Its from my 'Friends of the Earth' tip of the day.
Care for your compost
If you have a compost bin, cover it for the next few months, to keep heat in and rain out. If you have a wormery, wrap it in old carpet or bubble wrap to keep the worms warm so that they can continue to turn kitchen waste into rich compost when temperatures drop.
Compost heaps need to be damp for decomposition, but the warmer, the quicker it occurs. Last winter my compost heap completely dried out, and I had the chuck a lot, as once dried up it doesn't rot down, even if re-wetted.
With me gardening for a living as well as a hobby and charging to take away garden waste and to save some trips to the tip I compost any suitable material. I have five heaps, three plastic bins and an enormous doulbe bin I built myself. I produce between 7 - 10 tons easily a year and if I say so myself I have perfected the process and get good quality compost in as little as four months. The way to get consistant good quality is by mixing the soft sappy materials and grass clippings with the woody prunings and shreddings in the correct ratio even if it means adding newspaper to get the ratio correct. It is getting the correct carbon to nitrogen ratio that is the key and I try for about 25-1 then it is never too dry or wet and the bigger the heap the more heat it produces. The only trouble with producing so much compost is my soil level is getting higher and I am now having to build raised beds all round my garden.
fern Rob wrote:I wish I had room in the garden for a compost heap but I would not want to encourage rats etc.
I wonder: Do folk actually have problems with rats and compost heaps? My heap isn't near the house, but I can't say I've ever noticed that there have been rats there - nothing gnawed through etc.
Might be a question of what sort of kitchen waste you put on the heap?
For stuff more like Meat and so on there is a Green Cone or Joanna or some name like that, which I think is rodent-proof?