On Sun, 7 Oct 2007 00:46:33 +0100, JakeD wrote
(in article ):

On Sat, 6 Oct 2007 16:54:41 +0100, Klara
wrote:

The closer contact with the soil and the larger area does seem to help:
not that I know where the worms come from, as they aren't earthworms. We
have three of these kept exactly the same way, but one has woodlice, one
has worms, one has fruit-flies - the variation must be the result of the
precise amount of moisture, I suppose.

But you don't have to make two: it's easy to lift off the one and shovel
it back for turning.

I'm teetering towards your method (bin upside-down). Do you have a
Lidl store in your town? I was in one today and they had purpose-made
compost bins for £15. I've seen similar things in garden centers for
£60 or more. I nearly bought one - and may even still buy one, as they
have small sliding doors at the base, on four sides, which I guess is
very convenient if you just want a pot-full of compost without doing
the whole bin-turning rigmarole. They are also suitably tapered in
shape, for the purpose we've been discussing, and have ventilation
slots that were hopefullly designed by an expert.

You will find the sliding doors at the base a total waste of time. We have
the plastic daleks AND the wooden pallet-type boxes, for different uses
around the garden. With the plastic daleks, it is relatively easy to lift it
off the heap (as Klara said), put the dalek back alongside and shovel back
the unrotted compost to start the next heap. We never want just a pot full
of compost - more like a barrow-loadg. It is important to site them on the
soil and not on conrete.

I've got another question about compost bins... I've had two
diametrically-opposite bits of advice regards positioning: One expert
said: "Don't have a compost bin near your veg patch, because it'll
attract slugs to the area" However, another expert said: "DO have the
compost bin near your veg patch, as the slugs will feed on the compost
rather than your veg"!

Anyone got any opinions on this? Which advice is the one to follow?

Have the compost bins (ideally you need more than one) in the most convenient
place for you to (a) fill and (b) empty. Remember you may need to get a
wheelbarrow alongside. I have never found slugs in the compost, and I think
if you do then it is probably too wet and too cold. You will attract slugs
as soon as you grow veg, not as soon as you have a compost bin! However, we
use slug traps which are organic and have managed even this year to keep
their worst excesses at bay. I plan to get some hens soon and they will be
introduced to the veg patch at a very early stage!

As an aside, I have found that things we grow in our own compost do far far
better than those in the shop-bought stuff - so go for it.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk