still count as carbon-rich? I'm easily confused!

[Homemade]

Yes. Just think wet and dry mixed really.

[lancashire lass]

the thing with woody bits is that they take a long time to break down and get stuck in the fork/rake LOL, so why not use cardboard and paper (wood pulp) as your brown compost

[Freeranger]

Thanks, both - I can certainly use paper and cardboard, but it seems like a waste to leave the other stuff too. You'd think compost was really simple, but it just never seems to produce that lovely brown crumbly loveliness of the gardening programmes!

[milli]

We find adding shredded newspaper and torn up cardboard helps too if the compost is a bit too wet. Also when I'm peeling veg into my kitchen bin ( that gets taken down to the compost bin when full ) I add any bits of paper towel that have been used and that seems to help with the mix of wet and dry which gives a nice crumbly mix when the compost is ready. My only problem is with teabags, does anyone else find that little bit of left over bag that never compost down really annoying!!

[Luna]

My only problem is with teabags, does anyone else find that little bit of left over bag that never compost down really annoying!!

I thought I was the only one - you are not alone! I find myself scanning the veg beds for those annoying bits of bag that don't decompose.....

[fishpond]

My only problem is with teabags, does anyone else find that little bit of left over bag that never compost down really annoying!!

Apparently most teabags have a small amount of plastic in the paper.

[new2chooks]

Eggshells used to be a problem, but now they are roasted crushed and fed back to the chickens (and the blackbirds, jackdaws, sparrows, wood pigeons, doves, etc, etc).

Potatoes are a problem - they end up sprouting either in the bin or after the contents are spread, as do tomatoes, and even the odd raspberry!! I'm probably not letting it stew enough, but I'm limited for space at Chook Towers.

My composting success rate went stratospheric, once I switched to those open sided wooden ones, though they make a mess as stuff leaks out the sides. I have one 'cooking' and one 'filling', then empty the cooker out after 6 months and switch the filler to cook.

More from 'Composting Today', er, tomorrow..

[Freeranger]

Things sound very organised at Chook Towers. I think the thing I keep procrastinating about most is tipping it out and mixing it up, which would probably make a big difference. I find the odd oxo cube wrapper and things that have been swept up with the peelings, like teaspoons. Shells go back to our girls, and most of the peelings too, but they process them for us and that goes into the compost. At least it will have been hot enough for it in our hilltop retreat for a change, so am hoping for better things this year.

[new2chooks]

Yes - things certainly 'sound' organised!!!

[fabindia]

I am trying three approaches at the moment.

(1) A large green composting bin that the local council provided a few years back. It might be what I put in it, grass clipping, veg peelings from the kitchen, etc., but it does tend to get a bit wet and soaky, even though I do add newspaper and cardboard.

(2) A wood compost bin. I made it myself from a couple of old pallets. I find it work best if I move semi-composted material from (1) above into it, keep it fair moist and turn it over frequently.

(3) A wormery. Early days yet but what I am really trying for is really a worm nursery to breed worms to put into (2) above.

How sad am I - love the idea of composting! I also have a book 'Liquid Gold' about using urine in gardening.

Either way, happy composting everyone.

[Freeranger]

well, you're not as much of an'enthusiast' as some other folk I've met who had a composting loo, and put everything else imaginable in there, such as garden prunings, kitchen waste, floor sweepings, hoover bags, dustpan contents, old clothes (cut up), hairbrush cleanings & trimmings from the hairdressers, dog hair, chicken feathers - anything that wasn't plastic or metal pretty much. Their garden was amazing, and all their composters were the open sided type of either pallet-alike construction or just posts with chicken wire to make a bin. Their garden was amazing.
We have many midges here (eek), but in other places I've sent OH to wee on the compost or into a bucket to use as feed for the peas and tomatoes. People I know use e.g. nettle steepings as sprays against certain pests etc.
I love the idea of all of this and green manures but have never quite got organised and when I have it hasn't worked. Must start again more systematically.

[fabindia]

or just posts with chicken wire to make a bin.

I heard somewhere that this type of set-up is what you need to compost leaves over winter. It means they don't just settle into a soggy mess as air is allowed to circulate.

[Freeranger]

I've never quite understood why, if it works so well with leaves, it isn't the way to do everything else too.

[mariat]

I have 2 bins, one black plastic one from the council, and one I made from pallets. I have a a tub that gets any veg peelings etc., and that gets emptied into the wooden bin when full. I also tear up any unwanted letters and add those for the carbon. The plastic bin rots down faster, but that may be due to the wooden one not being covered. In this weather I need to damp it down often. You can also add urine, it acts a an accelerator.