Compost bins, how many do you have?

[4390evans]

Ive got 3 atm and each is overflowing! I think I will need to get another one soon...
How many do you have? I know on lotties you prob have heaps but my garden is not big enough to have one tucked away.

[Nannysally99]

Just the one in our garden

[Bigmallly]

I have a 3 pallet bin setup & find that is 2 too many..............

[WendyC]

Three at home and three at the allotment.

[alldigging]

I've got erm three in the garden and one in pieces.
Only got two pallet bays on the allotment.

[Root66]

3 active bins and 2 waiting. 1 pallet bin (mainly for storing manure)
I filled one until it was at the top and then started a 2nd. When the 2nd was at the top i went back and filled the 1st where it had dropped. Now i will leave the 1st until it's ready to use on the garden, checking it occasionally to make sure it's not too dry or wet and spiking some air holes.
I just repeated the process, filling one at a time with the correct green/brown balance and topping up the previous bin where it inevitably drops 6 inches or so.

[Jungle Jane]

I just have one. If I have a lot of prunings (neighbours ivy that loves to flourish over my side of the fence) I put all that in the council bin-neighbours stuff could have been sprayed with something,so I don't put any of that in my compost bin. Most of my prunings & annuals get chopped & dropped over the soil as a mulch around shrubs & rots down there. If space is limited for another bin,you could dig a trench in the ground & fill that with your compostable stuff,careful with potato peelings though. It will all rot down & add nutrients,pet hair & Hoover contents can be added too.

[roitelet]

7 x meter cubes at the moment but using the chop and drop method they will probably reduce.

[PyreneesPlot]

Three big pallet-built bins (currently one resting, one filling and one empty apart from some stored dry stuff for adding). All three can often be full at critical times of the year.

Plus two useless daleks with leaves and a massive pile of manure that is creeping up the garden as I add to one end and take from the other.

I confess that I love making compost as much as watching plants grew. Bit odd

[Aberdeenplotter]

I have a 3 pallet bin setup & find that is 2 too many..............

Like Mally, I have a three bin set up and only use one for purpose. Having said that, I turn one out into one of the empty ones at least twice during the season and then turn it out of the containers into a heap ready to use . I have flowerpots, posts etc sitting in the unused ones.

[bearded bloke]

3 daleks, 1 for household & garden waste, 2 for long term donkey poo rotting + one experimental blue barrel with a grid partway up that I'm trying to make tea from kitchen waste in.

[4390evans]

I confess that I love making compost as much as watching plants grew. Bit odd

Yeah my b; does too. He composts everything, he loves the idea of it going back into the ground.

[Bill Door]

Hi 4390evans

It sounds as if you have a problem.

Either you are a brilliant composter and don't have enough bins

or you are a brilliant composter that is missing a step in the process.

You will probably find that if you take all the bins off their respective piles about 50% of each pile has composted down enough.

I usually turn each bin about once every two months and leave the bottom portion open to the elements. The top portion is turned into the bin and the next bins contents forked on top of it. and then the next bin is emptied and the contents forked into the first or second bin.

The composted material is left where it is until I need it.

I have two large and one small plastic bins and they are more than adequate. I have enough space to take nettles from the footpaths close by to supplement the weeds and green waste from the kitchen. By the way make sure you transfer the worms from each pile, As you dig in you will see the portion where the worms reside.

Good luck with the compost and enjoy your gardening.

Bill

[bario1]

I have two plastic ones atm, and they are full - I also bought two more off Gumtree recently, but haven't had the time to site them. I have piles and bags of compostable stuff (seaweed, spent cat litter, chicken manure, cardboard and piles of dead weeds etc) ready to get mixed with the contents of the full ones and redistributed into the four once they're up, but it hasn't stopped raining for the last couple of months, so it'll probably have to wait till Spring now... and then I'll have too much else to do etc etc - same old story!

[4390evans]

They get turned about every 3 months, i dont layer though I just show stuff in cos Im lazy
Dont suppost that matters though if they are getting turned?
We compost everything, I think in the spring ill get the bf to dig a ditch and bury it where I will be planting my veg.
One of my compost bins is just a old brown wheelie bin with holes drilled in the bottom and worms added to it.