Rick Hughes wrote:

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Rick Hughes wrote:

"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...


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.



Been Googling everywhere on this ... while you can use an open heap
with loads of air .... this is not effective .. as it simply will not
generate enough heat ... except perhaps in middle.

Golly. You had better tell God that, as the last 10,000 years of leaf
mould cant have rotted into topsoil yet.


The key thing initially is heat ... once it's past first rotting
phase, it can be turned out into a pile and left to mature into
compost, but initial stage needs loads of heat ... and anaerobic.

Still does not explain why mine is so poor though.

I think almost everything I have ever seen written about composting is
basically WRONG. Everybody does it different, and claims their way is
The One True Way.

Organic stuff is broken down by many many sorts of fungi, bacteria,
eaten by worms, shat on by pigeons. ALL it takes is time.

I just threw stuff in a pile and left it a few years. Perfect compost.

The rest is just bollox.


I'm sure that stuff left for years will rot ......... I'm just trying to
find optimum way .... which could speed it up into months.
Compost companies make the stuff in weeks.

Fosters lager is made in days

Vintage brandy takes 20 years.

Go figure ;-)