Composting

[Chianti]

Being newish to composting please tell me if pasta, bread or rice can go in the compost heap?

Fruit, veg, tea, coffee and egg shells are what we're composting now, apart from the normal garden waste.

[gh]

Being new to composting too, I found THIS SITE very good. Hope you do too.

[Chianti]

GH
Thank you, I'll have a look when I get a moment. Lord knows why I didn't think to Google it.

[Chianti]

Found a fantastic site. It didn't answer my question but it did address others:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composti ... index.html

[enid]

Here you go - 163 things you can compost! http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

We don't compost bread, pasta or rice left overs 'cos we give them to the chickens!

[Chianti]

Yep, found bread and pasta in there, but the leather gardening gloves and bee poo, they're a bit of a surprise. Haven't gone through the whole list but will do.

Thanks

[Solari]

We compost ourselves at home, and have considered getting guests to seperate their compostables (they already do recycling, with varying degrees of accuracy).

Does anyone have experience of getting guests to seperate for compost?

[catherinedonegal]

we've been doing it for years now. all fruit & veg (uncooked) waste, egg shells (both from cooked and uncooked eggs), the cardboard egg boxes, coffee grinds, tea bags/leaves.

no meat - raw or cooked.

[Normandie]

I would not put pasta, bread and produce like that out for composting - unless I really wanted to encourage rodents of various species to root around the compost bin...

[catherinedonegal]

I would not put pasta, bread and produce like that out for composting - unless I really wanted to encourage rodents of various species to root around the compost bin...

totally agree.

[Sue Dyer]

Just a point if any of you or your families suffer from allergies or asthma.

I have allergic rhinitis, main allergies are mold and yeast. The folk at work had a small compost bin but I had it taken out of the kitchen next to me. When it was opened mold spores could be seen and that's a huge one to avoid if you are allergic to such things!

I was also told by an allergy doc to avoid having a compost heap in the garden. I know you can't totally avoid these allergens as they are in the atmosphere but just in case anyone else is prone to allergic rhinitis don't have one on your doorstep, so to speak!

http://www.beyondallergy.com/outdoor-al ... llergy.php (and lots of others on google for "mold allergy compost")

[catherinedonegal]

sue: that's funny you mentioned all that. i was just cooking mushrooms and it reminded me to add to the 'not to put in the compost' list. mushrooms. well, at least we never do simply because the mushroom is a fungus and i thought best not to add them.

[OliviaG]

You won't want to put any cooked food on the compost as it attracts rats:)