Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message .com
from "fingers" contains these words:

I currently compost stuff in bin liners with a few holes in the bottom
and it works quite well. I have read a bit about composting in a
compost bin and would like to try it as it will look tidier.
I also want to get a water butt so that I can water plants growing in
containers while I am on holiday.
So my idea is to get 2 identical water butts and make one a compost
bin. The plan is to drill 10 or so 1/4 inch holes in the sides about 2
inches from the bottom for ventilation and 4 or 5 holes in the centre
of the bottom for drainage.
Now the questions.
.. Is this a good plan for the compost bin? Do the holes need to be
bigger?

Yes, the holes need to be bigger. Your best bet would be to get some
rigid plastic net - usually used for climbers, etc, and which has quite
large spaces - and roll it into a cylinfer and clip/tie/weld it up. To
ensure the outside of the composting matter doesn't dry too much to keep
up with the middle, you could wrap some plastic sheet round the bottom
foot or so. You can rest it on concrete blocks or a sheet of
something-or other. You could keep it in a trough (the bottom of a
plastic bin, perhaps), but if you cover the apparatus, there should be
little if any gunge to collect.

Jaques,
The reason I want to use a butt is that the two will match and will
look more pleasant for the neighbours that overlook my tiny garden.

.. Can I use the liquid that drains from the bottom as a liquid feed and
can I just tip it into the water butt?

There often isn't any if the composter is managed properly. Have a
separate container and steep weeds in it.

.. In a lot of guides about composting they give a list of things you
can't put into them i.e. kitchen scraps and cooking oil. The scraps
can't be used because of pests but if there is a good lid on the bin
would it be ok?

Yes. But if you make a composter such as I've suggested, no. However, I
confess to putting everything except bones on my heap. Bones are saved
for burying beneath where I'll be planting trees and shrubs.

.. What is the reason for not putting kitchen vegetable oil in it? I
have been putting paper kitchen towels soaked in vegetable oil in my
bags and it seems to rot down.

Pass.

.. Do you recomend a little door at the front to get the compost out? I
was planning on just upending it in the spring sieving it and using it
to mix with last years potting compost to envigorate it.

If you make a properly aerated one and keep it fed with urine, you
should have a straight-through system - weeds, etc in the top and rake
compost out at the bottom.

.. Is it a good plan to do this or do you recomend always buying new
potting compost?

Buy? What does this word mean?

I have a tiny garden that is covered mostly in concrete so no
possibility to just grab some soil from somewhere. I asked because I
was wondering about disease in such a closed small system.

.. The water butt comes with a rain diverter kit. How does this work?
From the pics it looks like you saw the downpipe and insert the
diverter and it diverts the rain through a hosepipe into the butt.
.. What happens if there is a torrential downpour as the hosepipe won't
cope with all the water?
.. How does it prevent the butt from overflowing?
.. Is there a maximum length for the diverter hosepipe?

Inquire at your local fire station - you can often prise a few really
heavy-gauge plastic barrels out of them. They get the additive for
making foam in them. If you cut the tops off with a panel saw, you can
turn them over and they locate perfectly in the channel moulded in so
the barrels stack.

Are these the bright blue ones? By the time I have bought paint and the
fittings I might as well get the cheap water butt from the water
authority.

You can run your downpipe straight into the butt(s), which you can
connect with a pipe, and have an overflow at the far end.

The downpipe is in a tight corner with no place to put the butt below
it so it will mean moving the downpipe to where I want to place the
butt or doing some plumbing.

Some people have the butts staggered so that the top one overflows into
the next, and so-on, others connect them with pipe at the bottom. When i
get mine set up properly I intend having a float-operated pump into an
elevated 'orange-juice bottle' - the water of which will be filtered and
used domestically for bath, toilet flushing etc.

See:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ad/waterworks.html

Thanks in advance for you answers. I hope there aren't too many
questions :-)

Hope there aren't too many more, now...

Nope. Thanks for the help.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk