"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
oups.com...

sfby wrote:
Once I've got my bags of horse manure, how do I know when it has
rotted
enough to be mixed with my compost? Last year I just left it in a
spare
bin for 6 months, but it didn't look (or smell!) much different to
when
I started.

I'm not one of those who swear by plastic compost bins: the stuff
wants
air,

I find they work well but in an entirely different way to trad.
compost heaps. They are much wetter and take longer but the product
is good (in the end). I suspect that they need the heat from the sun
to work well. I moved one from the shade into full Oz sun and it
works a treat now whereas before it was soggy and smelly - now with
the sun working on it there is no smell even though it is still on the
soggy side.

I also now have mice in one of my plastic bins and I have found them
to be a most useful addition. The mice are tunnelling and turning and
pooping and make the compost much quicker. The biggest wory is to try
to stop on of the Jack Russells digging under it in search of the
meeces.