Is there anything I can't compost? - Page 2

Figrat, no I don't mind you asking at all - tempis has fugited qute a while now, and some of the bones and joints just don't do as they used to do - they call it arthritis, I call it a b******  nuisance, but there we are - it still all works after a fashion, just a rather odd fashion, but so far we still get compost - and I still garden!

Hi Figrat - thanks for the links/info.

Thanks all, there's some brilliant advice on here, and that rotary compost sieve looks fantastic.  All I need is some compost to sieve now!

Well, I've decided to bung the banana and citrus peels into the compost, together with all of the other stuff.  One gardening book I've been looking at says not to bother with the accelerator stuff,as all it is, is the same bacteria that's found in horse poo (that I can get free from my local stables.  I already know not to bother trying to compost perennial weeds, but I have been making nettle 'tea' (yep, it's stinky,but gets rid of nettles), thanks to watching Mr Bloom with the kids, I didn't realise I could put the stinky dregs on the heap, it all adds to the mix!

The same book recommends periodically testing your soil's PH, and if it's too acid, liming it (for growing veggies).  That's why I'm trying to compost stuff, the soil we've got already is good, but could be better.

As always, some great advice on here, so thanks to everyone who's chipped in, thankfully the advice has always been similar (not half and half yes you can and no you can't!)

Flobear, thanks for your comment re my username!  I will be pestering you next summer for chicken advice, Hubby has agreed we can have some next year when we move over the road (father-in-law's old house, bigger house and bigger garden than ours).

Very interesting read can I throw in a couple of items , one is soot from my chimney sweep. Is it an all round good or only for some garden plants. The second is corn cobs, will they break down as they are almost wood like.

I wouldn't put in soot - though my sweep tells me it's an excellent slug deterrent. Ashes from a wood fire are fine (obviously cool if you're using a plastic dalek...!), ashes from coal or mixed fuel fires not good. The corn cobs will rot down eventually, you might want to chop them up though.

Hi figrat, thanks for that. I guess I can either kill the slugs or let the soot harm the crops. I say this with regard to my potatoes this year, I estimated that I lost over half my crop to slugs this year.

I have a couple of rabbits and 3 chickens and their waste goes on the compost.  Think it is a natural accelerator?  I dont worry about the bits that havnt composted properly ie twigs etc as they will carry on rotting down on the garden.  I have a shredder which i use alot.  Advocado stones - still get thrown back in the bin.  One day they will rot down I am sure!!    Toilet and kitchen rolls and brown cardboard with sticky tape taken off.  I dont compost egg shells as I've heard they make the soil alkaline and I have neutral to acidic and want it to stay that way!!

you can put citrus peel and bananas in the compost,paper and card board you can but I don't.The main thing is not to attract rodents such as rats,they love cooked scraps and eggs(whole,so only shells) tea bags,coffee bags,weeds (once they have been drowned)leaves e.t.c. can be composted as well.

Referring to ChristyRose, I would make sure that pet waste doesn't contain pet food, otherwise the rats will be in there with big smiles on their faces.

Hi Joe,  no its just droppings and bedding - no food.