"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
"Jo" wrote in message
...
We would like to start a compost heap in a compost bin but haven't any
spare
areas of soil or grass on which to place the composter. Our only
possible
area to site the bin is at the bottom of our garden between a shed and
some
trellis, but this would mean placing it on patio slabs and not on
soil.
We thought of taking up a few patio slabs, introducing some soil and
placing
the composter directly on that.
Has anyone any composting experience or advice they can pass on in
relation
to our problem...or indeed any composting success stories!
Thanks,

Jo & John (in Essex)

My compost bin is on concrete slabs and exposed to full sunshine. I
think that it gets far too hot for worms to survive in there, but I am
not concerned about that because I get good results from the present
system. I notice that you have not mentioned worms so what is your
problem?

An interesting site:

http://www.hdra.org.uk/organicgardening/gh_comp.htm

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

It was the possible lack of microorganisms from the underlying soil (or
lack of it in my case) that was worrying me. Having never composted before
I was only going by what I have read and it seems that most books implied
that to get the maximum benefit the bin should be in direct contact with
the soil. That way, I suppose worms too!
However, if you are succeeding on slabs then I suppose my worries are
lessened. Thanks for the website - a good basic guide.
Jo