"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...
OK .. try to do the right things have a large purpose bought compost
container ... put all the right mix of stuff it it, lid kept on.
Occasional addition of Garotta,
Good mix of peelings, trimmings, coffee grounds, some grass cuttings,
leaves, splash of urine etc.

No cooked food scraps or meats.

Output is always disappointing ... seems to be lots of non rotted material
even after 3 or 4 years.
I do turn it fully annually.
For example the eggs shells & tea bags don't seem to rot, and when I put
any of the compost on the garden SWMBO complain it looks like fly tipping
has taken place.

Can't say I'm a composting expert but when I was a school kid of about 10 or
12, for reasons I simply can't remember, I decided to make a compost heap. I
found a couple of old fence panels lying around and using an existing fence
as one side I just tied these together with string to make a rough bin about
6 feet square at the back of the garden. I then went bonkers in the field
behind the house cutting down nettles with dad's scythe. Lawn clippings and
some other stuff went in but that was about it. I didn't turn it, cover it
over or mess about with it it any way after that. Within a few months the
whole lot had turned into this wonderful friable dark brown loam. When the
school started a vegetable growing project I sold the lot to them for 50p a
bag. I think that was my first, and probably last, burst of entrepreneurial
spirit.

Key ingredients I think are lots of air and lots of heat so the bigger the
pile the quicker it rots. Plastic bins with no holes in them keep both the
air and the worms out which is bad n'kay. Just cobble something together out
of scraps of wood on the bare soil so the wormies can get in. Supposedly if
you get it right you can have compost in under 2 months. If you get it wrong
you just end up with smelly mulch. No air, no heat and no wormies = smelly
mulch. I think that about sums up where you've got to.

Trying to make compost in a sealed plastic bin seems utterly pointless to me
which is why I can't understand the local council selling them so
feverishly.

With hindsight I think nettles were an ideal choice because they contain
lots of nitrogen but most plant material will do if you fill the heap in one
go so it can start getting hot.

Round our way we have green wheelie bins for garden waste which most people
fill to the brim every two weeks. I'm sure if you just made a large wooden
compost heap with plenty of side ventilation i.e. planks a couple of inches
apart and asked the neighbours if you could take their wheelie bins before
the council do you could fill a huge heap with stuff and get perfect compost
out of it a few weeks or at most months later. On a small scale it takes
longer and the no heat route can take years. Basically it's just a matter of
understanding the process. Heat and air let aerobic microbes start to break
down the cellulose of the plant material. Once they've done their bit the
wormies eat what's left and poop it out as compost. If the wormies can get
in and out as they please they'll stay away while it's too hot, or just
nibble away at the edges and come back in when the time's right. If you then
leave things a bit longer so there's nothing left to eat the wormies bugger
off and what you have left is worm free compost. Then you start another
pile.
--
Dave Baker