Compost

Comments

Our scraps either go to compost dog cat pet mice, so end up with little or no food scraps

Submitted by loisanne on 5 December 2007 15:11:36

What about a worm farm instead of a compost bin? Very easy to use.

Submitted by rebeccal on 5 December 2007 15:48:46

Composting is great for people that don't want the responsibility of living worms and require less maintenance you juts add all your fruit and vegie scraps, grass clippings, paper towels etc and give it a stir, leaving it in the sun is best but a bit of shade is fine.

Worm farming there is a bit more of an art to that and responsibility, they can get too hot and too wet and you have to rotate your trays and remove casting and vermicast regularly to use on your garden or plants.

Submitted by Jimmy Rainwood on 5 December 2007 16:28:39

I think the government and government departments church out more compost than the rest of the nation.

Submitted by jimbo on 5 December 2007 18:37:42

Does anyone know where to get the worms for a worm farm in the Wellington/Hutt Valley region? I'd like to set up a worm farm for my scraps.

Submitted by jasminw on 6 December 2007 17:35:26

Hi Jasminw, contact your local council to find out where to get worms for your worm farm.

Submitted by Donna P on 7 December 2007 08:03:10

I may just be impatient, but does anyone have any tips for speeding up the composting process?

Submitted by Amy on 14 July 2008 16:47:16

Hi Amy, the composting process often slows down a lot at this time of year because of the colder temperatures. It will be a bit quicker if your compost bin is in full sun, or if you can do something to keep the compost hotter - like insulating it with old carpet or lots of newspapers or something like that.

In general, all I can suggest is making sure your compost is the best possible quality - not too wet or dry, the right proportions of 'green' to 'brown' material, and well aerated (for example two bins beside each other, so you can fork the compost from one to the other to let lots of air in).

The little greeblies that turn your garden waste into compost are live organisms, so they will work harder and faster when conditions are just right for them.

Also the addition of a bit of lime every so often may speed up the process by making your compost a little more alkaline (it often gets quite acidic, especially if it's damp).

Anyway things do slow down a bit in winter. Good isn't it? Maybe you should just get yourself a rug and a good book and leave the compost to it? ;-)

Submitted by Lindis on 14 July 2008 22:26:06

Thanks Lindis, that's good advice.

My husband has been bemoaning the inactivity of our new compost as labelling it our grand black elephant.

I was beginning to think there may be some truth in this as it really is no more than an oversized homeless insect shelter at the moment. I will recite your wise words to him in the morning.

Submitted by Cerelia Anderson on 14 July 2008 23:08:57

LOL Cerelia! It seems many husbands feel that way about compost! (That's all I'm going to say about that!)

Submitted by Lindis on 15 July 2008 16:37:45

Haha that sounds very familiar. I started our compost bin up in the heat of summer and was thrilled to see things happening so the last couple of months have been pretty disheartening! Some advice for Lindis: When going through the garden section of the Warehouse a while ago I found some stuff specifically designed to sprinkle in your compost heap, it contains lime, blood and bone, nitrogen and a few other goodies I can't remember that help speed up the process. I found it among the fertilisers, blood and bone, magnesium etc for the garden. I sprinkle it on the heap every so often and I'm pretty sure it's helped!

Submitted by ClaireH on 16 July 2008 11:44:12

Thanks guys, I will give it a good turn this weekend and a bit of sprinkle.

Submitted by Amy on 18 July 2008 15:29:26