Kitchen Garden Forum

Is it okay to put a plastic dustbin style compost bin on to concrete or does it need to be positioned on earth to allow worms to get in or is it the plants breaking down and generating heat that actually does the composting? Unfortunately, the majority of my garden is paved so I'm wondering if it will work. Sorry if this sounds like a really stupid question!

.the composting process doesn't need worms. only thing to worry about is drainage you may get some brown foul smelling liquid coming out the bottom.

Kew Gardens have massive concrete bunkers that all their cuttings get put in then they turn them with a JCB

I agree with Richard. If you put it on concrete you'll almost certainly get brown liquid coming from the bottom. It's best off on earth if you can possibly manage it.

When you say it's a plastic dustbin style, do you mean that it's a bucket-shaped container without an open bottom? If so, then you can put it on concrete without worrying too much about leakage. Also, you could obtain some worms to put into the compost once you've got it started, so standing on soil isn't absolutely necessary. However, in my experience a totally sealed container doesn't work very well because if you starve it of air, the compost can tend to go a bit rank. You could get one of those tumbling types and make sure you open up the lid fairly often to let fresh air in. Sorry not to be more helpful, but I do feel that making compost is not just a matter of letting waste materials go rotten any old how!

If you can take the trouble to arrange a system to collect the inevitable liquid generated by a compost bin it can be a useful feed but best not to put it on the bits you eat near harvest time. A handful of old compost in a new heap should start the brindling worms off unless it gets too hot.

I've got several of these, some on soil and others on concrete and there's no difference in the results,but it's much easier to turn the contents of the bins on concrete.