Suggestions for urban composting

[Jaded]

We have a townhouse, pot plants and troughs only, and food waste from a family of four. There is no earth, it is all hardstanding or decking. Getting stuff out of a normal compost heap would be a messy pain.

So we don't generate much in the way of cuttings, we do have a few weeds from the edges of the property.

What do you suggest? A wormery or a turny-plastick thing? Or something else?

[jellied]

Wormey should work - or you could try Bokashi.

We use both in our place, once the worms get over whelmed we use the Bokashi bins.

Bokashi uses EM [grain with micro-organisms in] that sort of pickle the waste. Wait two weeks and then bury the stuff fairly deepish in small trench. no smell, no flies....

[Jaded]

no trenches... 

[jellied]

The bokashi juice can be used directly on plants, but if you have no beds to bury the stuff then you are stuck with large amounts of pickled waste food and stuff.

Perhaps a wormey is good then, you can use the output of that directly in pots and troughs.

[andygates]

My Can-o-Worms is going strong five years on.  Tiny footprint, produces copious "worm tea" liquid feed for the herbs and occasional trays of compost.  I totally neglect mine and it keeps on keeping on.

[Si]

Have you onidered something like a rolly-pig?  doesn't need to sit on earth - infact the container is held in the air.  no idea how the liquids are delpt with but they must go somewhere!  sorry, don't have a link to them

[Jaded]

Something like this?

[spindrift]

Something like this?

My sister's got that and you get lovely rich compost in about three weeks.

It's a shame the garden's all hard-standing cos the heap should really be on soil to let the worms in.

[jellied]

they are quite good - but it's hard to empty out stuff half way through. with wormies you have trays in the case of a can-o-worms [other types vary]. When one tray is full you start on the next and then at some point the first tray is fully digested and you can use it.

the problem with the tumblers is that you keep adding stuff to the same thing and at some point you have to stop and let it finish otherwise you end up with a mix of fully and partially composted stuff.But they do work - just quite the same way as a classic two bin job.  They can also get quite heavy!

[juliet]

I have a wormery but the worms appear to have died   Must try again with more worms...