This topic contains 16 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by colin 5 years, 5 months ago.
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Check out this book:
It’s brilliant.
Also, see if any local farmers can help you out with cow manure. For example, 110 barrow loads locally here cost £40 – an absolute bargain. Good luck.
In my experience, the best thing to accelerate a compost heap is manure of some kind. Do you have a stables or farm near you? A shovel full of that every time you add all your other stuff should get it moving (and hot). Cardboard and softer brown material would probably rot quicker than wood chip and leaves. Good luck!
Hi Glynn, Do keep one side of your heap either removable or not fixed.
Imagine emptying it out if you do not!
BR
NeilGlyn one more thing, I just saw your helpful photo and the ingredients are all too large & loose, need squashing against each other so that cold air cannot enter, and to retain moisture, and speed breakdown.
When adding, chop/cut/break lumps and long pieces of anything.
As others say, the sides need lining.
By spring, looks unlikely to me unless you are more thorough.hey Glyn I’m also a newcomer and started making compost in spring so have made aLL the mistakes!
1st off was the stuff I put in was way too large so big air pockets and didn’t get hot. I promise you it is well worth chopping things up before they go in rather than doing it when really soggy and have rotted. on the up side once chopped it heated up really well and we had hedge clippings and all sorts in there.
I also got cafe leavings but they tend to be v heavy on egg shells and citrus I popped it all in cos Charlles said its OK but watch out for sticky labels. also cabbage hearts etc left v big. When interspersed with coffee grounds have all done ok. As for brown stuff I lined my pallets with cardboard to insulate and put a cardboard lid on between loads. As the lid got too wet to lift easily I left it as brown matter. General consensus here seems to be leave woodchip out unless they are already pretty well rotted (1-2 years) I plan to use wood chip for paths in early years as like you have ready supply. Also think it may be a good idea to woodchip under hedges as lots of weeds around edge. Seeems to be a concern re woodlice and slugs but will let you know!
on leaves I got really confused with leave mulch/ mould and compost to begin with and there is a brilliant TED talk on composting leaves so look that up. From what I understand then leaves are great as brown matter but only if you shred them 1st (I mow mine) need to get them wet too.
If any of this is wrong I’ll happily be corrected but I’d like to help others avoid my errors.
Oh also found friends rabbit/ guinea pig pet straw and poo was great added. Be a bit careful in case there is a lot of wasted pet food in there though as I imagine it will encourage rats.
see posts on horse manure also i got a big fright but have since collected a huge amount which is sitting rotting happily on its own. Once I’ve checked its AP free I’ll start adding to compost.
one last word of encouragement I got so bamboozled early on but Charles’s advice to look at nature really helped. This stuff all rots down on its own so its hard to do it wrong all we’re trying to do is speed up the process.
I found turning after a month really worked too all that effort we save not digging the ground can be put to good use!
enjoy yourself there is something really wonderful about making new earth!Also forgot to say, get yourself a compost thermometer. Best way to know whats happening and very encouraging when you see it heating up!
Great advice Christine and I am happy to hear of your rapid learning curve, well done.
You have hit the sweet spot of finding it wonderful.Kitchen scraps in compost heaps, for me, have been problematic. (I live in Tasmania – 41 deg. latitude south, almost at sea level, so probably warmer, all year round, compared to most of the UK.)
I have a local population of rats and mice and I don’t have a cat!
I don’t want to feed either of these classes of rodents so my solution is to first put all my kitchen scraps into an old (recycled) refrigerator and freezer chest for compost worms (tigers, red wrigglers) to predigest. (Of course, I have added a drainage hole, and collect the runoff moisture with a bucket. This is diluted 1 to 3 or 4 with water and is used as a liquid manure on my garden.)
I leave the scraps in these “bins” for about a year, so that they lose their rodent appeal. Then the “matured” food scraps are added to horse manure etc. for the final “bake”. I appreciate that this is “double handling”. I figure that this extra effort is worth it to avoid feeding rats and mice.
To these “bins” of food scraps I add occasional cow pats from my neighbour’s farm, and fresh grass clippings. The final volume is probably 70% food scraps and about 15% cow, and about 15% grass clippings. (Approximately.)
If you (and other gardners don’t have a rat or mouse problem) you are very lucky! And I hope your luck continues!
The optimal dimensions for making and curing hot compost are cubic. However, it is easy to write “cubic”, but often very difficult and impractical to keep cubic dimensions.
Note that the volume of the pile after the first turn (a few days after it is turned and allowed to settle down) is usually between 60% and 80% of the original pile’s (original) volume. And after the second turn, it will probably be as little as 50% of the original volume.
Any effort you can make to keep these successive piles, cubic (or nearly so) will be rewarded by a higher quality compost, more broken down, more “mature”.
I have just made a 6 bay compost unit.
When bay 1 has shrunk down can I add it to another bay that has shrunk down although both bays were started at different times.
Yes you can Colin, just means you have a more varied product.
It’s really a question of what kind of compost you want, how decomposed.That’s good to hear Charles, thanks.
Turned 3 bays full of compost yesterday and started another bay, got to say there is some good stuff in there.
A couple of observations from my build which may help others.
I put a roof on to catch water I should have made it 6 inches higher as kept hitting head.
Would have been good to make the dividing walls between bays removable, possible half way up, to make forking from one bay the other easier.
I made my compost bay with remove-able internal walls and it does make it a lot easier to shovel. Also means that as the stuff reduces in size you can make the piles narrower and keep it as “condensed” as possible. I think this is what Kevin means by cubic. I don’t have a roof at present as I’m finding old carpet/ cardboard works pretty well as a lid.
Kevin you were such a help before can I bother you with another question? My old compost manure heaps don’t stay nearly as hot for as long after turning. Is this a sign that it’s ready?
When I’m spreading it over the beds do I need to riddle it? Videos seem to show Charles piling it on then just raking it but I think my compost may be a little lumpy for that. or will the frost take care of lumps?
The compost I made over the summer may still be a little immature but am I better to put it on beds now or leave it in bins to further decompose then spread it in the spring.
Actually I’m house bound with a broken ankle at the moment so wont be doing anything manual til early January is that too late for winter composting? Broken ankle is also the reason I can be an absolute plaque on the forum sorry guys!
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