About this time last year I was given a compost bin. I’d been swithering about buying one for quite a while. The thing that put me off getting one was the fact that our garden is really quite small. So space is precious and compost bins are big, bulky and ugly.
Anyway, I’ve been following instructions to the letter and adding garden waste and vegetable kitchen waste and after a year I have very little to show for it.
I know that for about three months the whole bin would have been frozen solid, which wouldn’t have helped matters. It seems to be a fantastic way of preserving vegetable scraps with no sign of any compost to come.
Someone did tell me that the problem was that the whole thing was too dry and I needed an accelerator. Apparently I had to add urine to help the composting process along. So I appealed to the blokes of my family and with many complaints about me ‘taking the piss’ they did come up with the goods, but it was all to no avail.
So despite the fact that I didn’t have any problems with rats or ants, I’ve given up on the whole thing and I’ll be glad to get the space back for some nice plants.
One horrible thing about the composter was the millions of teeny wee compost flies that escaped from it every time I lifted the lid to add something to the bin.
I think a big part of the problem was the fact that even in the summer time it was too cold here for any heat to build up within the bin, which would have helped with the whole process.
Luckily the council in this area provides us with brown bins for garden waste, which they turn into compost. They are talking about providing bins for compostable kitchen waste which would be a definite plus as it it such a shame to have to put it all in the ordinary bin which is just taken off to a landfill site.
So my garden is going to lose its compost corner soon, I think I’m just going to have to brave it and start pulling the garbage out bit by bit. Yeeuch!