Home Compost Bins (& Prize Winner Announcements)

Struggling with smelly bins, slow breakdown, or compost that just doesn’t work? This episode takes the guesswork out of composting and shows you how to get it right. Keith shares simple, practical insights to help you turn kitchen scraps and garden waste into rich, living soil. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to improve your results, this episode will help you compost with confidence and boost the health of your garden.

Products & Tools recommended in this episode

• Clyde's Compost
• Rooster Booster
• F.D Ryan's Broadfork

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, I'm Elizabeth, an obsessive backyard gardener who might be able to offer you a couple of tips.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

And I'm Keith, a landscape consultant, and I'm also passionate about gardening.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

The one thing we both have in common is muddy boots. Before we begin this week's podcast, we have a very important job to do. Again, we're having a big month of giveaways this month, and today's giveaway is a pack of three incredible worm farms from Wormley valued at $165. There was a fantastic response to the giveaway, but sadly we can only announce one winner. And that winner is, and I'm going to spell it, at L I F L R E. So at Lifler. I don't know how to pronounce it. I think Lindsay is the winner's name. So congratulations, Lindsay. We will be in contact with you, and your soil and your garden are going to be very pleased. So that's very exciting. For everyone else, please visit wormly.com.au for more information about these fabulous in-ground worm farms. Okay. Following a request from one of our lovely listeners, Keith and I are going to dedicate this week's podcast on one of the most rewarding things that you can do in your garden. And that is making your own home compost. Composting can seem a bit challenging when you first start. Some people have steaming hot bins that break down beautifully, while others end up with a soggy, smelly mess or a pile that just sits there doing absolutely nothing. So today we're going to unpack the secrets to a healthy compost bin, from how they cope in different climates to how often you should turn them, how damp they really need to be, what materials work best, and how to tell when your compost is finally ready to feed the garden. Whether you live in the tropics, the dry inland, or somewhere cold and frosty, this episode will help take the guesswork out of composting and hopefully inspire more people to turn kitchen scraps and garden waste into black gold. So, Keith, let's get composting. Why is home composting one of the best things gardeners can do for their soil and their garden overall?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Because you're providing your plants with the things that they need to survive with. It's as simple as simple as that. It is as simple as that. So compost is is is a a life-giving form that that you have control over in so many different ways. And that's all that's the best way. That's what I think it's all about.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Okay. What challenges do gardeners face when composting in wet, humid climates compared to dry or cold regions?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Um it's it all gets back to um the levels of of heat, I guess, uh, and that's external heat, not the heat from the actual compost. And this is where um it gets a really becomes very, very interesting as far as I'm concerned. Um I I used to do I used to do an awful lot of lectures when I was with the Diggers Club on compost. I'd have, you know, we'd do workshop after workshop after workshop, and I would always explain to the people sitting in that room that there have been more books written and more theses written on uh on compost and the various ways that it works. And I always preface that by saying that I can only explain to you the success that I have by the methods that I use in making compost.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Okay. Well, you're gonna explain those to us now?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

No.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Oh shut down. Okay. Does the pro composting process slow down in winter? And should gardeners do anything differently during colder months?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Okay, so so in actual fact, no, it doesn't. It it it it compost is a science, and that science relates back to um two things that you've got to keep in mind all the time. And it is classified as as the carbon to nitrogen ratio. So I always work on the basis, and and this has all been always something that that that I've had so much success from, and people I've I've lectured at, um, and I've lectured at three universities in in Victoria here on composting, and the feedback that I've had has been terrific. And that is that if we if you keep in mind that carbon to nitrogen ratio, you will have compost throughout the year, regardless of the timing. And the the way that that this was actually blown away to me was was was seeing a video of um a compost heap that must have been probably the size of a bus uh at the the Royal Horticultural Society uh uh uh at a at uh um the gardens of Wesley in the middle of in the middle of winter. And they showed this this this heap, as I said, the size of a bus, uh you know, in a field that that had what looked like snow all the way around it, and it was steaming. So there was there was no snow uh immediately around that heap. Yeah, and there was just steam coming off the top of that that that compost heap. And you you looked at that and and when you don't understand how it actually works, you look at that and you say what what have they put into that heap to make that steam? And when you understand that that the carbon to nitrogen ratio, it all gets back to what is creating that steam, is not a mechanical thing, it is a microbial thing. There are there are bacteria and and microbes working in there. There's there's there's one that are called thermophiles and there's another one called mesophiles. And these are are are are working in in such a way that some of them are working so hard and they're breaking down that organic matter in in such a quick manner that they're creating heat. You know, if you if you rub your hands really, really hard quickly together, you create heat. And that is exactly the same thing that those microbes are doing. They're working so quickly together, and there's so many of them that they create this heat. So, so the the the compost, a good compost heap can would would would if you stuck in a um uh a thermometer, it might get to say 40 or 40 or 45 degrees Celsius in there. So that's almost the stage if you stuck your hand and you get burnt. And then you've got another range of of uh bacteria and microbes that work above that that can create that heat up to 80 degrees Celsius, and that's much too high because that's just can destroy a lot of the goodness, the fungi and everything else that form part of that that that biota.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

All right. So we get back to what's called the carbon to nitrogen.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Can you give us a yeah, tell us what these ratios are? And we talk about the greens and the browns all the time when it comes to composting, what does that mean? And yeah, tell us about these ratios and what we have to do as home gardeners.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yep. So the browns are carbon. Yes. So if you uh and and and and let me explain it this way. When when I pull out my my tomatoes, I'm pulling out 50 or 60 tomato plants that have come to the end of their life. Some of them have still got tomatoes on them, and there's a little bit of green left. So I pull those out and I stick them down and leave them on the ground, and I allow those can to go from green, which is which is nitrogen, yes, into the brown, which is the carbon.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So that component is the carbon ratio. And the the the actual ratio itself is is one part carbon to three parts nitrogen.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Right.

unknown 7:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Now that's important. That that's that is the that is the ratio. That is the science as as far as I'm concerned that works and has worked for me over many, many years. The carbon nitration, one part carbon, three parts nitrogen. Okay. Yep. So the the actual nitrogen component being the green matter is all the leafy vegetables. So lettuce, old lettuce, um kitchen scraps, um green leaves, uh grass.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Grass is is just about all pure nitrogen. And if you put those in in if you had one bucket full of of of brown carbon, then you would add three buckets of nitrogen onto it. And it's a nitrogen that breaks down so so quickly. But the most important thing about that is that when when you when you work it out, carbon, for instance, i is the hardest thing to break down because there's no goodness in it. It's just carbon.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

So the goodness to break that down comes from the nitrogen, which feeds the microbes that breaks that carbon down.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

All right.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yep, that makes sense. Are there any common materials that we don't want to add to the compost bin? Um wreck that recipe.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, well, th th there are. I mean you've got to be able to do that. You want to be keeping away from a lot of acidic stuff. So if you've just done a a whole heap of onions and so forth, then then try to to put that component in in small doses. Okay. All right, because that that's a high acidic value in that.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Um so that's one thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Things like eggshells mentioned seeds. Egg shells are fabulous because that's calcium. Okay, so that's good. That's great. There's no okay, so don't hold back on the eggshells.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

No, you but break them up as much as you can and just spread it throughout the whole thing, and that's great.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Citrus we shouldn't be adding because that's again.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

No, it don't once again, that's that's also like the onions. Yeah, just do put it in slowly. Just put it in. Don't put in a great big bucket load of lemons that you just made lemon curd out of or anything else. Just break it up. Just put it in. And that would apply too if you if you were going to be doing the same thing with a worm farm. You know, don't add all these things in in big big numbers. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Break it all up. Yeah, all right. Weeds.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Weeds weeds are not a problem in in properly composted garden uh heaps. Because we're talking about that carbon to nitrogen ratio that will give you it will have those those bacteria and those microbes that create the heat that will destroy weed seeds. Okay. So if you're using that that ratio, you can put in all your all your stinking rotten weeds of any sort into that heap, and that will break down and will destroy those the viability of those seeds and the viability of that those weeds to regenerate in any form.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Okay. And if we've got the ratio right, then is it there shouldn't be a problem with dampness. If it gets too damp, there shouldn't be a problem with it.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

And that gets back to gets back to that that that nitrogen component. The three parts of that onto the one part of carbon is is allowing that nitrogen to soak in. So if we just go back one little stage, if you if you're going to be, if you can save up your carbon to nitrogen in those quantities, then the first thing when you you add to your compost heap when you take the lid off is the carbon component. Okay. That will sit over the top of what you've already got in there. And then you add your three buckets of the nitrogen on top of that, and that will allow the microbes to feed off the carbon, break that down using the energy created from the nitrogen.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Okay. So we need to find four buckets, keep them under the sink with the lids on, and go from there. That should be good. Okay. So if the compost does become too wet or too dry, we've just got to how do we rectify that if you've got the message?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

If it's becoming too too wet, then you need to increase your carbon component. You need to increase your brown material. If it's becoming um the opposite, dry. Yep. Becoming dry, then you need to increase your nitrogen component.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

That does make sense.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And if you haven't got access, say for instance, you've you've got lots of straw or something else, then then you you you you can actually use as your nitrogen component organic matter such as blood and bone or rooster booster or something else. That is your nitrogen component in a totally different form.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Okay. So that'll top it up.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, and and what you want to be able to do in order to know whether you've got um an aerobic compost system, which means that it's working really, really well, or you've got an anaerobic compost, which means that it's suffocating itself because there's not enough air and there's too much moisture and all the rest of it. You've just got to balance that off to that carbon to nitrogen ratio. And you may need to to compensate that by adding something like blood and bone or or rooster booster or one of these other, you know, nitrogenous, high nitrogenous, well, relatively high nitrogenous fertilizers into that into that makeup, or get yourself um a hose if it's too dry, or um an aerator, which is just like a corkscrew that you drill down and pull up, and that will get air and so forth down to it. Or you can use your prepping fork by FD Ryan, get that in there and and work it in to allow that that air and and and everything else to work its way down through it. But that's as far as I'm concerned, if if it doesn't matter where you live in Australia, whether you're in the hots or the colds, carbon to nitrogen is is the is the ratio that will ensure that you have quick compost and a re like a beautiful compost. Now, do you when when you if you want to make sure that you've got that rate ratio right, if you dig your hand into the middle of that and grab a handful of what you've got, pull it out, don't squirm, it's good for you. It's all healthy organic stuff, and you squeeze it, and there's just a few little drops of moisture come out, that's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Perfect! That's a good that's a great example, thank you so much. There's quite a large variety of composting options to choose from. There's homemade compost bins, traditional compost bins, tumblers, worm farms, bakashi bins. How do we s decide which is the best one to use?

SPEAKER_00 14:36

You've got to find the one that will use your garden. And this is where in in a lot of instances um and and and and in my instance, I don't use a compost bin.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Oh wow, that's not a good one.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

I do not use one. When I first joined the Diggers Club, many, many, many, many years ago, um, in one of their one of their catalogues, they they had this uh article on the best compost system that God had ever created. It was called the Aerobin. So I went out and spent a lot of money on that and bought one. And I tell you what, I would prefer to go out and buy bags of of Clyde compost any day of the week than rather than than trying to What happened to your aerobin? It still sits in the backyard. It's been emptied once in probably fifteen years.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

So it's got compost in the company. It's got compost.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

It's got compost in it, and I'm I'm waiting when I pass away, someone can come in there and carbon date that's but why?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

What was it why was it a problem?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Well, because it it projected itself as being the best solution that made it idiot proof. But it wasn't. It's it you you said you can add anything you like into the bin because it had this vortex that s went sucked in the air as it was going up to the top and all the rest of it. It drew air in from the bottom, it c released moisture out over the top, uh you know, like the the the chi lates and everything else over the top. But it you know, at the end of the day it just became too comp too too complicated. So I would I would rather have an open compost bin that or an op open area that I can just chuck. It's a fenced in sort of area. Yeah. Um but um but then but then to sort of say that I've gone the next stage and and and got away from that and I bought myself a mulch where I know that that I can add the things in the correct manner to have a forest floor on the forest floor, not in a bin. So I'm creating it that way. And that's for all the fruit trees in the garden.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

For composting in in in my raised beds and everything else, all I use is Clyde Compost.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Okay. So there's Bokashi bins, a bit the worm farms. You've got to work.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Once again, as I said to you earlier, uh as far as I'm concerned, it it's a it's how they work for you. Yep, yep, yep. Now, some people love compost bins.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

And I'm I'm time poor. I've got you know more things that I'm I'm doing otherwise than than I than I'm worrying about out there. I'd rather go and pull out a uh a crop, stick a couple of bags of Clyde compost and mix it in, put some go-go juice over the top of it, seal it with pea straw or hoo flung dung and walk away for a couple of weeks and then plant into it.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah. So it does seem a bit complex complicated, but I suppose once you get in onto a roll, then you'll be fine. If you've got you've got your system all worked out, then you've you and you do those ratios, deal with them properly, then you'll have great success. You will. Absolutely a matter of getting it started, I suppose. Okay. All right. So now um for those who do have a compost bin, obviously, is turning essential? Turning essential, or is it is it possible to still make a good compost without remembering to turn every week or so?

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Okay, well, uh I I could I could never get my head around a a bin that you turned. I just didn't understand it. Or even a bin that's on the ground, you know, getting a turn with that thing that you mentioned, that compost.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

To aerate it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

But I still say that if you've got four buckets and you fill one up with carbon and then you fill up the other three with with you know with nitrogen. Then you shouldn't need to. Then you you shouldn't need to do that. And one of the things that I I didn't mention about the carbon component and and this is probably less today than it was ten, twelve years ago, but one of the most available com carbon components that you could have and add to your garden was newspapers.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Right. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

You know, um and I at one stage before I at one stage had a had a paper shredder that I used just to shred the the the the newspapers, and that became my my my total carbon that went into the into the top of the you know the the compost heap and then I I added the the other parts to it. Um and I had a lot of people come back to me and say, Oh my goodness, you can't go putting newspapers in. What about what about the ink? It's gonna kill you. You know, inks today, and I get I still get comments on this when when I'm when I show people how to make paper pots. You know, people come back, oh you can't do that because you're gonna poison yourself. Well, that's rubbish. I say to them, go and Google it. Just educate yourself and Google what those inks are now made from. They're all made from soybean.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Sounds pretty.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

And then that's all organic.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, exactly. What is the difference between between hot composting and what is slower cold composting?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Okay, then that gets back to you having either an anaerobic or an anaerobic. So you've either got too much um material that is wet, so too much green stuff and not enough brown stuff, or or vice versa.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Is it not a a process, a method? Slower con cold composting. Is that not a method?

SPEAKER_00 19:44

No, cold composting is fine as long as you've got you've got enough longevity in your life to actually wait for it to be compost, because it will eventually one day.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Okay. Why do some compost bins smell rotten? Oh, because they haven't got the ratio right. You get that question, I'm not answering that yet.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Um uh you'll have to edit this bit, Brett, because I can't think. Well, how okay. How long does compost usually take to be ready to use? And what are the signs that it's ready? How do we know that it's ready to use? Because we see the worms flipping around in it or what?

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, if you if you've got any any sort of worm life in the lower levels of your compost, then that is absolutely ready. Um that's an indication that you've got good healthy soil down there, whether it's it and and I can't I classify compost as soil. Yeah because that's all I grow my vegetables in is is compost with a you know with a little bit of this and that in them. But if that's how you can tell. Um by by pulling pulling back or or if you've got a compost bin um you uh that you can open up the door at the bottom, like an aero bin, you you harvest the the the black stuff from the bottom. But it that's generally what it is, it'll either be a blackish-looking substance or a brownish-looking substance. And that's you know that that's compost. But at the end of the day, if you take it out and there's still bits and pieces in there that are recognizable as as what they went into, it you could still use that in the garden. You know, it microbes are still gonna break it down.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yep, okay. Uh is there anywhere in the garden that we shouldn't be composting that we shouldn't be putting it on like this sort of our homemade compost on? Is it is it all fine to go on everything? It's not gonna kill anything. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

It's fine to go on there. Compost will have a pH of seven, so it is totally neutral.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

If it's done properly.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

If it's done properly, yeah. If it's not done properly, um then it can have a very, very high pH. And we we we must at some stage get Vince from Clyde Compost back in here to do a bit of a talk about his clo his his composting process, commercial versus the green bin rubbish that is going into so many councils that's being dumped in people's places when they order this rubbish.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah, how do they yeah? Well, that's something Vince really's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

So we'll get Vince back in for another talk on how to make best commercial compost and the machines and everything else that he he he's invested in to ensure that they've got the best product out.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Very good idea. We'll do that. For someone completely new to composting, what's the simplest way to get started without feeling overwhelmed?

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Is there a simple Yeah and and and that is just to think about that carbon to nitrogen ratio? It is the simplest thing, it'll give you the quickest and the best returns for the effort you put into it. You won't be at that stage of saying, oh gee, was that's a stinking heat that I've got there because you've got too much of the green stuff in and not enough of the brown stuff. Or the vice versa. Well, when's my compost ever going to come? How how long have you got to live? But we'll get there eventually.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

We don't know, do we? Three to one, everyone. Three to one the ratio. Thank you, Keith. I think we've pretty much covered just about every aspect of composting. We hope this has taken some of the mystery out of composting and encouraged anyone who isn't already composting to give it a go, unlike Keith. Because even a small compost bin can make a huge difference to your soil, your plants, and the amount of waste heading to landfill.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Exactly, that's probably the key.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah. Good luck and happy composting. Thank you for listening to Muddy Boots. For more information on today's podcast, please go to muddyboots.net.au and happy gardening.