Selfsufficientish.com

I have just moved into a rented house and we have a decent sized garden, but it's all paved over (except for one weed-infested bed). However, we should be able to grow a fair amount in containers, and I've managed to wangle a load of wine-boxes out of my dad!!

It seems utterly barmy to keep on throwing away all our veg scraps, tea leaves etc, and then buy in loads of compost in the spring, so I want to start making some compost now so I've got plenty to play with next year.

The problem is, I'm not sure what to go for! A lot of people have said that wormeries are brilliant for small households with small gardens. (There's just two of us living here.) But they are very expensive (and I don't think either of us is up to making one) and I've also heard that you can't put much kitchen waste in, maybe only one day's worth each week.

Meanwhile, our council has a fantastic offer on compost bins, which I'm tempted to go for for that reason alone. However, I'm just a bit worried we won't be able to fill it! As I said, there's just two of us here, and we eat a decent amount of fruit and vet, but we don't have any grass cuttings or anything (which I read somewhere were good things to put on compost heaps).

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do? Or does anyone just know more about composting and have any advice?

Thank you!!

With a compost bin, I think you will probably get best results if you stand it on bare earth, so that will fill up part or all of your weed-infested bed.

How long are you planning to be in the property? Composting does take a long time, especially if you are working with a relatively small bin that never gets up much internal heat. However, if you start now, you could certainly expect to have some usable material later next year.

Wulf

Ooh, good point. Hadn't thought of that. We're expecting to be here for at least a year, probably up to two years.

Probably more than a year? Get started then. I've not used worm composting but getting a compost bin and getting started asap is probably a good plan - you can then spend more time researching if you also want to add in the worm approach.

You may also find other sources of plant matter for your garden - for example, there are going to be fallen leaves all over the place soon, free for the taking. You might also find friends and neighbours will be able to provide you with further material - for example, by this time of year, many buddleja bushes could do with some pruning (certainly the common Buddleja davidii variety) and you might find someone who is happy for you to trim one and keep the "rubbish", which would give you leaves for the compost and also plenty of twigs and sticks that can be used for other purposes (eg. staking taller plants or forming a screen to protect seedlings).

Wulf

"weed filled garden" - lotsa compostable material there, just avoid them when they are flowering/seeding.
Could still make garden tea with 'em - big metal 44 gallon drum ditch the seeding weeds into there instead of the compost bin and cover em with boiling water - kud build a wee fire under it thena ll the better to kill the seeds.
Let it cool and throw some dung or compost and/or seaweed into it and let it stew for a few days - stir as often as you can be bothered. dilute to a tea colour and use as a liquid feed

Weed tea sounds like a good idea. Though I haven't got anything to make it in. Grr.

And I'll get onto the council for a composter as soon as this month's pay comes through! Will the stuff I make be good enough quality for using in containers?

Thanks again for your help - expect more daft questions along the lines of 'can I put this in the composter?' in the near future!

It should be good enough, given enough time. You might need to sieve it a bit but that depends how many twigs and stalky bits make it in there.

Here is what mine looked like when I removed the finished product a few weeks ago:



Wulf

Our son lives in a rented flat with his friend and they have had a bin on the go for 6 months or so and he says thats he already can see the stuff breaking down to compost ... not bad for two ...

There is one problem with the council composters and that get the stuff to mis up... Ours has been going just twelve months and while I have bee ablle to mix it a little I wasn't satisfied ... so this week I got a friends muscles to tip it over so I could get at it and give it all a good turning... I was sooo pleased with it, lots of clean red worms ... thats why a friend had to help hubby dont like it and compost thats looking really good. I put it all back it to finish of and it will be perfect for spring...

Alternatively, there are bokashi composters. I think i was looking on naturalcollectionuk.com and they were £60, but it was a few days ago, so i can't remember.

The bokashis can be kept indoors, or near indoors and you can compost veg scraps, and meat scraps, and cooked scraps too. Might mean you get a bit more compost for your time. You can also take it with you when you move.

Every few weeks, I use a spade to chop the top layer together. Once it is mixed (or I start noticing worms), I leave it alone. Every six months or so, I remove the compost that is ready - that requires tipping the bin on the side and using a fork to work the material out as it gets well compressed in there.

Wulf

Don't buy a worm bin - you can make one yourself easily enough.

Get about six old tyres from the local tip or a new-tyre outfit. Pack the groove of each tyre all the way round with straw. Place them in a stack on a concrete or paved surface, and cover the last one with an old board with a brick on top (oh, all right, you can use something pretty if you want). Chuck a few buckets of worm-rich compost from a neighbour's heap into the bottom to seed it, and then add domestic waste at will. The straw acts to provide the worms with an insulated space to crawl into if it gets too hot.

Right, I should have a dalek winging its merry way to me sometime soon!

Would it be okay standing on gravel (rather than putting it on my only free bed)?

Also, if I made a wormery, would I still get the liquid feed? I've heard it's good for tomatoes and strawberries.

Hi Hamster
I stand of one of my daleks on an old brick base of something. It's fine and the worms still manage to find their way into it.

What I do, to turn the contents of the dalek, is to fill it and leave it for a couple of months. Then lift the dalek off the heap and put it down next to where it used to be. Then simply fork the heap back into the dalek so the stuff that was on the top is now on the bottom and the worms are distributed through the heap.

If you have a wormery then you will get lots of lovely liquid feed. You can pretty much bung it on anything. I used a large plastic paint tub for my wormery. I just made a few holes in the top for air and one in the bottom for the liquid to drip out, using a hot skewer. The holes must be quite small to stop the worms getting out. I stand mine on some old yogurt tubs so that the liquid has something to drip into. You can buy a few worms from a fishing bait shop. This would be enough to get a small compost bin started.

Remember that you can also add paper and cardboard. I use shredded paper from work as chook bedding. After use it goes on the compost heap.

Do ask your neighbours for contributions. Especially at the moment as they will be putting out grass clippings full of lovely leaves.

Zoe