HomeblogMega-composting A massive compost bin helps the F&F garden keep on top of waste and feed the soil. As the proud owner of four chickens, two lawns and two mature trees, I have a fair amount of stuff that needs composting. And I also have very poor soil in my garden that will need feeding and improving regularly. So when we moved into the dream garden, we arranged for one of these mega compost bins, a 900 litre Thermo King bin from Get Composting, which helps people set up compost heaps in their own gardens, to help us compost all that material so that we can improve our soil. It is a big old bin. Really very big indeed. With a big this big, you can expect the compost at the centre to rot pretty quickly as it will get very warm. I’ve already noticed the centre of the heap steaming and ashy when I turn it, which is a sign that proper hot pile composting is taking place. Our huge beech tree has given us four bags of leaf mould and has filled the bin with leaves too. It’s important to have a good balance between ‘browns’ like dead leaves and ‘greens’ like vegetable peelings, grass clippings and fresh manure. Our kitchen produces a good binful each week of peelings for the heap, we’ve put all our grass clippings in there, and we have this: Yes, the good thing about those chickens is that they don’t stop producing manure. There’s always more manure than you ever thought possible from four small birds. A good fat bucketful a week goes on the compost, and I tend to let the bucket stand outside for a few days so that any rainfall can soften the wood shavings that we use in the hen coops. I also shred comfrey leaves to go in the heap and encourage rotting while adding nutrients. I turn the heap once a fortnight with a fork and make sure that it is sufficiently moist. This is important for encouraging rotting, but also to deter rodents from making a warm heap their home. That’s the other good thing about this compost bin: it’s rodent-proof: There are holes to let in air, but they aren’t big enough to let in any sort of rodent and the lid clips on securely. This means I can add whatever kitchen leftovers I like to the bin without worrying that I’ll be attracting vermin. It doesn’t come with a base, though, so we have mounted it on thick chipboard that rodents will find very difficult to gnaw their way through. With any luck, this bin, which is going into winter full of a good mix of browns and greens, will be full of well-rotted compost ready to spread on the beds by the mid-summer. We’ll be setting up another bin in the new year so that we always have one active compost heap that we’re adding things to and one that’s happily rotting down, ready to be used. But this mega-composter has taken in a heck of a lot of material this year. Visit Get Composting to see the compost sets available in your area. One Response » Mulching the veg beds March 21, 2015 […] of the best bits of news I’ve had in a good long time is that the mega hot pile compost heap I started in June now has compost that’s ready to use in the garden. I shovelled out […] Reply Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment
» Mulching the veg beds March 21, 2015 […] of the best bits of news I’ve had in a good long time is that the mega hot pile compost heap I started in June now has compost that’s ready to use in the garden. I shovelled out […] Reply
