First, I am a useless gardener, one thing I did not inherit was the natural ability my forebears had. I have the basic compost bin and it usually ends up a smelly slimey mess.
As well as no garden refuse collections, the food waste is being reduced so I have to do something.
I have read glowing reports of insulated bins and in normal circumstances would try to make my own.
There appear to be a couple of options. Has anybody experience please?
Weâve had a Hotbin since 2012. Brilliant thing. We put all our food and garden waste in and every 3 months or so the bottom section gets emptied. It has a removable front panel and so about a third of the bin is emptied each time. It cools down in the winter as less waste goes in and the worms take over (runs at about 20âC) and the as more waste goes in through spring and summer it runs much hotter (it was at 65âC earlier this week) and the worms head to the cooler base. No smells, no pest problems and the compost it produces has really made a big difference to our garden.
First, the trick with composting is get the ratio between carbon Š and nitrogen (N) correct. So if you mainly put in kitchen waste I would add torn up cardboard. Start with a 1:1 ratio by volume. If you donât have cardboard torn up newspaper will do. Donât forget to give it a hose every now and then too. If it becomes too slimy add more C, if too dry add more N.
Second, hot bins. I donât have one but I have researched the matter carefully and discussed with a friend on Sark. Sark is relevant because waste collection is predominantly for recycling. My friend uses two hot bins, solely for kitchen scraps as his kitchen garden and hens contribute to the garden compost heap. His bins can compost meat scraps, cat and dog litter, as well as tea leaves and coffee grinds. However, some of the cheaper models donât perform very well; in any event you need to balance N and C.
Third, worms. There are specific composting worms that speed up the process. These can be bought and added to your scraps but they are fussy.
In short I would persevere with you composting, but add more C and perhaps a handful of worms (available online).
If you can insulate the compost bin, it definitely helps the organic matter inside to break down quicker. I accidentally found a good little trick when Iâd emptied one of my old plastic bins (as supplied by our council) and temporarily stacked it on top of a half-full one, giving a double-layer of plastic with a slight gap between.
It was the version that james_n shows that got my interest, it appears they are not currently available.
It is the ability to add cooked food, bones and cat litter (wood pellet, not clay) that interested me.
I have more garden waste from beech and hawthorn hedge than grass, I used to put that through a shredder and use it as mulch until gold that it depletes nitrogen in the soil. Putting it in the home compost bin doesnât seem to do much to break it down, Iâve tried Garotta and bought worms with no particular improvement.
Then during warmer months I might produce a bin full of shavings from woodturning each month.
I used to take the shredding an shavings to a community compost site until that was closed down.
When the rain stops, Iâll go and top to bottom the simple bin, check the worms and see if there is any change.
Iâve had a home made version of the HotBin for many years & it worked very well up to a point, that being very fast & it does compost everything Iâve put into it, Iâve not tried bones.
Problem is it does not have the easy access bottom removal opening & its seen better days & duct tape doesnât look nice; so James post prompted me to replace it with a real one, but no-can-do as the company is shut down with the virus thing.
With shavings and shreddings I put them all together into a 1000 litre delivery bags, damp them down with a hose, cover and leave for a year then use as mulch, or put as is on paths.
Our council collects kitchen waste weekly for its digester. We also get our electric from the local recycling incinerator.
Phil
The grass heap with a section for leaves. We also discovered that the slow worms liked the bins so we stopped putting stuff in and drew the compost from the bottom.
I could also add that my wife heaps the hazel and other larger prunings which provide a wildlife habitat and do gradually break down just as they would in a wood. From time to time she tramples on the heap to speed up the rate at which it sinks. The decomposed material is very light. If you have space nothing needs be taken to the council recycling centre.
Phil
I believe the ratio of C:N can be expressed more precisely, but as an old inorganic chemist I like to suck it and see. Iâve seen it expressed as the ratio of browns to greens, with N coming from vegetable matter and the browns from cardboard, etc. But woody material is a mixture of both and thatâs where the ratio needs adjusting. Attached is some information I ferreted out some time ago that I use as my guide.
The art of turning death into life
In nature, animal and plant life die on the forest floor, and decay with time, water, decomposers, sun and air. This produces a layer of humus on which plants thrive.
Building soil by composting follows the same process. It is neither letting nature take its course, nor is it violating itâs principles. It is simply speeding things up a bit.
Compost is the key to growing. It suppresses most plant diseases and pathogens in the process, increases water retention, improves soil structure, retains nutrients, help absorb heat, balances the pH, traps soil.
The ingredients
Any organic substance can be composted.
A simple recipe is to mix kitchen scraps, weeds, leaves, paper, grassâŚ
The main thing to look out for is the carbon-nitrogen ratio.
Materials such as sawdust, paper, straw or dead leaves, have a high carbon content. (Usually brown)
Manure, fresh plants, guano, blood meal, urine, slurry are high in nitrogen. In the garden, anything green will do the trick.
Print out to the table of composition, to get a better idea of the properties of different materials. As a general rule aim for half carbon, half nitrogen.
Find out the compositions of a variety of materials, ordered alphabetically or by nutrients
Other ingredients
⢠Earth (5% to 10%) can be mixed in to aid the earthworms and humus formation.
⢠Lime or calcium will keep the compost from souring and discourages flies.
⢠Wood ash supplies potassium and minerals. Avoid large clumps, as it forms caustic lye when moistened. (Ashes from coal fire, plastics, coloured, glossy paper, and chemical stuff are toxic).
Kick starting your compost
To get the rotting process started you need to add a blend of the bacteria and spores of microorganisms. They are everywhere in the ground, air and water. The compost starter recipes below provide a perfect breeding ground.
⢠Old compost.
⢠âRussian teaâ, fermented cow dung in ten parts water.
⢠âChairman Maoâsâ, made from a four to one dilution of urine.
⢠Nettle tea, made by brewing nettles or fermenting them in rainwater. (Try also comfrey leaves, horse tail).
Building the pile
Location
Keep a permanent composting area, centrally located in the garden for easy transport of materials.
Place it on the bare ground to allow the bacteria from previous piles to infect it and earthworms to travel to it.
Donât put it into a pit or trample it down, as it would cause anaerobic decomposition. Nitrate-producing bacteria need plenty of oxygen, since they are aerobic. The composts should be loosely piled and kept moist, but not water-logged.
In warmer, drier localities, elderberry, hazelnut, birch and alder make ideal compost shade trees as their leaf and root aid in the decomposition processes.
In cooler climates, composts should be put into wind-sheltered, sunny areas. It is worth protecting the compost with a layer of black plastic, which keeps the compost from drying out during a dry spell, and during a rainy season keeps the nutrients from leaching out. Evaporating moisture will condense underneath the plastic and percolate and circulate through the pile. A roof also protects from drying or leaching.
Windrows about four feet high, six-feet wide, and as long as necessary, are the best shape to give to the compost. In this way, a âcritical massâ is achieved, for the biochemical reactions to take place.
Size
If the compost pile is too small, it will not heat and decompose properly; if it is too large the inner layers will remain raw and deprived of air, while the outside mantle will have already broken down. Like any living organism, the compost must have a skin to keep gases and other products of metabolism, such as ammonia and methane, from being dissipated. Peat, sawdust, straw or other nitrogen-poor substance will not let the odours through. Underneath, the compost might be bedded upon straw, hay, peat or a similar absorbent substance if there is a chance of liquid runoff.
For smaller gardens, a wooden composting bin, or a roll of wire mesh, make good composting devices. Fresh material is pitched into the top, while finished compost can be scooped out of the bottom.
For fast results, use a barrel to turn the compost. This technique aerates the compost and mixes the ingredients for greater carbon / nitrogen contact.
Special Compost
Compost can be made for specific purposes from various animal droppings. In general, it can be said that the part of the plant upon which an animal characteristically feeds, is best fertilised by the manure of that species.
Manure is composted like other substances, with the addition of small amounts of earth, clay, lime, wood ash, rock flours, as well as straw, hay, weeds, or other vegetable matter. For heavier manure, such as cow or pig manure, special care has to be taken to bring air into the compost pile. This can be done by mixing it with straw and other light materials, tossing it with manure forks into a pile so it does not clump as much, or, on farms, setting the manure spreader on âstationaryâ and running it through onto a pile.
Liquid manure, used in the watering of the heavy feeders during the growing season or as compost activators, can be made from a number of substances. These are placed into a barrel of water at a ratio of 10:1 and left to ferment for few of weeks.
The stage of ripeness
It is during this stage that the compost turns into good, crumbly fragrant, humus earth. Nitrates and saltpeter, which are needed by root crops and young sprouting plants are made available by organisms that further oxidise the nitrogen substances. The speed at which the compost reaches maturity depends upon extraneous factors such as climate, the size of the pile and the kind of ingredients. Compost can be made in two weeks under ideal conditions. (Quick-rotting shredded materials, narrow C/N ratio supplied by grass clippings, legumes, manure and amendments such as bird manure, blood meal, and maintenance of the right moisture and air by frequent turning). The product basically only goes to stage 2, before the earthworms enter. It is doubtful that the clay humus molecules that account for creating permanent fertility result from this speeded-up process. Quick composts seem to be symptomatic of our age of instant success and instant gratification. The quick composts make good top dressings, and food for heavy feeders, but like sheet composting, they do not lead to a permanent buildup of fertility. Ripened composts that have taken six months to a year are more stable.
Good compost
Itâs easy to make good compost. Quite a lot of people make some kind of compost, but you couldnât say itâs âgoodâ. Itâs no more trouble making a really good product â in fact itâs less trouble, because good compost reduces almost every other kind of gardening problem. So why not get it right in the first place? This guide is about
How not to fail
Itâs a common mistake to use too much water â itâs probably the most common reason for failures. (Others are not enough nitrogen, and, more rarely, no aeration.) The overall moisture content of the assembled pile should be about 60â65%. They say it should be as moist as a wrung-out sponge, which is a good guide if youâve put everything through a shredder so itâs homogenized and the particle-size is small, but with the usual rough compost materials itâs not very useful.
This is typical advice: âSpray the mixed materials with a hose until wet like a sponge but not soggy. Fork it into the bin, spray more water to make sure it is wet enough.â
When the stuff starts to decay it disintegrates into a slimy, stinking sludge, like what happens to grass clippings if you leave them in a big pile: it gets very hot, and then it dies into a dark green gunge â much worse if thereâs manure and kitchen scraps in it! And itâs difficult to repair the damage and get it working properly. Thatâs often the end of that particular beginnerâs composting efforts.
Compost materials are often much wetter than they look at first. Fresh green leaves can be 95% water, but they donât look wet. Kitchen wastes are usually more than 85% water. Spreading fresh greens out and letting them wilt for a day loses a lot of the water, and probably quite a lot of the nitrogen too, unfortunately. Manure is a lot easier to handle if itâs on the dry side, which also loses a bit of the nitrogen.
Thereâs another way of going about this.
Greens and browns
Compost materials are assembled in the correct proportion of âGreensâ (nitrogen-rich) and âBrownsâ (carbon-rich) to achieve an overall carbon/nitrogen ratio of 25-30:1 (Virtual composter, and Compost Calculations from Rodale). Put simply, fresh green matter such as grass clippings, vegetable wastes, fresh leaves, etc, contain a lot of nitrogen. So does manure, bloodmeal, kitchen scraps, alfalfa meal, and hay. Fallen leaves, straw, sawdust, shredded newspaper and cardboard, wood chips â browns â contain high proportions of carbon.
Instead of thinking in âgreensâ and âbrownsâ, think in terms of âwetsâ and dries". In fact wets are usually green, and browns are often dry. You can make sure the browns are dry â collect fallen leaves when the weatherâs dry, for instance. Presume your compost materials will always be too wet, and always have lots of dry browns on hand to balance it with. Too much carbon? Weâll deal with that in a minute.
The advantage of dry browns is that you can store them indefinitely, unlike wet greens. With a bit of foresight and effort you can always have a few garbage bags filled with dries ready for when you need them. Make a big effort in autumn â collect enough leaves for the whole year.
Hints
Put wet greens on top of dry browns. Use a 5-gallon bucket or a basket. Spread out two buckets of browns (pack it in) and then one bucket of greens on top.
Do that twice, then add some sprinklings: a handful of ground limestone or wood ash (sprinkle it like icing sugar on a sponge cake), some bonemeal if you have it, a handful or two of soil, and a couple of handsful of compost (unless youâre using the siftings from the previous batch â mix with the browns if theyâre dry enough). Scuff over the surface to bury the sprinklings a bit, then add liquid (see below, Adding liquids) â 1-2 litres, with a sprinkling can. If you must use a hose, set the nozzle to a fine mist.
Mixing the layered material before putting it in the bin
Repeat this whole layering process two or three more times or until youâve used all the materials.
Now work from the edge of the layered pancake: rake off about 1ft with the compost fork, mix it up well, and fork it into the box, spreading it evenly and tamping it down firmly (but not too tight). Layering it and then mixing vertical slices this way gets it thoroughly mixed and evenly distributed. Then do the next foot, and continue until itâs all in. Sweep up fines as you go, sprinkling them into the box with a shovel.
Aeration
Compost needs air from underneath. You can put the box on the soil, if itâs good soil that breathes well. Even then, loosen it well with a fork to a depth of about 12 inches. An advantage of this is that if the pile is too wet some of the excess water might drain off into the soil. (Or it might not.)
Turning the pile aerates and mixes it thoroughly to burn a second time
Alternatively make a base like that for the wire mesh bin described above: make a 3ft square of four bricks, one at each corner, with a fifth in the middle, and put a 3ft square of tough wire grille such as pig fencing on the bricks. Put a 3ft-square piece of chicken wire on top of that, and stand the box on this base.
When filling the box, stand a 5ft length of bamboo or a broomstick upright in the middle until the box is full. Then shake it from side to side a bit (an inch or two) and pull it out. Or make vertical holes every 6" or so across the top with a piece of rebar, push it right down until you hit the wire mesh at the bottom. Now your compost can breathe easily.
Put a lid on the box when itâs full, not airtight, but wildlife-proof, and waterproof if itâs in the open.
Thatâs it. By the next day the temperature should be above 50 deg C, and it should climb to 60 deg or higher. You can turn it after a week or two when the temperatureâs fallen to about 40 deg, or just leave it for another couple of weeks instead.
Get a soil thermometer, or any long thermometer that will reach the centre of the pile to monitor the temperature. Or just put your hand in â if itâs too hot to keep it there, itâs fine.
Adding liquids
The best form of liquid addition for compost is what some composters primly call Household Compost Activator. Other people call it urine. Donât be coy about it â this is what should happen to urine rather than wasting it by flushing it down the toilet. Develop a self-righteous attitude about not wasting it â but donât shout about it too loud, modern city people like neighbours and so on can be funny about these things, what they donât know wonât hurt them.
First, urine is sterile. Second, it contains the drainage of every cell in the body â itâs crammed with minerals and vitamins. Third, it contains a lot of nitrogen â thatâs one reason that itâs silly to buy nitrogen (there are others).
It shouldnât prove too difficult to arrange to have a few litres of Household Compost Activator set by when itâs time to make the compost. You can use it neat, or mix it 50-50 with water, and add a capful of seaweed emulsion while youâre at it. Use a sprinkling can.
More about nitrogen: well-made compost piles often end up containing more nitrogen than they started off with â up to 25% more. Itâs provided by free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria that thrive in a compost pile and âfixâ nitrogen from the copious supplies in the air.
Batches
Smaller gardens wonât provide enough material to fill a 15 cub ft compost unit at one go, it comes in dribs and drabs. So do kitchen scraps. You could just throw it all in a compost bin as it comes, but itâll probably be too wet and clog up, or it wonât get hot, or only quite hot (mesophilic) rather than very hot (thermophilic), which is better than nothing. Itâs worth organizing the process by gearing garden wastes to kitchen scraps and then processing it all in batches until the bin is full.
Kitchen scraps
Get a smallish (10-12") plastic bucket with a lid, and a tray that it can stand in. Drill some holes in the bottom. Put 3" of dry stuff in the bottom, add your kitchen scraps on top as theyâre produced. Keep the bucket in the kitchen. No meat/fish etc or cooked food until youâre more experienced (eggshells are fine). If youâre a big family you might need a bigger bucket.
Donât let it get too wet, donât let it go rotten â if liquid starts coming out the bottom, empty it (every few days, depending how much you cook).
Meanwhile collect garden wastes and odds and ends of greens â theyâll keep for a while if you spread them out somewhere dry in a layer a few inches deep.
For the first batch, put 4" inches of dry stuff in the bottom of the compost bin. Mix up greens and kitchen wastes, add some manure if you have it. Then mix it up with twice the quantity of browns/dries, add sprinklings of lime or wood ash, bonemeal, some dry compost, as above (âAssembling the pileâ), and a bit of liquid if necessary, and dump it in the bin, spreading it evenly. Pack it down quite tightly.
Add an inch or two of browns plus a sprinkling of compost or topsoil on top. The first batch might not have the bulk to get hot, which normally eradicates the smell of the kitchen scraps (and anything else), and a layer of browns on top will help keep flies away. As further batches increase the bulk it should heat up well. Put a lid on the bin.
Once it cools down it should be turned â empty the bin, fluff everything up thoroughly with the compost fork, add liquid if necessary, and put it back in the bin. If it doesnât get that hot the second time, never mind, just leave it there for a few weeks.
Animal manure
Many people say itâs not essential to use animal manure to make good compost, and thatâs true. Some people actively avoid it. But itâs better to use manure, if you can get it. All natural topsoil is derived from a mixture of animal and plant matter â nature never attempts to raise plants without animals. Itâs important that some portion of whatâs recycled into the soil should have passed through animals. This is one of the reasons we recommend using urine as an activator.
Manure from any animal thatâs not a carnivore will do, plus poultry. The Biodynamic school of organic growing â ace compost makers â swears by cowdung, ascribing special qualities to it. In Hong Kong we used manure from the herd of feral water buffalo who were our neighbours, and it was excellent. A fifth of the total amount of compost material is enough manure, donât use more than a quarter.
Beware of manure from factory-farmed livestock thatâs fed commercial feed laced with antibiotics. You can use it, itâll probably work okay, and the antibiotics will break down in the heat, but why put stuff in your compost thatâll kill the very critters that do all the work for you?
Sifting
If youâve got a shredder, you can shred the materials before you load the box, shred them again a week later, and maybe again a week after that, and then you wonât need to sift the compost. Otherwise itâll need screening.
There are many different screening systems. Simplest is a 5ft x 3ft-wide piece of 5/8th- inch or 3/4-inch wire screen wire-stapled to a light wooden frame. Stand it at an angle against a wall and throw the compost at it with a shovel (aim high). Or use it horizontal to the ground, supported at each end at a height of 3-4ft, shovel the compost onto it and rub it through the screen with your hands (use gardening gloves) or with the back of a garden rake.
Store what goes through the screen for a few weeks to let it cure before using it in the soil. When applying it to the soil, hoe it lightly into the top few inches where itâll do the most good. The earthworms will do the rest. No earthworms? Donât worry, there soon will be!
Youâll be left with up to a quarter of the pile in siftings. It makes a very good mulch, or you can add it to the browns for the next lot, or mix it with kitchen scraps and greens for batch composting.
Cold weather
A person who said heâd made âlots of compostâ wrote: âIn northern climes especially, youâre more in need of adding heat to the pile some of the year⌠The problem here in Wisconsin is it just gets too cold in winter. I know, Iâve tried it, it froze solid in the winter. Somewhere Iâve seen plans for a solar heated outhouse, and solar heated compost bin, which would probably be the ticket.â
Thatâs just not how compost works. If itâs correctly prepared, the biological activity will heat it up, no matter how cold the weather is. Adding extra heat from outside is no use.
Finally he admitted: âI donât think my compost piles ever heat up much. Not enough nitrogen for one thing, here in town. I suppose if you had a large batch of materials mixed up properly with the correct ratios, it might have a chance, but you canât do that with the daily wastes.â Yes you can.
As for not enough nitrogen, a strange statement indeed, he then read this: Container Farming â Organic food production in the slums of Mexico City. Heâll be trying âHousehold Compost Activatorâ next year.
Elaine Ingham, wrote: âThe definition of properly composted material, when applied to thermal compost, is that it has reached temperature throughout the material for long enough that weed seed, human pathogens and most of the plant pathogens and pests have been killed⌠Many people do not understand that the bacteria and fungi growing in organic matter raise the temperature. If all you do is physically heat compost, you donât get the same reduction in [pathogens]. This is a biological process. Competition with aerobic bacteria and fungi, inhibition by other bacteria and fungi, and consumption of disease-organisms by protozoa and nematodes are all part of the process of making good compost, getting rid of the pathogens. If you just steam heat organic matter, you donât get the same benefits of the growth of the competitive, inhibitory and consuming interactions that happen when the full food web is present.â -Source:- Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group, 5 November 2002 http://www.soilfoodweb.com/phpweb/
That has to be the longest post ever on the forum!!!
Incredibly informative, much appreciated.
Agree with that, I didnât realise what I do without thinking could be so complicated - I joke but am an emoji free zone.
My success is obviously in need of further study (not) but chicken muck & pig pee from the farm up the road seem to do it well & faster than anything else Iâve tried.
One of my neighbours uses several large hot bins for composting and they swear by them⌠most organic things can be broken downâŚ
The only consideration I am aware you have to keep them constantly on the go
Thank you for this, it gives me some answers, too much brown and a variety of grass that sticks together, hence the slime.
Iâve looked again at making my own hot bin, it starts to add up, three sheets of sterling board, bituminous paint, rockwool slabsâŚ
I did this because my garden is small, 20 x 40 feet, the waste is disproportionate mainly woody hedge trimmings. Iâm going to have to dig out my existing bin, seems that the people who put in a new fence stacked the earth from the post holes around it, about 12 inches deep. No wonder I am not keen on the garden.
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