Kitchen Garden Forum

What do people put or to be more precise, not put in their compost bin/heap? I have always been told that you should not put in any citrus fruit peels as the bugs do not like it, my wife also reckons that she read somewhere that you should not put onion skins in your compost? I am well aware that you should not put cooked food, meat/fish/bread in your bin, but what about eeg shells or potato peelings?
Regards, Essexboy

the kitchen bin (enclosed black plastic thingy)
gets all the veg peelings, (very little citrus purely cos we dont eat much citrus fruit)tea bags, occasional shells from a boiled egg,used paper kitchen towels, the odd dirty egg box and an occasional load of lawnmowings.
the bin in the garden (open pallet affair) gets anything green off the veg patch plus the dirty bedding (hay at the moment)from the chickens. both get an occasioal sprinkling of amber liquid.




'

Anything compostable goes in one of the compost bins. (one in the garden, two up on the allotment, all of which a plastic daleks)
So, peelings, coffee grounds, outer leaves, stems, i.e. any plant matter, everything which isn't eaten.
Garden cuttings, leaves and (well chopped up) stems.
This is balanced out with some cardboard or paper to try and get a rough balance.

Same as above, everything compostable. Occasionally I include even things like old pure wool clothes, raffia doormats etc and they all break down eventually. I certainly add onion and citrus debris because in proportion to the bulk it's not likely to make any difference.

The only thing i wouldn't put into a compost heap is, any diseased plant material.

Cooked foods can be composted via the Bokashi bin and then transferred to the normal compost bin

Seem to recall many years ago trying to put the mother-in-law on the heap, unfortunately she would have none of it.

I've constructed some totally rat proof compost bins from breeze blocks with aviary mesh underneath them all, and wooden lids. They don't look pretty but work very well and after a few weeks (probably for the bacteria etc that causes decay to build up) they heat up brilliantly.

So, I put everything in except diseased vegetation that might cause a problem. Just mouldy things are OK.