Grow Your Own Magazine

As I have only had my composting bin for 2 weeks now, I am not sure how often you are meant to turn the contents over? At the moment it is half full (I have the black darlek type).

Thanks.

well i dont know for sure. but dad has had a 4 compost bins ffor must be about 15 years now and i never once saw him turning it.
not saying thats the right way to do it though there is probably a better way

It's a good idea to use an aerating device (prodded in and pulled up through the decaying compost) every few days to make sure it mixes and is aerated. This stops it becoming compacted.

I have found that the easiest way to turn a compost heap contained in a dalek type composter is to wait until it is full, then lift off the dalek and put it to one side of the heap. Then shovel the heap back into the dalek making sure that it all gets a good mixing up whilst doing so. Remember that as the weather turns colder the composting process will slow down, so don't worry if you haven't got brilliant compost after only a few months. Given enough time, no matter what we do with our heaps, they'll all rot down to make good compost.

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It is the doom of man, that they forget.

It's not absolutely necessary to turn your compost, it will just cook quicker if you do. It can be a lot of hard work.

I have 3 daleks - I fill them up to the brim, then lift the whole thing off (don't bother with the fiddly little door at the bottom). Move the dalek to new position, then refill with the compost. The top (unrotted bit) will then be at the bottom of the dalek, and you can remove any really good stuff that has already rotted down.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Do as I did today...........drop your gardening knife cutting off the tops of your veg.....let it slide down the composter...........then have to empty the bin to search through the decaying compost.......then refill. Works perfectly!!!!

Hi
I achieve good compost but I dont aerate either. Too much like hard work but I roll up cardboard into tubes and stand them upright in the bin. The stuff goes in around them. This allows air down into the bottom of the bin. They are like air vents. They of course eventually rot down to and add useful carbon to the mix.

I give everything a shifty round with a hoe but not very often. Still has some lovely compost from it, nice and rich

Never turn mine, just water it and it rots faster. I work on a season rota, what I've put in now will be completely rotted by Spring and ready for use. I always position my compost bins on earth too, as this seems to speed up the process.

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

most of my compost over the years has stayed in a pile for a year without being touched, and it's come out lovely,

this year, i've built a bin, been watering it, adding nettle tea, and wee periodically, I've just built a new bin, so once it's painted i'm going to transfer it to the new bin, and hopefully the additives will have done their job

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http://teachy.myminicity.com/env please visit my town and make it better

http://quiz.ravenblack.net/blood.pl?biter=teach_me please sign up to be a vampire, i get 10 pints of blood if you do, and it's fun as well ....... i have an interactive map if anyone wants it.

painted? !
that's posh that is

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

yup wiv real paint ....... .... thing is, they don't make black wood preserver, but i've noticed, if you paint bare wood with gloss paint, it sinks right in, and doesn't need doing as often as wood preserver. and as all the wood in my garden is black ........ seems a shame for the compost bin to miss out

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http://teachy.myminicity.com/env please visit my town and make it better

http://quiz.ravenblack.net/blood.pl?biter=teach_me please sign up to be a vampire, i get 10 pints of blood if you do, and it's fun as well ....... i have an interactive map if anyone wants it.

Wow thanks for all the tips guys. Sorry only just got back online. I can't wait to start using my own compost (whenever that maybe).

Oh, just another question.......... Can you compost Tomato plants? Something in the back of my mind says that you can't.

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Mark

http://blueforgephotography.blogspot.com

I compost mine. The only reason you might not compost is if they are blighted, but we've had other threads on that and the consensus is that even then it's probably all right.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

Brill, that's a job for today then.

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Mark

http://blueforgephotography.blogspot.com

The thing i have learnt from composting is to be patient..
I started composting in my green Johanna composter at the start of summer 2007 and looked in the bin almost every day all summer in the hopes of finding some compost. Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? like a kid.
Alas it does not happen very quickly to start with . I gave it a good turning on Sundays through the summer months just by getting a fork stuck in there and add a watering can full of water into it at the same time or it gets a bit dry.
From about November until march i just left it to do its thing and in early march i turfed it all out of the green Joanna composter, and into a black darlik thingy to finish it off, that left my green one empty for me to start afresh with this years green waste.
2007 compost was looking almost finished by the time i moved it in march 2008, and i started using it in August to top dress around the runner beans.
I have used loads more since an i am chuffed to bits with the quality of it. It's dark and rich and doesn't smell o the rotting vegetation at all! It's gorgeous stuff!!
Today i emptied the last from the black darlik , bagged up about 40ltrs or my home grown compost into old compost bags. I will keep this to fill the runner bean trenches with next spring and for when i plant out the tomatoes too. It's gorgeous stuff and you can just tell by the look an the feel of it that it's far Superior to anything you can buy in the garden center . It might not be perfectly smooth in texture like the stuff you buy but its obvious that it;s much better stuff and you have the added bonus of knowing what has gone into it .
My green Johanna is full now from this years stuff ( though i should be able to squeeze a bit more in) and i can only turn the top third of it now but it's not a problem because the lower stuff is well on it's way to compost an i will just turn the top of it over on a Sunday for the next 6 weeks or so.
In early march i will start the whole process again an turf it all out into the now empty black darlik to finish off, leaving me the green Johanna empty and free for 2009's compost able waste.

I were thinking about leaving the lid off the black darlik next May an planting a squash plant in the top . Might as well have it doing something productive while it is sat there brewing

Wren

trouble with that is, the compost sinks as it rots. Your squash is likely to disappear down inside the Dalek

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Yep I know it's going to take a while for me to see any of my own compost. But as Wren says, at least you know what gone in to it!!

Still, I can't wait to use my own compost ;-)

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Mark

http://blueforgephotography.blogspot.com

Your a party pooper Two sheds..lol. I will show ya, too be sure, too be sure..lol

Wren, How do you think I know that? cos I did it myself

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

We take everything compostable to the lotties and each plot has 3 in a row made from pallets which makes them about a metre cubed.

We fill the right hand one first. When this is totally full (dont forget after a few days the level generally drops a bit) it is turned into the middle bin and the right hand one is once again brought into action. When the right hand one is full again the middle bin is turned into the left hand one and the right hand bin into the middle one.

The left hand bin is then always full of ready to use compost, the middle bin always part composted and the right one always just starting the process.

As mentioned before we compost anything we can including paper and cardboard and find a bin is ready after around 4-6 months. The bins compost quicker if damped down frequently and as Andrewo says, bare earth floors seem to work best.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

I think the bare earth thing is to allow the worms to get in and do their stuff. I have 2 daleks which I fill, and leave. Never turn them, and compost is great when its done. Anything that hasnt rotted down just goes onto my bonfire which in turn goes on my goosegogs.
I put paper and cardboard and seem to find they disappear pretty quickly. I also have a bucket on hand (as I'm not tall enough to "go" straight into my dalek) and find this aids the process.
I have a huge area for horse poo and straw and then a smaller one for the same. The smaller one was filled to the brim with horse poo, and left a year. Then for the second year, as the level was lower I chucked in a butternut squash seed "just to see." Worked a treat. When I get home the stuff in the small bin will then go into the extended raised bed, and the stuff in the big bin will get dumped into the small bin, thus turning it a bit.
I am still like a kid at xmas, looking in as often as I dare. Had a bit of surprise first year though. Wandered down to dalek with a handful of goodies. Took the lid off without a care in the world to drop it in, and almost had a heart attack as what appeared to be a family of snakes all looked at me and prepared to bite me. They were only grass snakes in the end (Ceau Levres they call them round these parts) but made me jump.

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Bob Leponge
I dont live in a pineapple but I am trying to grow one