Compost

[gurnemanz]

I've been using the same model of Flymo hover mower for years, which doesn't collect clippings. I don't want it to. After the first cut in the year I use a spring-tined rake in a combined operation to remove clippings and scarify. These are the only clippings which go on the compost. Subsequently, all clippings are left on to be reincorporated into the sward. I only remove larger clumps which the lawn rejects.

[gradus]

We compost grass clippings in Daleks and (if I remember) I add other green waste. It turns out fine if you leave it long enough.

[oddoneout]

We compost grass clippings in Daleks and (if I remember) I add other green waste. It turns out fine if you leave it long enough.

That's the thing about compost - even when it goes bad and anaerobic it will, left long enough, finally break down, it just won't be much use to spread on the garden, although if pulled out and mixed well with dry material the smelly black sludge can be turned into something better. It's an unpleasant job though so avoiding the situation arising is preferable. Some friends with a new allotment and a lovely 3 bay wooden compost arrangement managed to end up with one bay full of putrid smelly gunge through not having balanced the materials; remedial work and patience resolved the problem and was a useful learning exercise...
I sometimes put the roots of pernicious weeds such as bindweed, nettle, groundelder, dock, dandelion into a plastic compost bag, seal it up, and leave it for months to stew. The resulting sludge is revolting but when added to the compost heap is quickly absorbed and is a way of adding nutrients brought up by the roots without the risk of regeneration.

[Serial_Apologist]

That's the thing about compost - even when it goes bad and anaerobic it will, left long enough, finally break down, it just won't be much use to spread on the garden, although if pulled out and mixed well with dry material the smelly black sludge can be turned into something better. It's an unpleasant job though so avoiding the situation arising is preferable. Some friends with a new allotment and a lovely 3 bay wooden compost arrangement managed to end up with one bay full of putrid smelly gunge through not having balanced the materials; remedial work and patience resolved the problem and was a useful learning exercise...
I sometimes put the roots of pernicious weeds such as bindweed, nettle, groundelder, dock, dandelion into a plastic compost bag, seal it up, and leave it for months to stew. The resulting sludge is revolting but when added to the compost heap is quickly absorbed and is a way of adding nutrients brought up by the roots without the risk of regeneration.

It's a good idea to give the compost heap a good turn over with a garden fork after one year - getting air in should help pre-empt anaerobicisation, if there's such a word.

[ardcarp]

Corrugated cardboard is a good additive to compost heaps/bins.. It certainly helps to improve the texture. Best torn into smallish strips first.

[Dave2002]

The newish bin is now up and running, and I think some progress is being made. It's not producing obviously good compost yet, but I do take some of the material out through the bottom door, and try to recycle it back at the top.
I'm not sure if it should be kept moist - possibly. I thought I was going to have to start another "overflow" bin, but so far that hasn't been necessary. I was hoping the top layers would drop down - but they're not going down very fast, so now there's quite a gap at the bottom where I've taken material out.

There is still so much material from hedges that we still have to take some of it to the dump or get the council to take it away in their recycling bins. I asked a friend recently what he does with all the trimmings etc., and his answer was simple enough. "Wait until there's a big pile of it, and then have a bonfire." That doesn't work too well if one is in a suburb, or if the neighbours might object, plus there's the space required for the bonfire pile.

[gradus]

The newish bin is now up and running, and I think some progress is being made. It's not producing obviously good compost yet, but I do take some of the material out through the bottom door, and try to recycle it back at the top.
I'm not sure if it should be kept moist - possibly. I thought I was going to have to start another "overflow" bin, but so far that hasn't been necessary. I was hoping the top layers would drop down - but they're not going down very fast, so now there's quite a gap at the bottom where I've taken material out.

There is still so much material from hedges that we still have to take some of it to the dump or get the council to take it away in their recycling bins. I asked a friend recently what he does with all the trimmings etc., and his answer was simple enough. "Wait until there's a big pile of it, and then have a bonfire." That doesn't work too well if one is in a suburb, or if the neighbours might object, plus there's the space required for the bonfire pile.

A good shredder can deal with hedge clippings but you'll need another Dalek or whatever compost holder works for you - pallets are good and cheap.

[oddoneout]

A good shredder can deal with hedge clippings but you'll need another Dalek or whatever compost holder works for you - pallets are good and cheap.

When I had a shredder I was fortunate enough to have an allotment with a large compost bin set-up that could use the shreddings. However by accident I found another way of dealing with them when I was once unable to take the bags to the plot for some time, and discovered that the material had started to break down quite noticeably - bulk reduced and fungus action beginning to be evident. I tucked the bags(used potting compost ones that I was able to get from a nearby nursery) into a corner out of the way and after some months was able to spread the contents on the garden beds as mulch, a bonus on my sandy hungry soil, and reduced what I had to either buy in or transport back from the allotment as the compost bin in the garden didn't produce enough.Although I didn't use conifer shreddings (from my side of a neighbour's hedge which I had to cut) in the garden I found that the same method meant they could be put onto the compost heap without causing problems, although they still took longer to break down than the deciduous stuff.

[Dave2002]

The compost bin I use is fairly simple - top loading with a door at the bottom. I'm noticing a tendency for material in the top part to get stuck.
I'd hoped that the bottom door could be opened and matter removed, causing the stuff at the top to drop. This doesn't happen. I don't mind recycling decomposing matter between the top and bottom, but if it's wedged in place this isn't going to work.

I have wondered if having two bins working in rotation/alternation might work. Generally the advice about composting seems to be to make sure that the material has air passing through - which I had though would happen if it could be loosened up - but if all the stuff gets compacted then that's not going to happen.

I'm trying to reduce the need to take large quantities of green and other stuff to the dump, but so far this isn't happening too well.

[oddoneout]

The compost bin I use is fairly simple - top loading with a door at the bottom. I'm noticing a tendency for material in the top part to get stuck.
I'd hoped that the bottom door could be opened and matter removed, causing the stuff at the top to drop. This doesn't happen. I don't mind recycling decomposing matter between the top and bottom, but if it's wedged in place this isn't going to work.

I have wondered if having two bins working in rotation/alternation might work. Generally the advice about composting seems to be to make sure that the material has air passing through - which I had though would happen if it could be loosened up - but if all the stuff gets compacted then that's not going to happen.

I'm trying to reduce the need to take large quantities of green and other stuff to the dump, but so far this isn't happening too well.

I've had this happen with the dalek plastic bins and a "proper" square wooden bin over a number of years. If the mix of material going in the top is OK then there shouldn't be problems with lack of oxygen or compaction. The much voiced "compost heaps need air" is in my view misleading - what they need is oxygen, which is not quite the same. Too much air movement in a heap just dries the contents out and greatly slows down or arrests decomposition and may need watering, conversely the plastic bins can become too wet as it's more difficult for excess moisture to evaporate - attention to bulky dry material is more important with them.
I stopped expecting to be able to remove compost from the bottom hatch as the jolly pictures and marketing material show. The daleks (yes, two or more are better than one)I would lift off the contents after 9 - 12 months(depending on season , stuff rots quicker in summer), sort through the contents to retrieve usable stuff and reload work in progress. The wooden bin I just left for a couple of years and then laboriously emptied and didn't use again, everything apart from lawn clippings which were used as mulch went to the allotment heaps instead. Currently I have two rather ramshackle compost bays (stakes, chicken wire and lined with discarded PVC advertising banners from work) which I turn and turn about. Next year the plan is to set up 3 properly constructed bays so that I can have finished, rotting and filling, to reduce the work.

[gradus]

I've had this happen with the dalek plastic bins and a "proper" square wooden bin over a number of years. If the mix of material going in the top is OK then there shouldn't be problems with lack of oxygen or compaction. The much voiced "compost heaps need air" is in my view misleading - what they need is oxygen, which is not quite the same. Too much air movement in a heap just dries the contents out and greatly slows down or arrests decomposition and may need watering, conversely the plastic bins can become too wet as it's more difficult for excess moisture to evaporate - attention to bulky dry material is more important with them.
I stopped expecting to be able to remove compost from the bottom hatch as the jolly pictures and marketing material show. The daleks (yes, two or more are better than one)I would lift off the contents after 9 - 12 months(depending on season , stuff rots quicker in summer), sort through the contents to retrieve usable stuff and reload work in progress. The wooden bin I just left for a couple of years and then laboriously emptied and didn't use again, everything apart from lawn clippings which were used as mulch went to the allotment heaps instead. Currently I have two rather ramshackle compost bays (stakes, chicken wire and lined with discarded PVC advertising banners from work) which I turn and turn about. Next year the plan is to set up 3 properly constructed bays so that I can have finished, rotting and filling, to reduce the work.

Your ramshackle bins sound very similar to my own ramshackle bins - but they work!

[Cockney Sparrow]

I understand its quite involved to build a compost bin that will provide good compost - moisture levels, layer of nitrogenous (eg. lawn clippings) and a controlled - somewhat limited amount of carbon heavy material e.g paper/cardboard or woody hedge clippings.

Watch out for high temperatures in pallet compost bins composed mainly of hedge clippings and spontaneous combustion. First thing family member knew about it was an enquiry about his "bonfire which seemed out of control and had set the hedge alight......." Apparently the Fire Brigade said its not uncommon.

OTOH, Dave, in line with the general view of us Southerners of Scotland North of Gretna your compost heap will be permanently wet and cold. I know the Eastern seaboard is considerably drier but even so..........

[Dave2002]

Actually it's mostly been quite dry, and in any case the rain doesn't get into the bins. Maybe I do need to water the contents.

I remember the same problems with bins in Surrey, but I didn't know too much about compost making then. However having slightly greater knowledge hasn't really helped to avoid the issues - which is a shame.

Another issue is the rate of processing. As far as I can see, the rate of production of unwanted waste material currently far exceeds the rate at which composting reduces it. This is a more practical rate problem than those problems about people leaving taps runnig on baths, and trying to calculate how long it will be before either the bath empties, or overflows, or perhaps remains at a constant level.

[oddoneout]

Actually it's mostly been quite dry, and in any case the rain doesn't get into the bins. Maybe I do need to water the contents.

I remember the same problems with bins in Surrey, but I didn't know too much about compost making then. However having slightly greater knowledge hasn't really helped to avoid the issues - which is a shame.

Another issue is the rate of processing. As far as I can see, the rate of production of unwanted waste material currently far exceeds the rate at which composting reduces it. This is a more practical rate problem than those problems about people leaving taps runnig on baths, and trying to calculate how long it will be before either the bath empties, or overflows, or perhaps remains at a constant level.

Leave the lid off and let the rain in for a bit? My heaps are uncovered most of the time as this is a dry area and they are in the rain shadow of a fence, but a cover will go on during the winter if I remember and can find something suitable.
Material to process exceeding the rate of processing is almost inevitable and why more than one bin is a good idea. If I'm lucky the rate at which the level drops is just sufficient to enable me to keep adding at the top for much/most of the growing season, depending on how much rain we've had, what crops I'm growing and whether I've been doing any border re-organisation. If it gets out of synch then the issue becomes that of distributing the material from the "made" heap so that I can turn the working one over into it to make space - which is why my aim is a 3 bay set-up... There's no doubt that turning the heap does speed things up(and also discourages rats from getting too comfy) but it's blooming hard work of the kind which my body is getting less and less able to tolerate, so I'd like to reduce it to just moving the end product - finished compost - or close equivalent more like!

[gradus]

Leave the lid off and let the rain in for a bit? My heaps are uncovered most of the time as this is a dry area and they are in the rain shadow of a fence, but a cover will go on during the winter if I remember and can find something suitable.
Material to process exceeding the rate of processing is almost inevitable and why more than one bin is a good idea. If I'm lucky the rate at which the level drops is just sufficient to enable me to keep adding at the top for much/most of the growing season, depending on how much rain we've had, what crops I'm growing and whether I've been doing any border re-organisation. If it gets out of synch then the issue becomes that of distributing the material from the "made" heap so that I can turn the working one over into it to make space - which is why my aim is a 3 bay set-up... There's no doubt that turning the heap does speed things up(and also discourages rats from getting too comfy) but it's blooming hard work of the kind which my body is getting less and less able to tolerate, so I'd like to reduce it to just moving the end product - finished compost - or close equivalent more like!

I'm way over the nominal top of this season's collection heap and only about a third through last year's spreadable stuff but that'll resolve itself within the next month or two as I spread compost on garden beds. Odders description of overfull over-dry heaps in a rain shadow exactly describes ours too but it always gets sorted out eventually. The heaps never make sufficient heat to kill weed seeds though and my compost spreading will produce a minor weeding problem that sometimes works out ok, for example I rarely need to sow rocket!