how do you make compost?

You put in anything that will rot down but there are a few exceptions.

Put in vegetable peelings, fruit skins (bananas for instance) eggshells. I think it helps enormously to chop everything into small bits especially broccoli stems, cauliflower stems and eggshells.

Do not put in any cooked food, any meat or bones, bread, cheese, rice pasta as these can attract vermin.

Of course put greenstuffs from your garden but try to mix everything as you go. Don't put masses of grass cuttings or hedge clippings in one go - mix them with your kitchen peelings. I add dead leaves too. One tip cover the whole pile with an old sack or a bit of old carpet to stop it getting soaked through, this well help to keep the heat in and speed up the rotting process. Some people add pieces of newspaper to the mix to absorb water.

I understand that some gentlemen visit the compost heap late at night to water it well!

Hope this helps

When I had my allotment I used a huge wooden crate which I filled with a mixture of vegetable peelings shredded newspapers, lawn grass cuttings and horse manure. I good compost is supposed to have the consistency of a chocolate cake so I'm told.

At home I use a plastic composting bin which our local council supplied for free a few years ago. I use the same as above with the addition of toilet roll inners and the occasional shredded egg box. I have lots of red worms in mine which I'm told is good.

Never add cooked kitchen scraps as it attracts vermin.

Buy some worms from your local fishing tackle shop and add to the compost bin. They are very good food processers!

I have three compost bins: I bought a standard black plastic bin, was given a tumbler bin, and converted an old plastic dustbin to a compost bin, by removing lid, turning it upside down, cutting a hole in the bottom which is now the top, and securing a bit of wood with a brick, as a new lid.

Consequently one is nearly ready, one is brewing, and one is ready to use.

I put anything biodegradable in except meat and fish, keep a pile of grass cuttings nearby, to use for layering between kitchen waste etc. I put the chicken manure in it when I clean out the hen house - that is probably the best ingredient.

I also have liquid manure: a porous bag of chicken manure (old stockings will do) suspended in a barrel of water. Put some in to the watering can, about 500ml to a normal sized watering can, and your veggies get a good feed in this way, every time you water.

I live in the sub tropics, and pests are a real problem, so the best way is to grow veggies as vigorously as possible to beat the flying nasties.

Yes, any raw plant material either from your kitchen or your garden will rot down into compost if you pile it up somewhere, whether you want it to or not. Composting is a natural process as you can see in any woodland as leaves and wood and small plants rot down with the help of fungi and worms and woodlice. I don't use containers as such for my heaps because they are too large. I just mark off an area with chicken wire and some posts, wheel my wheel barrow right in and tip. Because I live in a soggy part of the world, we add our kitchen roll to our compost as well. When a heap is big enough, I cover it with fabric that will let moisture and air through but which will restrict the number of seeds that can land and germinate on it. Then I leave it for a year. Again, this is because of the cool and damp climate I live in. I think the process is quicker in warmer places.

It is possible to compost bones, feathers, meat scraps, etc. but you need a special approach for that using something like a green cone with a pit underneath. If you google "solar digester system" or "green cone" you'll see. Wormeries are good too.

Ahahah I am known as the Queen of compost around here, as I supply all my neighbours. I have 7 compost bins on the go all the time.
The main thing is proper layers - if you just put grass cuttings in, it will just turn to a yucky mush. I regularly add a layer of wet corrugated cardboard- I live it in the rain and then tear it up in largish pieces, and it works like magic= the worms love it. I also add a layer of scrunched up newspaper from time to time. The best activator is regular layers of horse manure. One of my neighbours puts her horses in our field at the back on and off - then I pick up all the horse manure and put a thick layer in each compost bin. Without it it would take much longer - as is, I get dark sweet smelling perfect compost. I empty one in the Spring and one in the Autumn.

Lots of good advice here. I use old 1 ton ballast/sand sacks that builders merchants use, they are readily available from skips etc.

I have a reservation with egg shells, these must be washed or they will attract rats.

No perennial weeds such as couch grass, ground elder, bind weed etc. Unless your heap gets very hot, they will not be killed.

Also, if you grow veg, don't put brassica roots in, they will spread club root.

Worms etc will just appear like magic. I also incorporate shredded paper and cardboard. Just keep it turned regularly and you will have perfect sweet smelling compost in a few months.

Bags your little grandson is a poppet. Gorgeous little face.

So sweet.

Sorry back to the thread!

Wandered off a bit there!

jing,

Just one more thing: the neighbours to each side of me give me stuff for the compost too. I have a wire basket attached to the adjoining fence to once side - a family with 5 kids - and they put their veggie peelings in it. At the other side she gives me her grass cuttings.

One of the reasons our compost heaps grew so big was chicken house bedding. we used wood shavings for that. Chicken shit is very good compost activator.

I empty my vacuum cleaner onto the compost heap too, and ash from the stove.

Banana skins was mentioned earlier. I would say NO to them. In my experience they take years to break down. Also carrots that have gone beyond using should not be put in whole.

I have heard it said - but never tried it - that you should cut up banana skins and bury them round the roots of your roses. I am not sure of the scientific - if any - basis for this notion!

Oh and comfrey makes a great addition to any compost heap. I used it green to line a bean trench with great success. I also steep it in a bin full of water and use it, diluted, as a liquid fertiliser - it smells appalling but is good for tomatoes.

Thanks everyone for all these. I Liked Joans idea of an upturned dustbin very much - my little dog loves nothing better than finding something rotten to roll in and he wouldn't be able to get to that! I'd like to have a small temporary receptacle in the kitchen for peelings etc. My son in England has a brown plastic collecting box with a lid but I can't get those in France (I don't think)

I have four collecting bins in the kitchen. One is stuff for the regular council waste bin, one is for stuff for the council recycling bin, then there is a 2 litre icecream carton for the compost, and another for the hens, like apple peelings, bacon rinds etc.

I have an old builder's bucket in my kitchen for compostable waste (found it on the beach) to which I've attached a rope handle. When I empty it on the compost heap, I wipe it out with a handful or two of rough grass (of which there's plenty in my garden) and it's ready for use again.

Lids are just a nuisance, I always feel. Difficult to lob your carrot peelings in from a couple of metres away if you have to take a lid off.

Tres drole Bags What a lovely picture you paint!

I have a small lidded bin on the back doorstep for compostable waste and 'feed' it from a plastic box on my draining board. It all ends up in the compost bins behind the shed.

Annobel I've always buried banana skins around my roses (bamboo likes it too) - I have no idea why but it works a treat, only bury 1 or 2 skins in the spring though. Don't put teabags in your compost 'cos they never seem to break down.

It depends on the teabags. A lot of them contain plastic now and that's the problem. Paper bags are fine.

For lots of advice on composting and all aspect of organic gardening - go to Rytons Organic gardens near Coventry, and Google their website.