compost question

[Salina]

Is it possible to ''make'' compost without a proper compost bin?
I have loads of stuff that I think would be suitable to make compost.....
vegetable peelings
egg shells
cardboard (can you use shiny cardboard with picture on it or is it just rough cardboard like egg boxes?)
grass cuttings
garden clippings (lots of chopped down/strimmed stuff like rough grass, nettles, brambles and weeds)
so I think it's kind of a waste to just throw them in the bin/dyke.....

[heebiejeebie]

I think you can have a "heap"

[rustylady]

Depends on what you call a proper compost bin. Before the days of plastic "daleks" and companies cashing in on the home composting business gardeners just used to make a pile in the corner of the garden and leave. Obviously it helps to keep it tidy if you can make some sort of container, but you only need a couple of old pallets (out of skips) or some wire mesh. Any cardboard should be torn into small bits - the shiny stuff is usually only shiny on one side anyway. Just don't try to compost any perennial weed roots (docks, dandelions, nettles, bindweed) as they will just re-grow. Chopped off top-growth should be fine. And please don't ever dump anything in the dyke, even if it is of vegetable origin. Could cause all sorts of problems.

[Snadger]

Is it possible to ''make'' compost without a proper compost bin?
I have loads of stuff that I think would be suitable to make compost.....
vegetable peelings
egg shells
cardboard (can you use shiny cardboard with picture on it or is it just rough cardboard like egg boxes?)
grass cuttings
garden clippings (lots of chopped down/strimmed stuff like rough grass, nettles, brambles and weeds)
so I think it's kind of a waste to just throw them in the bin/dyke.....

Course it is!!! Sometimes people get too bogged down with the technicalities of compost making!
Mix it all up,chuck it in a heap in the corner and eventually it will rot down and give you compost. Natures a wonderful thing isn't it! Just stay clear of any meat products that will attract rats and everything will be fine. You'll sharp learn what can and what can't be composted as they will still be intact when you come to dig the compost out!

[witch-1]

Look at your local council - we got ours for £10

Much cheaper than in the shops... also, waterbutts from the water board are sometimes cheaper!

Since composting started last year, and now recycling plastic and cardboard along with the stuff collected, our 'rubbish' bin is almost always half empty on collection days

Jan
x

[Salina]

thanks for the replies
rustylady: we only throw stuff in the ''dyke'' because it doesn't actually go anywhere lol, so it's not like it's blocking up water or anything. theres another dyke at the back of our field that we don't throw stuff into because theres cows living in the field sometimes and also because water is in there.

So I don't suppose I'll bother with a bin then lol. I don't think I'd be allowed to clutter up the garden with pallets and things because the house is for sale so it has to look tidy.....would a plastic bin or tub be any use for throwing stuff into?
I wouldn't throw meat or anything in lol, we already have enough rats hanging around (if you throw a veggie out like a turnip in the morning it has little teeth marks in it lol, so cute)

[Alice]

Salina you can make your compost anywhere you like. I've always run 2 systems. A "proper" compost bin, where I put kitchen peelings, grass clippings, spent flower pots etc and a compost dump, where I put hedge trimmings, shrub prunings, dead branches and all the stuff which can't go in the bin - and there is plenty. It all rots down eventually.