Hi Sarah

Erm - you can also 'water' it with some recycled beer (urine) if you feel
brave. I don't do this, so can't comment on smell or effectiveness.

Cor she would love that LOL

My
heap is open, but I do add all coffee and tea dregs (as well as coffee
grounds and tea bags),

So do I although I thought there was new law about tea bags? I tend to
smuggle mine in LOL

BTW I have taken on board about putting a piece of perforated piping down
the centre.. do you think it would be useful to drill holes in the outside
of the bin itself?

also sometimes the water from boing veg / pasta,
the dreg ends of gravy etc..

I have a lot to learn. I would have thought that would produce more
silage But it shall be done


Somewhat strangly, given that we do not eat a lot of citrus fruit, my heap
nearly always smells faintly of orange peel.... (well so I think at any
rate), however, when I used to run a plastic dalek heap, I occasionaly got
really smelly lumps in the compost where material had turned into silage
rather than compost. But this was nearly always due to a big clump of one
type of material being rammed in tight.

I would suggest mixing the stuff well as you chuck it in - if you have a
lot of hedge clippings, mix them with grass, if you've trimmed the ivy
back, mix it with the contents of the weeding bucket etc.. If you are
short of woody material you can add paper and cardboard. This will help
prevent anerobic consitions (i.e. silage production). I never turned the
stuff in my dalek - way too much work and very difficult. I just emptied
it 2 - 3 times a year, anything that wasn't compost was chucked back in.

Excellent. just the stuff I need to know I am just imagining madam's face
if we start to pull it out every few months LOL


Smell is personally subjective, what smells good to me may not smell good
to you ;-) Don't worry about your neighbour - she is just being majorly
petty. Implement URG's suggestions and most of that smell should go. Given
the new rules imposed on local councils with regard to composting organic
waste, they should be on your side for wanting to do you own - even if
your neighbour complains about the smell! As others have siad, I don't
think anyone could do anything unless your heap was proved to be a health
hazard, which is extremely unlikely! After all, the smell of dacaying
organic materials is perfectly normal unluike some other smells I could
mention.

Quite so. I don't know how this woman thinks things grow if they are not
fed Well it could take a long time for her posh new garden to die but I
wonder what she will do when it does!


Sarah
(P.S. I also see you on the sewing groups!)

Ooooh will keep a look out for you))))

O