Compost Bin question....

[Curvy Vixen]

I have a question for you all. Bearing in mind I really am new to gardening I was at a garden show yesterday and am getting turned on to the idea of a dalek style compost bin.

Leaving aside the obvious recycling benefits and fresh home-made compost benefits (which I am already sold on!) are there any drawbacks to having a compost bin?? I've been reading about ants nests and slug b&b's and they are slightly giving me reservations about having one in the garden...

Also, there are only 2 of us in the house and we really don't have many potato and carrot peelings and the like so mostly what would go in would be weeds and grass etc...

If you were me would you still get one???

[Birdie Wife]

Hi CV,

You'd be surprised how much you get through, especially when you add in shelled beans/peas and other veg waste from the garden as well as what's left over from cooking. You can put in shredded newspaper (not glossies), plain brown cardboard, grass clippings... in my house there's only me and OH and I've got three bins!

But if you're still worried you could go for a wormery instead, I think they convert smaller amounts of waste at a faster rate, but someone might correct me on that.

[moggssue]

What sort of timescale are we talking, to turn fresh waste into useable compost? And do you just throw it around the plot before planting? Like you curly vixen I didnt think the two of us would generate enough to make it worthwhile (except grass cuttings and I read somewhere you shouldnt use too much of that?), but there will soon be finished bored bean plants, cauli leaves and the like so I'm beginning to think it might be do-able after all.

[Madasafish]

Before you spend money, your local council may offfer daleks at a discount. I have two: one cost £10 (council), t'other was free (given).

To turn fresh waste into compost depends on what is in and where it is sited (sun is best). Ours takes approx 9 months... and the volumes decrease as it rots.. .. I add grass cuttings and crab apples to bulk it out plus leaves...

(Mind you we have 0.5 acres, trees and 3 other compost heaps which fester for a year before usable compost...

[Curvy Vixen]

Our council is offering a dalek and a kitchen caddy for €38 ~ and you get a free magnet

And I suppose the brussels and brocolli leftovers might work well ~ and there's always plenty of weeds!

Suppose I could always use the dalek to make home-made wine if the compost doesn't work LOL

Didn't realise that the sun was the best place....

[terrier]

Our council is offering a dalek and a kitchen caddy for €38 ~ and you get a free magnet

Suppose I could always use the dalek to make home-made wine if the compost doesn't work LOL

Didn't realise that the sun was the best place....

There's a tipsy Dalek at the bottom of my garden...hic!
Where I live in skinny Flintshire, the council don't do the dalek thing so I had one sent to an address in neighbouring Cheshire. £10 plus the caddy but no magnet
I'm not sure how you'd use it for HM wine, they're bottomless!

[Sue]

Hi
You'd be surprised how much you can generate for a compost bin once you start growing your own. I'd go for it, an essential source of nutrients for the garden and lots less waste as well.
You can get obsessed... I partly turned vegetarian to feed my compost bin and it also meant that I no longer had any food waste that couldn't be composted! I also have to watch myself in other people's houses when I go visiting, watching out for thrown away food, have been known to skulk about outside the greengrocers when they've just closed looking for waste veg and flowers.
Don't forget hoover contents, tea bags, coffee grounds, hair etc can all go in. There's only me and I've got two full up and had to overflow into ex-compost bags.
Sue

[Flummery]

Two of us and 3 daleks too! I don't even have much grass but it's surprising how much stuff goes in - heaps of tea-bag for example. Ours have to be in the shade (because I want the sunny bit for growing veg) but they still produce good stuff in a year. Council did them for £7 a few year ago - limit 2 per household. My sister and I got 2 each and I bought her extra one.

[Peter]

Blackwall Plastics is the firm that makes these and does all the council subsidised offers.
I have got load of em, including the big square 600litre one for £17 including caddy and delivery, but that was to a friends house as he lived in the appropriate county

The round ones sometimes blow away on allotment site if put up on un-dug ground, use turned over ground and screw the base into the soil a bit.
In strong winds the lids sometimes fly off, a brick usually prevents this.

Put them somewhere sunny and layer lawn mowings with "everything else", the heat level reached will see a stuffed so full you can't get a leaf more into it bin holding a six inch layer in the bottom a week later.

[veg4681]

I would get one if I were you. Even if you don't generate enough kitchen waste to make compost, it's still a worthwhile effort not filling up the bin for the bin man to take away...so unnecessary.

Only this year, we emptied our compost bin after 10 years as there was only two of us. I would suggest you try and get the compost bin with a door towards the bottom so that you will be able to use compost as they become ready/broken down. Unfortunately at the time we bought our compost bin, they didn't have this clever design so we got lazy and let the compost bin pile up...for 10 years. At one time, (for how long I can't remember), I couldn't put anything anymore and had to wait before the kitchen waste had shrunk down, a bit for space.

This year I decided I wanted a raised bed for growing veggies and the bin finally got emptied even though it meant separating the uncomposed kitchen waste (quite mucky and unpleasant task) towards the top of the bin...the reason why door based compost bin would be better.

Upon inspecting the content of the compost, I've learned that some things don't compost well. Avoid putting avocado skin, soft fruit stone, tea bags (the papers are a nuisance), egg shells unless you crush them very finely.

Supposedly you can buy a compost bin at a subsidised price (£5 retailing at £30 odd) through your local council (if they're participating in such a scheme) but mine never turned up so I'm still chasing. Just to get my first compost bin (without the door type design), I had to hassle them to death just to get it delivered.

[SimonCole]

I am not fond of them because:
1. They are hard to turn and if you don't do this regularly, it may take a year to get any compost.
2. Crates are cheaper (free) and bigger.
3. I don't think that there is enough air flow.

[Curvy Vixen]

Right! you've all convinced me...it'll need to be a dalek or nothing SimonCole cos I'm a chicken!

As far as I remember the one they had at the garden show had a door at the bottom but I will check this out.

Will get hubby to collect it when he's off in a couple of weeks ~ Irish councils are 'special' They sell them at a 'knock down' price of nearly €40 and don't deliver!

Will let you all know how I get on!