Beginners guideline on composting?

[T-Bird]

Hey Y'all!

I'ts been breaking my heart throwing away all the wheat grass debris after juicing, as well as all the trimmings from organic fruits and veggies.

I haven't really mastered the time crunch of this lifestyle, and haven't yet been given the gift of increased energy and less sleep time. I feel overwhelmed by my morning routine of wheatgrass juice and a smoothie. Week 3 here with the juice/smoothie routine) and I've been late for work everyday (not an issue - but the later I get here the later I leave which is a pain)

Any quick easy clean way to start composting? That won't take alot of time?

Thanks y'all!

[Veganforlife]

http://www.howtocompost.org/

or

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_pf.php

[T-Bird]

Well V4L -

More complex and involved than I anticipate, lol. Maybe I need more planning....:cool:

[Veganforlife]

Where do you live? A lot of municipalities have composting sites available...

[Veronica01]

I go through a lot of bananas and oranges, do you actually compost these? Don't you have to chop everything up really small for it to work? I made my parents get one when i lived at home, but i had no idea what to do and dumped all my fruit in and got massive fruit flies lol.

[RAWmen-Noodles]

I know exactly how you feel! I was just thinking that today. So I set one of my medium sized bowls on the counter and whenever I peeled something ot whatever, instead of putting in the trash. I put it in the bowl. And tonight at around 7, I went outside and threw it on a patch of grass where my garden is SUPPOSE to be (hubby has not got the tractor out to do it and it is too late now). The patch is about 1000 feet from the house. I want to compost but I do not think I have the time for all of that.

[Susan123]

I use a bowl on the countertop like the poster above me.

I use this >>> http://www.amazon.com/Presto-Composting-Bin-Extendable/dp/B0001LELGW/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1240537838&sr=8-16 but I would not recommend it as it is a constant state of collapse.

So far I haven't used any compost as it's been in between to dry and too wet and I've been collecting it for months and months- LOL!! I keep my banans peels whole, but do chop up things like watermelon rinds (we got our first watermelon of the season this week--YUMMMMM- we live in FL). I've kept the lemon peels in halves, but I should probably chop that up a bit smaller now that I think of it.

[RawSar]

Has anyone had problems with animals?
I live where bears get spotted frequently. Last year we had one in our backyard. Leaning up against our glass back door eating our garbage l! :eek:
I want to start composting because I know we will have no garbage for the garbage men every week and that would be cool.
I don't want to attract the bears since there's little kids next door.

[Bookish Lass]

We have bears in our area. So far they don't seem to have been attracted to the compost pile, but birds and deer have. I guess we've mostly only had the pile out there for winter when the bears aren't about, though, only some in the fall and now some springtime.

[Colorawdo girl]

I was wondering same thing. Does compost draw wildlife esp if you live near the woods...would this create trouble?

[T-Bird]

Hey y'all!


Wanted to update you on this.....

Step one, got a hinged galvanized can devoted to composting....

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00095055

Started collecting things - but then in the heat wave, they got all messy - really quick!

The first batch I buried into my new raised bed and put 6 inches or so of soil on top, will plant shallower things there.....

Then - I started collecting again - and the stuff accumulated and started getting pretty messy.

I have a handy man coming tomorrow to fix a few things, so needed to get rid of this stuff.....but didn't have time to build anything yet or determine best spot, etc.

So I had this box I hadn't thrown out yet, about a 2x1.5x1.5, so I lined most of the bottom with a wheat grass mat, dumped all the yukky and some rotting stuff from the fridge into it, took it out to the yard, and cover it with another wheat grass mat, and then filled up with grass/weed clippings. I was at a loss on the cover - the box wouldn't close - filled to high and I didn't want to leave it out in the open too much to attack anything - then found an identical box - pushed the lid flaps in a bit and pushed the other box down over it.

In the end - it looked pretty neat and orderly. I will try to work out something with wood and a more secure cover, but this will work for a week or so.

I did it!!!!

I got a big thing of compost going on!!!!!

[Soose]

Hey y'all! [snip] I did it!!!! I got a big thing of compost going on!!!!!

Way to go, T-bird! :) I'd love to see a photo of your "box compost" pile. I almost did that this week -- had a pile of boxes and always have extra veggie compost. We were in a rush, also handymen around, so I just had my ds fold down the boxes. But I'd thought to use them to line a worm / compost bin -- the instructions I had were to make a welded wire surround and lined with boxes then lots of leaves, a layer of soil, some compost, more leaves, all wet down. So like you, I wondered why the welded wire? Why not just use a cardboard box to start with?

~~~

Neat can from Ikea for the garden/food waste. I have a 12 qt stockpot (stainless) I have used for years, a cheap one. It developed a pinhole leak in the bottom so I just use a plastic liner. This makes it easier for my son to empty. A bag will usually last through multiple compost runs (we fill the bucket at least once/day), if we can, we rinse it. I don't have to wash out the stock pot that often this way and it doesn't leak.

[jane b]

Right now, my compost bin is outside, along the fence and part of a complex of wire bins being used to grow Yukon gold potatoes. There are 5 bins, four of which were planted in a foot of compost and then piled high with bagged leaves from last fall. The object for this way of growing potatoes is to keep adding leaves as the potatoes grow until the bins fill up).

However, the bin method, while handy, hasn't exactly resulted in compost. I'm too lazy/busy/otherwise occupied to keep turning it, so I got a couple of blue plastic 55 gal drums to make my own tumble composters. These are of course, still waiting for that project to be started as I'm still fully engaged with getting the garden in and building new plots for various things.

Several good sites on making the barrels. I can post some if anyone is interested.

[Soose]

Right now, my compost bin is outside, along the fence and part of a complex of wire bins being used to grow Yukon gold potatoes. There are 5 bins, four of which were planted in a foot of compost and then piled high with bagged leaves from last fall. The object for this way of growing potatoes is to keep adding leaves as the potatoes grow until the bins fill up).


Jane b, this sounds like my friend's bins. She does grow potatoes in them the first year at least. She also uses the worm castings for planting, which is why I was thinking of making such bins. (Can't see us eating the potatoes on a raw diet?)

[T-Bird]

Turnips? Or does it only work with potatoes???

[ripal]

I usually make smoothie of all my banana/orange peels. Then, drain out all water/liquid with nylon bag. Liquid is used for watering plants and what's inside the bag goes to my little compost bin(just a plastic bucket mixed with soil). From what I understand, smaller the pieces, faster it composts? I haven't figured out what to do with wheatgrass mats yet. I might just stack them on top of each other in the corner and see what happens?

[T-Bird]

Hey Ripal -

That's the corner of the yard, right?

Not the corner of the kitchen?:eek:

[ripal]

LOL Yes, it's the corner of the yard! I wouldn't want bugs populating my kitchen! ;)

[T-Bird]

Ann wigmore was all about composting wheat grass mats......maybe check out her book on wheat grass, there were extensive details in there if I recall correctly.