"John Price" wrote in
o.uk:

Still at the begining of my veg gardening, and am now looking at the
issue of composting. Googling yields a variety of
opinion/advice/equipment. At the risk of getting a thousand different
opinions, what is the "lived" experience here?

For the structure of a compost heap I've seen plastic bins galore,
wood-panel boxes with and without front removal, suggestions for
containing it in a wire fence etc etc. My local council flogs 330Litre
plastic bins for £19.

Whichever structure you use, there are products to add to them, with
conflicting advice about whether they are needed. Likewise there are
different views on whether to keep mixing the content or not, and
whether you need a special tool to do that with or not.

Why isn't life simple??!!!

In my garden the most consistent matter is a lot of lawn cuttings on a
weekly basis, then periodic hedge trimmings from a fair amount of
privet and Leylandii, lots of Autumn leaves and sporadic stuff from two
ponds. Then there is the household waste. I can easily get rid of
excess amounts of lawn stuff into the council bins for garden waste.

There is also a question mark in my mind about the economics of this.
If I were to buy a plastic bin or the materials to make a wooden one,
how much would I save overall as opposed to buying compost from the
council (after giving them all my garden waste to make it!!).

All views welcomed - many thanks

JIP



Seems like I am the first of a thousand :-)

Life is never simple, but what I do is have a dalek which is a plastic
bin bought from the local council. I put grass clippings into it along
with paper and cardboard etc. When I can't fit my garden waste into it I
start a pile in the shaddowy corner where things don't grow very well. I
then sling on it everything which will eventually rot down. I have had a
couple of heaps on the go, but unwisely earlier this year when it was dry
and sunny I used it all.

I could give you tips like put your urine in the bin/heap but realy I am
a newbie compared to all of the people in this group.

Baz