What puts you off?

[Sara]

Hi everyone,

Do you make your own compost? I think it's a great way to recycle garden waste, but recently I've spoken to a few people who struggled to get the results they were hoping for. What do you think? Have you had problems with your heap or do you make top quality compost?

Your replies may be edited and published in GYO's October issue.

[Nicos]

We make our own compost.
We never had any success with the barrels you roll to mix the contents- so we went back to the 3 composts made from pallets.

Lots of turning is important, not too much of the same thing, leave out weeds woody twigs and no meat products.

Make sure it's sited in a warmer part of the garden to encourage rotting- and not near your picnic table!!!

[LolaLou]

Hello

When I 'moved' onto my plot a couple of years ago it was a mass of weeds and so overgrown it was all I could do to get the land cleared and into compost heaps. Last year I did get some half decent compost/soil that I used on some beds but the rest needed much longer to compost than I expected. I almost had the heaps under control when earlier this year I had a whole colony of rats move in Luckily our local council were great and put traps down but I've still not been able to access it again yet and to be honest, have really been put off. But I will persist, the weeds/waste have to go somewhere and I like the idea that what doesn't get eaten goes towards providing a good land base for the next crop

[selfraising]

I have 3 types of compost bins. The first works anaerobically i.e. without oxygen, this one gets quite hot and breaks down much quicker than the aerobic one which I have to turn quite regularly. I use these two for garden waste rather than kitchen waste to avoid attracting rats. My third method of composting is a wormery which I mainly use for kitchen waste; the worms are very efficient at breaking it down and produce some lovely rich compost not to mention the worm 'tea' which is an added bonus!

[chris]

I've recently started a heap, and it smells awful. Like rotten fruit/veg..

You can smell it as soon as you go into the garden with the dalek in.

I'm guessing this is down to too much 'green' matter. The only brown matter I've been putting in are egg boxes, and the odd sheet of cardboard from packaging.

That, and not turning it, but I'd read somewhere that if you go grass cuttings, then cardboard in an alternating sandwich then after a year or so you get a lovely peat like substance. We'll see this time next year if it's worked I was actually just browsing the forum to find out what other browns I can put in there.

[Florence Fennel]

I have two daleks and although it's a very slow process, it does work. It is however almost impossible to get the compost out from the "slot" provided at the bottom, so after taking advice on the Vine, I now rock the dalek back and forth until I can lift it off the ground leaving a pile of compost. Any material not yet broken down goes back into the bottom.

[ginger ninger]

I've only been composting for 4 years, I get different results every time, this year I was advised on the vine to move my Dalek into a more sunny position to help speed up the process...it working as well after turning the mixture I'm very pleased with the results so far.

[taff]

I gave up on the dalek method, it just didn't do the trick for me, so now it's the pallet method. The only difference is I don't have a separator in the middle of two 'bins' if that makes sense, I can just turn it form one side to the other without having to raise it high over the middle. I haven't noticed it smelling at all. The only thing that smells back there is the comfrey and nettle bins, but I suppose they'd pretty much mask any smell that there was
I found it worked a lot quicker with a cover on as well. i used to have an old piece of fence panel on top.

[Glutton4...]

I compost everything I possibly can!

Sometimes it gets too wet, other times it is too dry. Sometimes I get rodents living in it, but they soon leave when it gets turned. Either way it stays there until it is usable!

[northepaul]

I have one dalek type bin, its about full up now (after nearly a year) I did have trouble with flies a while back, and after advice from the vine, have been adding dry stuff (newspaper and carboard) which had helped a lot. The stuff doesnt look very composted though!

[mark m]

I have to add, Iv just moved house and it has a composter a he botm of the garden. I looked inside and its full of broken blocks lol. But I will be removing them shortly and be replacing with garden waste for composting..

[Rabidbun]

I tried bokashi bins, but apart from the raised beds (currently full of stuff) I have no soil I could dig them into after fermentation had happened. I filled a large pot with a third garden soil, then bokashi waste, then another third garden soil. This was three months ago and it still hasn't broken down! The smell if you dig in that pot is rancid! :O

I have no room for a compost heap though unfortunately, else I'd try that (and add the bokashi waste most probably).

[Caro]

I have a two heaps, one next to the other. The idea is that only one should ever be filled, and it should be turned into the empty spot to make it easy to turn over.

The problem is that they always both end up being filled and therefore rarely get turned and compost too slowly- I have too much compostable material to compost!?

[ohbeary]

Carro mio, you need a three heap system, made from pallets, fill first bay, fill second bay, turn first bay into third, by the time first bay is filled again, third bay should be ready to dig in, turn second bay into third, turn first bay into second, fill first bay ad infinitum................

[Two_Sheds]

I've recently started a heap, and it smells awful. Like rotten fruit/veg..

You're right, not enough browns. The easiest way to introduce some is to wrap all your veg peelings in a sheet of newspaper, like a chip wrapper

I compost everything I possibly can!... Sometimes I get rodents living in it, but they soon leave when it gets turned.

Me too: even vacuum bag contents. Our pets are vegetarian (parrots & guinea pigs) so their bedding goes in too.
I do get mice on the lotty, but a good watering can in the dalek every now & again makes them move on.

I filled a large pot with a third garden soil, then bokashi waste, then another third garden soil. This was three months ago and it still hasn't broken down! The smell if you dig in that pot is rancid!

That's because there's no oxygen in there to break down that rotting waste. You need to get it all out, turn it over and do it again. Turn, turn, turn, to get oxygen in the mix.

The problem is that they always both end up being filled and therefore rarely get turned and compost too slowly- I have too much compostable material to compost!?

You need more bins then. I have 6 daleks & a pallet bin compost heap: they are all full, but a can of water, a bunch of comfrey leaves or grass clippings and they start to rot down really quickly in the sunshine (they must be warm).