Instructions On Composting..

What's a bookie?

 

Its a kind of library, I think.

Ssshhhhh

 

Ye of the sheltered upbringing!!! I plead guilty to many sins, most of which I have no intention of divulging to GC members, I am quaffing a very nice Vodka and tonic as I type tho!

 

I only asked about half a melon and 4 apples ... didn't expect a lecture and telling off ...

thought this forum was supposed to be friendly and helpful ...

 

Sue, I think you've taken it the wrong way

 

Yep, they don't mean anything by it, just banter

Please don't take offence

 

i put a few bricks into my compost not house bricks but fairly large stones as they help get water through the leaves / grass etc. and only takes a few minutes to take them out once compost is done , my lot of compost this year looked more like a wormery than my compost from last year , also noticed the dirt turns a greyish colour once it dries out a bit but when it gets wet is a deep black colour placed some around my strawberry plants and they seem to be sprouting lots more shoots had to give away lots of plants already , must be summat good in my compost lol

 

Useful information. Thanks for sharing.

 

I regularly pee into an old plastic watering can (via large funnel) and then tip the contents onto my compost (which is in three bins). My father used to do the same and he produced excellent compost.
The main contents are kitchen veg waste, including coffee grounds and tea leaves, and not-very-large quantities of crumpled newspaper, envelopes and corrugated cardboard.
I spread this on the soil in late autumn. The earthworms do the rest, and by April the following year it's all been dragged under.
My problem is that my plants (mostly) grow strongly and healthily BUT produce lots of leaves and VERY little veg or fruit. Or flowers.
Is my compost at fault, ie a poor NPK balance due to all the nitrogen from the pee!?Should I perhaps add Sulphate of Potash? And more banana skins? Or is it more likely to be something else, eg large overshadowing lime trees and a general shortage of sun?
PS the compost bins never seem to get hot but operate more like wormeries!

 

It's nitrogen that makes for a lot of sappy growth, so either cut back the wee a bit or add some woody material or crumpled cardboard

 

I've only just seen this thread, and have a couple comments to make. These are based on practice here.

Right at the beginning of the thread, there is a photo that shows what to add, and what not to add to the compost. It says grass cuttings can, and sawdust/wood shavings cant. According to printed research here, a 50/50 mix of grass and sawdust (usually pine) gives an almost perfect mix. When this cant be done, both are considered unsuitable to put on the compost. Grass, especially wet grass, can cause a compost fire. Ask me how I know!

Later on there is a comment about leaves where it says "only use deciduous." I'm not quite sure where they are coming from on that one. Evergreens are called that because they dont have leaves to drop! Presumably, what they are referring to are fallen pine needles, things like that depending on the species. As long as these are left for a minimum of 6 months to release the toxins that are present, there is no reason whatsoever not to put these on the compost either! It is preferable to run them through a shredder to speed up decomposition.