Solve composting problems

Compost is wet or smelly

This is caused by an excess of wet materials, such as grass cuttings and green vegetables. This causes a wet mat to form. It eliminates air and encourages anaerobic decomposition which smells.

Solution

Mix in more dry material. Things like scrunched up paper, straw, leaves, twigs or torn up cardboard such as egg boxes. This will add air and soak up some of the excess moisture.

Compost has lots of little flies

These flies are fruit flies and help the compost process.

Solution

To reduce them, you can bury any fruit and vegetable scraps under some garden material. Or wrap them in newspaper. You can also lay a piece of newspaper or cardboard over the top of the contents. Place fruit underneath it when adding to the bin.

Compost is too dry

Solution

Add some greener material to your compost, such as fruit and vegetable scraps or grass cuttings. Dry compost does not break down well. Try to keep a 50:50 mix of 'greens' and 'browns' in your bin. A small amount of water can be added if needed. Ants in the bin are a sign it may be too dry.

You want to prevent rats

The discovery of rats in your garden can cause considerable distress and compost heaps and bins are often blamed. However, this is not the case. If there are rats in the locality, they will take advantage of the shelter and food that a compost heap provides. If you find that you have a problem with rats there are several things that you can do to keep them out of your compost bin and prevent them from returning.

Solution

• Do not add cooked food, especially meat and fish, or anything strong-smelling like cheese and fats to the bin as this will attract rats to your compost. Vegetable and fruit peelings, and general garden waste are fine.
• You can deter rats by lining the base, sides and top of the bin with a heavy-duty metal mesh. The mesh holes should be less than 1.5 cm in diameter. Chicken wire is not suitable. The most effective mesh is the type used by builders to strengthen concrete. Place thorny material around the base of the bin - you could also use your Christmas tree. This will help to deter rats.
• The compost bin should have a tightly fitting lid that can be clamped on. Ensure the bin is set squarely so that there is no gap between the sides and the lid.
• Rats are shy creatures and do not like disturbance. Put your compost bin in a busier area of the garden that you walk by often. Regular use of the compost is likely to cause too much disruption for a rat colony to develop.
• Do not store items around your compost bin as this can provide a nice quiet area for rats
• Rats are attracted to food from the bird table and this can encourage them into your garden. Place a large paving slab below the feeder so that it's easier to brush up fallen seed.

Give these tips a try and hopefully your rodent neighbours will not interfere too much with your compost making.