We have built a compost station - advice please

[Finedon.Dandy]

We have a large garden so create alot of waste. I did start off by putting in the council bin stuff like bindweed, dandylions etc We then inherited a tumbler which everything else went in (except grass cuttings) including household veg waste - we eat alot. How things have changed! (Tumbler only ever provided us with a slimy mush and we didnt even add water!)

Now we have two rabbits who eat most household veg waste except potato peelings so that cuts down on one aspect except that what goes in must come out - yep you guessed it we have a bin bag of rabbit bedding (pooey!) each week. We ended up taking some down to the dump as the stuff is just piling up so drastic action was required.

We have a bank alongside the border of our garden that borders a main road. Part of that bank was quite spacious and flat and hidden by an evergreen shrub so hubbie and friend have excavated a flat surface and used some old bricks to provide a stable platform. They have even built one to stand on LOL!!!

With money being tight our friend has given us some stiff metal fencing and we have with the help of a tighter knit wire fence built what is basicaly a cage. Several questions now follow;

1. Should this cage just stand on bricks (my opinion) or on old plastic compost bags (friends idea)?

2. Is there a danger of putting too much rabbit waste on it and it not working?

3. How fussy do I need to be to seperate bindweed and dandylions?

4. Are there any simple layering rules as reading books has just confused me?

Hope you can help.

Tammy

[roitelet]

The cage will be fine on bricks as long as there are spaces between the bricks to allow the worms to come up from the ground. Plastic bags won't allow the worms through nor will they allow the compost to drain. It would be a good idea to wrap some solid material round the outside of the cage to stop the compost falling out and the thicker the better to provide some insulation and allow the compost to heat up. Some thing to cover it with would also be useful firstly so that you can control the ammount of water and secondly to insulate it.

You need a good mix of Rabbit waste and vegetable matter(well chopped) for the compost to work. you could also add Nettle or Comfrey tops, grass cuttings (not too much or it will go all slimy) and manure if you can get it. All three will act as activators and speed up the decomposition. Woody stuff will obviously take longer to break down and if you dont have a shredder burn it and then add the ash to the bin.

DO NOT put any Bind weed, Dandeloin, Dock or any other perennial weed roots on it as you cannot be sure the compost will get hot enough to kill them. Make a present to the Council of them or burn them.

We don't bother with layering rules just make sure that there is a good mixture and turn the compost at least once. Another bin would be useful so that you can turn No.1 bin into No.2 and then refill No.1 while No.2 is rotting nicely.

We manage to fill 3 1m cube bins in the course of a year from 2,500 sq m of land.

There is also a very good book 'All About Compost' by Pauline Pears which explains the process very simply.

Best of luck.