what do you put in the compost bin

[Two_Sheds]

i read somewhere that only man wee will work on the compost heap..

nonsense. All wee is high in nitrogen.

[ckfe]

good, might have been a bit awkward asking male visitors to pee in a bottle instead of the loo

[NOG]

nonsense. All wee is high in nitrogen.

But Shewee has too much hormones in it..

[Two_Sheds]

But Shewee has too much hormones in it..

too many hormones for what?

[Emmylou]

nonsense. All wee is high in nitrogen.

Maybe the rumour started cos its not so easy for laydees to get the right position on top of the dalek !!

[OllieMartin]

too many hormones for what?

I'm not sure I have the will-power to avoid a million sexist responses.

...something about producing over emotional compost...must restrain myself!

No-one has mentioned ash, is there anything wrong with putting ash in there? I imagined it has similar properties to the dyson contents.

Mine includes:
Ash
Dyson contents
Some grass cuttings
Coffee grounds
Nettles
Fruit and Vegetable kitchen waste
Old tea bags
Torn up egg cartons
Dead, dying or surplus plants, their surrounding potting compost
Old peat pots
Dead flowers from vases around the house
Copious amounts of human wee (I suffer from renal failure, so my urine is high in protien, i can only assume that's good for plants!!)

[ckfe]

can you put fluff out of the tumble dryer in it? i seem to have copious amounts of the stuff!

[Bren In Pots]

can you put fluff out of the tumble dryer in it? i seem to have copious amounts of the stuff!

It can't be that much different to the contents of the hoover bag so I'd add it to the bin.

We use loose tea at home and bags for camping so at the end of the summer I used the left over bags at home and was a bit surprised to see they didn't decompose at all.

[ckfe]

We use loose tea at home and bags for camping so at the end of the summer I used the left over bags at home and was a bit surprised to see they didn't decompose at all.

i think someone on here before said that it's better to tear the bags first.. got to admit i always forget to do it though

[Bren In Pots]

I'll remember that if we've got leftover bags at the end of the summer. thanks

[MagicLady]

Wow - I've not been putting half that stuff in mine. Looks like my bin men will be getting a lot less in my wheelie bin from now on

We've got a Henry vacuum cleaner - can you put the paper bags from that in or would I need to empty the contents into the compost?

[NOG]

No bung them in but give them a watering....some bits are not Bio-degradable but you can take those out when you use the compost.

Buy a wormary and you cam put your food scraps in it and you will have nothing in your bin.

[MagicLady]

Thanks NOG - I've got a wormary on the wish list

[NOG]

There was a thread on here to make one...or if you can get to Richmond the council there are doing the COW for £45.

[solway cropper]

So the answer is you can put just about anything organic in the dalek but be aware that potato peelings often survive decomposition and end up growing again wherever you've spread the compost. Same with tomato seeds. First year after I got the composter I also got tomato plants springing up all over the garden. Ollie mentioned ash but it depends what was burned. Ash from a coal fire is not good but wood ash is fine but you could spread that straight on the garden anyway. If you're a very heavy smoker you might get enough fag ash to make a difference...if you live long enough.