Composting

Finally I have gotten around to adding to my eco tips page on my website. Here's how it goes.
Home composting can be done in rather exciting things called wormeries www.wigglywigglers.co.uk , wooden or recycled plastic compost bins or you can make your own if you so desire and are a bit handy at that sort of thing.
I have fond memories of as a child taking the scraps down to the end of my grandparents garden and throwing it all in the compost bin which in their case simply consisted of a big heap of all the usual compostable stuff (more of that below) with a bit of chicken wire or similar around it. I remember being fascinated by all the little bug things milling around in it. I don't actually remember if grandad used it on the garden though I'm sure he must have as he grew tidy rows of curly kale, cabbages, runner beans and other lovely tasty goodies.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't start my first compost bin till we moved to our present home approxiamately 2years ago. At the time the council were subsidising the cost of composters so I bought nice big one only cost us £5, bargain! It's a big recycled plastic container with a lid and a flap on the front to remove the compost to use on the garden. The thought of a wormery fills me with horror as I'm squimish about wriggly slimy things, yuck but they do look like good fun so do have a look at the website above . When I started tipping my compostable waste into it I was convinced it would be full within a month or so and remember discussing with hubby wether we should order another one. I'm glad we didn't as every time I lifted the lid to add more it seemed that there would be even less in it than last time I looked!
I have to say I'm a very lazy composter and I don't turn my compost nor do I mix it with a fork or add accelerator and I don't worry too much about getting the balance of greens and browns right. My efforts at composting are more to do with keeping as much of my stuff out of landfill and less to do with making super compost to put on my garden. So really all the effort it takes is keeping a compost caddy in the kitchen to put scraps etc in and then taking it out to the garden every day or so. Really, that's all! And the difference it's made to how much stuff goes in the wheely bin is great. Did you know that compostable 'stuff' sent to landfill is unable to decompose property because, squashed under all the other waste, it doesn't have any access to the air. So instead, methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is produced which contributes to global warming.
But wait here's the fun bit. If you thought you could only compost things like veg scraps and grass cutting, think again. I have been astounded to learn that these are some of the more bizzare things you can compost
Toenails, hoover bag contents if you have wool carpet, used guinea pig/rabbit/hamster bedding, loo roll inserts, woollen socks and jumpers, human hair and animal fur, coffee grounds, lint from tumble dryer filter, wood chips, ash from the fire. In fact the list goes on. And urine is a natural accelerant! As you can imagine the last fact has been somewhat of a talking point for hubby when we have friends over for a barbecue.