Judithj's Inbox

Try adding contents of a yogurt pot not the whole of the pot but just add water to what is left in the bottom. Add a layer of shredded paper with every layer of veg waste.

As the others have said keep mixing and adding. I use a shredder indoors, and find that every now and then a couple of pages of newspaper shredded and mixed in helps to stop it getting sticky. With regards to rats and mice all our bins are on wire so that nothing gets in. I learnt the hard way my first year here when a family of rats moved in ! It was not very pleasant so now each bin has wire under. Good luck you will find it worth it once you start getting your compost out.

I have two compost bins and as in Spritzhenry reply you do need to get the mix right and it can take two years before you see the results. You can buy a breakdown powder to add to your mix. This speeds up the process. I would also advice you to to try and rock the barrel as this also helps the process and the level should drop.

Debs

Also a very good idea to make sure all compost bins are as far away from the house as possible (rats & mice) and that they are not in a shady place, they need sun to heat up and accelerate the decomposition process.

Hallo Judith - Happy New Year! Yes, keep at it, because compost well-made should heat up in the middle and it will eventually turn to useable lovely stuff. You have to keep on adding to it, as I find that the heap sinks gradually and needs topping up. We had a whole blog on this subject earlier this year, (do you remember the bit about weeing in the bin)? I was looking for it but haven't tracked it down. You need to add other stuff as well as kitchen waste, like shredded paper/cardboard and as you say, mix it. You also must get the damp/dry balance right, because too wet and it's yucky, slimy and cold, too dry and it won't rot down. Nil desperandum, you'll get there!

Don't DIG your garden. Doing so will 1) cause a rash of weeds, and 2) loosen the soil to a consistency which roots won't like.
Soil should be naturally compact. Compost, mulch, fertilizer, etc., left on top of the soil will be dealt with by Nature. Save yourself the work!

my soil is also heavy clay - but i find it does really work.

If you can reach into the beds to weed the centre that's fine, treading heavily compacts the soil, use a board to spread weight if you have to
walk on it. Clay can be heavy, add plenty of organic matter eg compost,
manure, and leaf mould etc then the worms will work it for you.

Hey, it works in nature. Why can't it work in your garden?

The roots and worms do need reasonably open and moist soil to work with, so if you have compacted or dry soil, dig it up to start with. But once it's up and running, I see no reason to dig any more.

personally i generally don't do to much digging in any of my beds raised or otherwise. i always dig down about 2ft when preparing a new one and then i will do it again if i am having a change around. but other than that i ruff up the serface of the soil with a hand folk and lay compostable bark - or my own compost if i have some about 2-3 inches thick accross the top. - i do this two or three time a year, and have done so for many years and i find my plants do really well, and on the rare occations that i do dig right down the soil seems to be great, and the worms are plentyful, so it obviously does work. i have always done it this way because i love to plant lots of bulbs and perennials and i find digging over all the time often distroys the ones i have forgotten about. and i end up buying more. - also less hard work lol! - more time for the nice things!

While my vegetable beds are not officially raised beds, they are slightly proud of the service paths between them. When they were first made, I double dug them but now I just sprinkle a general fertiliser and any left-over garden compost on the surface and lightly fork it in in early spring before covering with cloches to warm the soil