does anyone compost

[geckoace]

i am starting a very small compost bin(cause i realized how many fruit/veggie scraps we trash everyday). but i have no idea what to do other than put the scraps in a pile. i have a little bin in the kitchen right now can i use a trashcan? do i need to punch holes in the bottom? we can't have an open pile cause this neighborhood is full of dogs and bunnies. help....also some book or web sources would be appreciated if ya got em.


thanks

[julieb]

We have a bin in our yard we built out of cinderblocks. We throw everything in there. It works really well and each spring we empty it and throw it in our garden. We also throw in leaves in the fall. It does take a year to compost I think because we don't put alot of green stuff in there. Grass clippings are higher in nitrogen and makes the compost, decompose faster. We use the grass clippings to put in our garden, it keeps down weeds and our tomatoes love it.

[Ceashels]

I have been using a large round rubbermaid garbage can, the kind you would haul out to the curbside. I cut out the entire bottom and put holes in the sides and top for aeration. I composte my kitchen scraps, shredded paper, grass clippings, dried leaves, and stuff like pulp egg cartons. When it is time for me to turn the pile, I pull the bin off the pile and place the empty can beside it. I simply shovel the pile back into the bin so the items on top are now on the bottom. I add water as I go, but I don't think I get it as wet as I should. My composte has never seems to get "hot." During the cold months I don't turn it as often but I still keep the "cold" pile growing. I am thinking of having a second bin so the first can fully composte over the winter and a new batch started, that way I have a pile of ready to use for the planting season.

[mommy4ever]

I used to do vermicomposting but found harvesting was too much work. So I just got a black plastic composter off of freecycle, and started that. I cleaned behind the garage and put in the leaves. Dh had started raking, through in the grass, had a bin of apples rotting from last years fallen crop, tossed those in, and I had been piling my garden wastes in the corner, and through those in. It's about 1/4 full. Now to get in the habit of tossing kitchen scraps in there too, along with yard wastes.

[danni]

I compost all our kitchen and garden scraps. We rake up about 12 garbage bags of leaves every year so they gradually go in too. We don't have any grass growing yet so my neighbour gives me his grass clippings. I have a black bin and a pile(about 3'x 5').

[Monner 1]

Yes, I compost. It is such a great way to help the environment and soooo great for the garden. Mine is made out of free pallets. I don't have a top on it just so it can get water and sunlight in. I put all of my veggie scraps plus our eggshells in it. I also crush up eggshells in the spring for the birds and put them near the birdfeeders. When they eat them it helps the eggs that they will lay. Recycle as much as you can the earth needs our help big time.

[acidcookie]

I would love to compost instead of throwing away all my produce peels, shells, grounds, ends, and bits, but I live in an apartment. :-/

[Edna_E]

Thanks for starting this. I keep intending to start composting, and putting it off because I don't know how and haven't had/made the time to learn how. This sounds pretty simple, so I'm starting as of this weekend!

[frooz]

I would love to compost instead of throwing away all my produce peels, shells, grounds, ends, and bits, but I live in an apartment. :-/

You can do it in a bucket that seals up. We do it at my office and it doesn't smell. Then someone takes it home and puts it on their garden and brings back the washed out bucket.

[redmaples]

Last summer I did some strips of compost piles directly on my garden.
All fruit & veggie scraps went there, in between rows. I covered that well w/ grass clippings from the bag of the push mower, straw, leaves & some times black plastic to help it break down faster. the soil where i did that last year is rich & thick w/ worms this year.
We alternate compost sites. Right now we have an area enclosed with old flexible fencing right in the garden. It's shaped into a circle & staked into the ground.
The chickens can often be found inside & around it scratching around. Again, this compost is layered with other organic stuff on top of the food scraps. I might cover it w/ layers of newspaper or pieces of cardboard boxes if I don't have any leaf or straw cover. Especially when it gets warm out it's important to keep it covered or will get stinky.

As Monner 1 says: the earth needs all the help she can get.

I just read about a town not far far from here that is giving away leaf compost! They even supplied the equipment to load it into your vehicle.

We need more community projects like that. Think of all the great compost material that people are scraping off their plates into garbage bags!!

[kaykwilts]

We live out in the country on six acres. I made a compost bin out of three wooden pallets. All the kitchen scraps go in there except meat which would attract unwanted pests. We live across the street from a pasture and last year I went over to the pasture and shoveled up a wheelbarrow load of cow manure and mixed it in with my compost. My garden plants loved it.
Here are some links:

http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/a.../msg00244.html

http://www.freeplants.com/composting.htm

[Tracy]

we also compost. Although we went an payed for it from the city. I love it we eat so many veggies and drink coffee that we have cut down on our waste a fair bit.

[geckoace]

how often does it need turning? we wont have too many grass clippings cause DH's mower mulches but come fall we will have leaves out the whazoo. this will help me decide on a bin that i can roll
or a open sort of bin cause it occured to me i can put a layer of screen on top to keep the bunnies and dogs out.

[mommy4ever]

I live in city that was in serious trouble. 10 years ago the wanted another landfill, and no area wanted it near them. So they had to look at alternatives. They bagan a composting program along side their recycling program. Apparently a world class facility now, and people wolrd wide come to see it to learn. Although people do the bluebag program for recycling, all garbage is sorted once it gets to the facility, many things can be composted in their composting facility that we can't in our compost piles. So it gets all sorted, itmes that should be recycled and are missed are recycled. As a result, only 10% of all the city waste ends up in the landfill. They are trying to work with the grocery bags, bakery plastic boxes and milk jugs as at the moment there are no uses for them. It is considering building a new building that could be fueled by these items, meaning no power required from the power plant.
They sell the compost that is made there. What is kinda neat, is they have put a pipeline in the landfill, to recover the noxious gases that form down there from 30 yo diapers, etc, and this powers the water plant..lol


How's that for recycling?

[flowergirl]

we compost to have a acre so space is no problem. I love this idea for the landfills in the u s I live by one and it is bad the smell and it is the tallest place in this county down wind from it the trees are full of plastic bags so I would love to see that kind of thing here I am sure things are better then they use to but we need more of this because they keep buying land but it will fill up someday maybe someday they will start it here more people need to recycle living so close you would think they would we recycle everything compost use cloth bags
and try to buy things with less packaging etc I talked about composting for a long time my girlfriend has for years finally I do it and is very easy we hardly have any trash anymore