Composting

My lovely friend Katie asked me about my recent foray into composting and suggested I post a tutorial on the blog. I'm not sure that she should be taking my advice on this subject, but here goes...

I started a compost bin back in the springtime. Hopefully one day I will have some nice organic fertilizer for my plants. I just use a plastic outdoor garbage can (you can find them at Dollar General for around $8). My dad drilled some holes in the bottom and started me off with some wood chips/straw as the bottom layer. I put the trash can up on some bricks to help it drain.

I collect kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc. and dump them in and cover with some grass clippings or leaves. Just don't put in meat or very much dairy. I think the kitchen waste is the "green" and lawn waste is "brown", and it needs both to work. If you cover your kitchen scraps with lawn waste, it doesn't get as stinky or buggy. So usually I will collect my kitchen scraps, then put them in the bin and cover with some grass clippings or fall leaves that I've saved in a 5 gallon bucket.

Leave the bin open occasionally when it rains to get some water in there. And you can also stir it up to speed up decomposition (I don't do this much though because it's kind of disgusting).

So that describes my feeble attempt at composting. I haven't actually taken anything out of mine yet and don't know how long it takes to actually become fertilizer.

I found this article on composting helpful: http://vegweb.com/composting/

Happy Composting!