"Rachel Aitch" wrote in message
...

Tulpa Wrote:
Hi there, can anyone give me ideas for what I can and cannot compost? I
am not putting in meat or fish (Barring prawn shells and bits of
skin).
I try to layer with grass clippings and some cardboard. There are
worms
and the whole thing seems to be settling well. I'm having difficulty
filling it up!

Are there any definate 'No-No's' or should I soldier on as I am? Are
there things I should definately be adding?

Thank you.

From my experience sorting out other peoples' composty bins I'd say -

Don't add:
Citrus peel ie grapefruit or orange skins - they take forever to rot
and make the bin smell.
Egg shells. They just don't rot! Ever! (despite what the books say)
Potatoes (including peelings of indoor ones) due to risk of blight plus
you get baby spuds everywhere that you use the compost.
Tomatoes due to risk of disease.
Any meat or fish scraps - you already know about that one, but I
wouldn't put any sort of fish scraps in either, as it will attract
cats. Is that a bad thing?
Plastic. Obvious, I know, but that includes the labels on fruit, plant
labels, etc.
Big lumps of any one thing - mix and match is the way to do it, and
just roughly chop up any large leftover vegetables etc that might be on
their way to the heap.

So carry on soldiering!

The worms are an excellent sign (they should be skinny red ones, called
Tiger Worms for some unknown reason), as is the fact that you can't fill
it: if it sinks as fast as you add stuff, then you are definitely doing
it right!

PS It really works best if you can arrange to have a second composty
bin, so that when the one does eventually fill up, you can leave it to
cook while you start filling the second one. Otherwise you find
yourself having to sort through part-rotted stuff. My personal least
favourite job in the garden.

Definition of when it's "done" : when you can't recognise any of the
components.

Hope this helps! Oh, final tip (really) whether you have a black
plastic one, a loose pile, or some sort of container, try to keep your
layers level, ie don't make a pyramid in the middle, spread it out and
use all the corners.


--
Rachel Aitch

Most of the don't add things including pernicious weeds can be added to a
Wormery . Seems to work OK for me. The digestive tract of a worm must be
very efficient:-)