Another compost question.

[busman43]

How do you start a compost heap from scratch. Thanks in advance.

[Bigmallly]

The easiest way is to layer it with greens & browns so start it off wit a layer of shredded paper, cardboard, leaves (Browns) then a layer of waste veg cuttings, grass clippings (Greens). The important thing is to try & keep it balanced. It will also need turning every few weeks, some folk use Dalek type bins and just empty the bin on a bed & refill if needed, others like myself use pallet compost bins and transfer from one bin to another.

[Stan79]

The easiest way is to layer it with greens & browns so start it off wit a layer of shredded paper, cardboard, leaves (Browns) then a layer of waste veg cuttings, grass clippings (Greens). The important thing is to try & keep it balanced. It will also need turning every few weeks, some folk use Dalek type bins and just empty the bin on a bed & refill if needed, others like myself use pallet compost bins and transfer from one bin to another.

Do you actually turn yours every few weeks? Or is that one of the things that we're supposed to do but only Monty Don does?

Also, how do you get a high enough proportio of browns? Greens never seem to be a problem!

[veggiechicken]

I shred all the (non-shiny) junkmail, envelopes, cardboard food packaging, magazines, even telephone directories and old paperback books and use them on the floor of the chicken house.
When soiled, it goes in the compost bin with whatever green waste I can find. Most of that is also recycled through the chooks before ending up in the compost heap.
Chooks are so useful - and they give you eggs

[Shadylane]

I line my compost caddy with either newspaper or packaging paper, which goes in with the peelings when I empty it. Loo rolls, egg boxes and such also go in.

[Kristen]

Do you actually turn yours every few weeks? Or is that one of the things that we're supposed to do but only Monty Don does?

Maybe!

If you turn if often you will get compost faster. Perhaps it will be better - finer? Quite likely more weed seeds will be killed by the high / prolonged temperature.

If you just chuck it all in you will get compost, might take 12 - 18 months. Thereafter (and for me this is the important point) you'll get just as much as someone doing the hot/turning method. So if you can afford the initial wait its less work etc. doing the "just heap it" method.

I used to do all the turning and so on, haven;t bothered for years, have so many garden jobs to do and that is one I can work around ... so I do

Also, how do you get a high enough proportio of browns? Greens never seem to be a problem!

Cardboard / newspaper? Straw perhaps?