Filed under: Recycled Plastic Products | Tags: beds, composter, environment, planters, plastic, raised, recycled, recycling
Spring is a great time to start composting and get into the garden as the weather starts to improve. why waste your time and money going down to the DIY store to purchase compost for your plastic raised beds and plastic planters, when you can make your own in no time.
You can give home composting a try by recycling your kitchen waste. More than one third of the average black waste bin can be composted, not to mention all the garden waste. Yet many people still don’t know how simple home composting is to do.
Home composting is still one of the best ways to help the environment every day, and is a habit that can be quickly built into your regular kitchen and garden habits. For example its not just grass cuttings that can go into your compost bin: you can also add scrunched up cardboard, teabags vegetable peelings and coffee granules – even shredded confidential documents, don’t worry worms still can’t read.
At the height of summer my recycled plastic compost tumbler churns out compost every 3 weeks. To order a compost tumbler which is the quickest and most efficient way to produce home compost contact Kedel Ltd on 01282 861325.
Composting is a natural process that transforms your kitchen and garden waste into valuable food and nutrients for your garden. It’s great for using on plastic flower beds, vegetable plots, plastic raised beds and for mixing into recycled plastic planters and can really make your garden bloom.
Filed under: Compost Bins / Compost Tumblers, Recycled Plastic Products | Tags: advice, bin, compost, composter, gardening, growing, plastic, rectycled, tumbler
Directions for composting with our Compost Tumbler / Compost Bin ‘The Compost Creator’
- Place composter in a sunny position – 95˚F – 160˚F (35˚-71˚C). Best range: 122˚-130˚F (50˚-55˚C). 130˚-150˚F (55˚-65˚C) will kill seeds and pathogens, but do not go above these temperatures.
- Add compostable materials – Use 1/3 green to 2/3 brown to ensure a good finished product. Add a handful of fresh topsoil to bring in new microbes. Special accelerates may be used but follow manufacturers instructions carefully. Best to fill ‘The Compost Creator“ half way, and definitely not more than 2/3 full, as this reduces aeration and kills important microbes.
- Tumble ‘The Compost Creator’ once a week and whenever you add more. The contents should all turn brown, moist and soil-like, and have an earthy smell in about 2-4 weeks ready to put on your plants or vegetables.
Compost problems and solutions
What if your composting doesn’t seem to be working?
- Could be too full – Remove some material, add some soil and turn several times.
- Heck temperature – Too cold? Move to a sunnier place or cover barrel with insulating material. Too hot? Move to a cool, shady, breezier area.
- If nothing works – empty bin and start off again with step 1, mixing old and new materials.
Ideal composting materials:
Green – Rich in nitrogen – 1/3rd
- Bread
- Cooked food
- Dairy products
- Egg shells
- Fruit and vegetables
- Garden/house plants
- Grass cuttings
- Raw meat and bones (sparingly)
- Tea leaves/bags
- Coffee grounds
- Weeds (not any that have gone to seed)
Brown – carbon rich – 2/3rd
- Bedding from pet cages (rabbits etc)
- Feathers
- Hedge trimmings
- Paper and cardboard
- Straw and hay
- Wood chips and sawdust
- Dried leaves and grass
IMPORTANT – DO NOT ADD
- Dog or cat litter or poo
- Ashes not from wood
- Nappies, glass, plastic, metal
- Toxic materials
- Diseased plants or any gone to seed
Composting tips
Maggots help compost, but indicate it may have wet patches
Breaking material down before adding it will reduce composting time
Don’t add too much meat or grass. It can make the compost too wet and reduce aerobic bacterial growth
Make compost tea – nutritious plant food – add a little compost to 4-8 litres of water
Don’t add paper with lead based inks on it
Avoid repeatedly adding to the same compost batch as this would increase composting time
