In article ,
steve auvache wrote:

In article , Mary
writes
I have never composted before, and have just received a compost bin from our
council,

All Hail your council. Well done them.


but I don't have a clue as to where to start, or what I can or can
not put in it.
Any help and advise would be appreciated.

My own philosophy is: if it was once a plant, is not going to be eaten
and has not been cooked then it goes in the compost. The exception to
this is any material that is obviously diseased.

Having said that and despite the fact it is cooked plant, I put paper in
mine too. In addition and for some reason I simply don't understand but
seems entirely logical to me I put my used tea bags in there as well.

My compost is fine, my veggies love it.

Steve's mix is the same as mine, I also put in eggshells (but not the
eggs raw OR cooked!), coffee grinds, and small pieces of wood, like rose
clippings, but chopped up into 1 inch (2.5cm) lengths .. Quite often
these don't decompose completely, but they seem to help the mixture be
more open, without them the mixture can get slimy and horrible.

Also, I'm impatient .. in spring when I plant my beans, I empty the
compost bin into the trench, whether it's ready or not .. Usually the
trench is 2 spade depths deep, with 1 spade depth of compost in the
bottom. It works for me, although I wouldn't do this with root crops,
just above surface stuff.

Hope that was of interest

Dom