So, since we have a garden spot now, we thought it might be a good idea to learn how to compost. I’m not talkin’ about “having a huge pile of banana peels on the counter collecting flies until they decay and I can throw them into the ground already falling apart” composting. But I don’t want to spend tons of money with a high-tech gizmo either. Just somewhere in the happy middle with veggie peels, egg shells, and leftover vegetables in some sort of container that won’t drive the neighbors away.
If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them. Or if you know of a great site I can go to, that’d be great, too. Any info is good! Our family is slowly turning green.
I have tried several different ways to compost and each have been fairly successful. The first way I used to compost was to just dig a hole in my vegetable garden about 12 inches down (deep enough to discourage animals from digging them up) and then just bury my food scraps. It cut out on the middle step of having a composter and put the nutrients right into the soil. I also have a composter, that has a lid on top and a trap door on the side for pulling the dirt out once it has been composted. We add grass clippings and wet newspaper to the composter to keep the flies and smell to a minimum. Hope this helps.
Thanks! I especially like the grass and newspaper idea.
Ya know, I’m no gardener…but for some strange reason I’ve always wanted a compost. Not that I’d do anything with it, but I have this urge to put biodegradable goods in a pile…
Call me odd. Would just doing that and not using the results of the compost begin to smell bad?
lol…the “green urge!”
I have no idea what would happen….I imagine it’d get kinda funky?
I suppose it would. I was going for the ‘well, it’s supposed to change into dirt right?’ approach. Dirt doesn’t smell so….? Just a random passing thought that found it’s way here.
green urge…hahaha
Alright…I opened a blogger account called green urge…silly. I know. But that’s catchy right there…
😀 Do I get 10% of your profits for the title?
My family composts, and we love it. We made a 2-bay compost pile at the back of our lot (we live in town, so there were rules to follow). My husband put in posts and fencing around 3 sides of each bay. We fill one at a time with fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, mown grass, leaves, weeds, coffee grounds — basically anything that will break down over time. (No meat or dairy, though… that will get stinky and bring out the ‘critters’) After one year, we start to fill up the other bin, just letting the first one decompose naturally. Then, after that one’s full and another winter has passed (I know this seems like a long time, but it’s not so bad), we move everything that hasn’t broken down from the first bin over to the full side, and take out wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of compost. My garden has never grown better than when we work compost into it.
I know that there are “barrel” composters on the market that are enclosed and smaller. You have to add water to them and turn a crank to get them to work. But your best bet might be to get a book on composting at your local library.
Good for you for trying it! It’s not as yuchy as it seems, and there really is a garden payoff at the end. 🙂
– MM
Wow, thanks! It does sound like a lot, but I’ve heard the same things…that it’s fantastic for a garden. We have the space….
Hell, I’ll give you 50% if ANYTHING happens there. If you think it has merit, I’d be willing to co-author it. hahaha
LOL! Going green, one clueless step at a time.
Hey, lookie what I found….odorless composting! lol
http://ecologue.com/ShowArticle/odor-free-composting-tips
Thanks for the site! That’s def a good one. It had tips on winter composting, which I was also thinking about.