String fellow
My personalised version goes something like this, as we don’t have huge access to kitchen waste and obviously harvesting waste (haulms etc) arrive at certain specific times of year, so I have tried this starting last March with reasonable success:
1. Build a 1 cubic metre heap as quickly as possible using horse manure, cardboard (my local garden centre puts all its waste cardboard in skips which I regularly raid) and the first spring cut of grass, turn after 1 month into a second cubic metre area (after it has shrunk rather a lot) and top it up again with horse manure. Leave this for 2 – 3 months exposed to the elements.
2. At this point, start adding this semi-broken down material into the green bins where you deposit kitchen waste, thereby generating layers, and, when they come along, add comfrey leaves, crop waste, a bit of yarrow, some rock dust etc.
3. Refill to the top about 3 times as the composting progresses, then leave it to mature over the winter.
This gives you pretty good compost for the spring 12 months after you started creating it. The remainder of the cubic metre pile which doesn’t end up in a green bin can be used as a ‘grade II’ compost on beds where the crops are less heavy feeders/less fussy. If it goes down in November, then it has the winter to fully decompose as a surface mulch.
I set up a similar system in late summer, starting again to fill green bins in March/April so that we will have compost ready to put on the garden from late September (for the spring cabbage) through to late November (garlic and broad beans).
I must say that the past 2 years, simply putting horse manure as a surface mulch down in late November has worked brilliantly on the rhubarb patch, on the asparagus bed and where potatoes grow.