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Composting
Does anyone have any links or advice they'd like to share? I want to start composting for our garden in spring, but would like some info.
What do you use outside? A bin? a pile? And inside?
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Re: Composting
Yard waste: we do 50% "greens", 50% "browns, water until damp and mix it to get oxygen in. I'll only thrown in kitchen scraps that rats and varmints wouldn't want, like coffee grounds or flower stems. We use a three bin (wooden) system since we have a LOT or organic matter with our big yard, but anything that gives you a 3cubic foot space is great (that's the best size for building up heat in the compost which helps it break down faster...you could also just do passive composting)
Kitchen scraps: we keep in a stainless steel container and empty into a worm bin bench on the front stoop. You can do everything except meat, dairy, fish in there. Citrus rinds and corn cobs also take too long to break down. Usually it comes out looking great (no smell or anything if you bury the food each time), but if not, I just transition it to the yard waste to finish "cooking".
I'll look it up! Thanks!
Oooh! Very helpful! Where do you get the worms from? And you have to turn it each time you add scraps?
We bought this at Sam's club. It works pretty well. We throw in grass clippings, leaves, etc. The only I don't like about it is that you have to use a pitchfork to 'turn' the contents.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=123572
We use this inside and throw in coffee grounds, egg shells, banana peels, etc. and when it's full, we dump it in the bin ouside. It's works great and no fumes leak out even when the contents are really gross (until you open the lid!)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00061N0S2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002MKP254&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0V5KBQE1DPDCEHQ3N7G4
We do it year round even though it doesn't compost very fast during the winter months.
Worms Eat My Garbage is a good book to learn about worm bins if interested. I've bought my worms from local garden groups in the past, but once they are established, they'll regulate their own populations based on how much food they get. And no, you don't have to turn the worm bin. You just fill it up with web newsprint strips, and bury the food in that. You work your way from one side to the other of the box, and the worms munch their way across turning it into "black gold".
You can then harvest and re-bed half of the box at a time.
You dont have problems with fruit flies like some of the other reviewers?
On occasion I've noticed some, but not alot.
Our township offers the Earth Machine composter at a great price. I do wish I had a turning bin but what I have is fine.
We have a bamboo container with a charcoal filter from the container store - we dump all our scraps in there and the move it outside. No meat, etc. We have learned that we must layer each 'green' dump with a layer of dead leaves 'browns.' I dump all my composted soil into my garden.
Oh and we don't compost corn cobs or egg shells - it just wasnt breaking down fast enough. We've cut our garbage down - its amazing.
I have this book and really like it. What I enjoy most about the authors' approach is that they really promote the idea that you don't have coddle your compost. You can be as simple or as fancy as you want with your bins/boxes/piles, and you can manage your compost intensively or more or less let it do its own thing. Either way, it's going to rot.
I have one active, store bought bin where I toss all my compostables (w/o paying much attention to browns vs greens ratios and all that), I let those cook, turning and watering the pile when I get around to it, and then I eventually move the semi-finished compost to an open top plywood box I built. While the semi-done stuff finishes cooking, I start a new active heap in my bin. My method does take longer than it would if I were actively managing my compost, but I've still gotten two nice batches of black gold since Oct '10, and I'll have a 3rd batch ready in the spring.
If we find out that we'll be staying in this house next year (military family), then I'm going to expand on my compost operation and try adding a worm bin. Yay!