Compost bin

[Annabella72]

Hope you can help, have only started this year and am not too sure if this is normal. Have put in some shredded paper as well as all fruit/veg but it doesn't seem to break down that much and there are loads of fruit flies. Is this all normal or can we be doing something more? Many thanks in advance

[shaneystar2]

You need a bit more green stuff perhaps ..we put grass cuttings in ours . Any garden waste cut up smallish.Try to make layers of stuff eg.paper ,grass cuttings then paper then veg peelings etc. It does need turning quite often .I use stuff called Garotter ,which you can get at any garden centre or Wilkinsons .It's a powder you sprinkle in to help break down the waste matter.Does also depend on where your bin is sited .You need it to be in full sunlight really and placed directly on the ground so that the worms can get in to do their work.
Keep with it ..ours is only just starting to crumble down after a year !

[Lonnie]

shaneystar2 has given you some excellent advice, as she normally does, but every so often, I think its a good idea to cover the top of it with earth, I normally make it about an inch deep, others may differ, this helps keep it warm, which in turn helps with the composting

[nickmo]

Have a look at : http://www.greenchoices.org/gardening.html#compost and see the compost info - the HDRA leaflet will give you a stack of stuff off the site as well.