I want to start composting. I'd be grateful for any advice on the following:

1 Can anyone recommend a good simple book?

2 How important is it to have a mixture of materials: e.g. kitchen
waste, grass, leaves, etc.?

3 I have been wondering about these rotating drums that promise to
produce compost fast
(2 weeks or so) and (more important) without any heavy work involving
my weak back.
Do they do the job well?

Thanks in advance.

In message , arthur
wrote
I want to start composting. I'd be grateful for any advice on the following:

1 Can anyone recommend a good simple book?


Use the web for the information

A reasonable site to visit for composting is
http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/index.html

You may be able to obtain cheap bins from them if your local council
supports the scheme.

Their news letter on composting
http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Enj...er2007.7e8863a
0.pdf

They have many other fact sheets available on that site which can be
downloaded..


--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

"arthur" wrote in message
I want to start composting. I'd be grateful for any advice on the
following:
1 Can anyone recommend a good simple book?

I have several but since they are all published in Australia, they won't be
much use to you. There is lots of info on the net. Here are a few sites:
http://www.greenworks.tv/special/composting/index.html
http://searchwarp.com/swa9534.htm
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art10889.asp

2 How important is it to have a mixture of materials: e.g. kitchen
waste, grass, leaves, etc.?

Not very. Save that for if you become a fanantical composter. Till then,
just remember that anything that has once lived is able to be made into
compost - it's all nutrients and plants aren't too fussy about whether it's
a dead chook or the equivalent of a PhD in compost.

3 I have been wondering about these rotating drums that promise to
produce compost fast
(2 weeks or so) and (more important) without any heavy work involving
my weak back.
Do they do the job well?

They do a good job, but I don't know anyone who lives in a temperate climate
who has made compost in 2 weeks from them and I live in a lot hotter climate
than the UK (sun on them does help them to work). They will turn out
mulchlike material after 2 weeks but that is about it.

To get going you don't even need a bin. You can dig a trench and drop stuff
in and progressively bury it, you can sheet compost, you can build a big
pile, you can go the whole hog and have bins which you turn religiously, you
can have a wormery or you can keep chooks or a whole host of other things
that will also work.

I have 2 tumblers, 2 big anaerobic plastic bins that look like upside down
huge garbage bins with the bottom cut off and I have 2 tradional bins that
should be turned. I don't bother to turn them. They all work eventually.
I also sheet compost and put manure straight on the top of beds and top them
with leaves and leave them on the beds over winter so the worms can do my
work for me. I also throw the bigger rougher stuff and some of the other
weedings (especially milk thistles) to the chooks and let them turn stuff
for me which may or may not end up in a compost bin or just straight on a
bed somewhere or could just stay in the chook pen for ages.

I have a big garden that isn't at all neat or ordered by British standards
but it works like a big forest floor in some places.

Just start and do something/anything to keep nutrients on your own land
rather than sending it off somewhere else to rot.

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:41:17 +0100, arthur
wrote:

I want to start composting. I'd be grateful for any advice on the following:

1 Can anyone recommend a good simple book?

2 How important is it to have a mixture of materials: e.g. kitchen
waste, grass, leaves, etc.?

3 I have been wondering about these rotating drums that promise to
produce compost fast
(2 weeks or so) and (more important) without any heavy work involving
my weak back.
Do they do the job well?

Thanks in advance.

People can get terribly hung up and fussy about composting. It's not
rocket science. All you're doing is allowing bacteria to rot down
unwanted vegetable matter. I have a single heap in a corner, that
everything goes onto (weeds, light prunings and shreddings, dead
plants and contents of old flower-pots, kitchen vegetable waste, grass
cuttings etc. etc. Some people also add newspaper and cardboard). When
it gets too big, after about six months or so, I remove the top stuff
as far down as need be to get to the decomposed stuff underneath,
which is then used where needed in the garden. The stuff from the top
then becomes the bottom of the new heap, and so on. The only
concession I make is not to put too many grass cuttings on in too
thick a layer; I mix them in with the top stuff just a bit to stop
them making a slimy wodge.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Chris Hogg wrote:

The only concession I make is not to put too many grass cuttings on in too
thick a layer; I mix them in with the top stuff just a bit to stop them
making a slimy wodge.

I was given a trick for this: when you cut the grass, leave it to wither
on the ground for a few hours. It dries quickly, specially if it is
short and it is sunny, and then you can put it all on the compost in one
lump. Otherwise you're right, fresh grass takes a looooong time to
compost.


Greg
--

You may ask yourself, how do I work this?

No ficus = no spam

Thanks to everyone who replied.

I recognise that my inquiry was a FAQ. However, I have not been able to
get the answers to FAQ on the website that is set up for this newsgroup:
I keep getting the 'unable to display' response when I try. I don't
know if this is a common experience, or whether it can be got round.

Still, thanks for the help with the basic topic. I may not have the pat
answer, but I am more resolved than ever to get started.