Saturday, October 5, 2013

Compost Nerd

I know it makes me nerdy, but I love my compost. It is really interesting to me that I can throw yucky, stinky "trash" into it and in just a few weeks have beautiful, rich, black soil.

I have to compost in black trash cans, because of my neighborhood. It keeps all the compost neat and the neighbors don't complain. When I first started composting, I went to the local fishing supply center and bought fishing worms. I only had to do that one time, since the worms have multiplied and multiplied.



I started composting before I started gardening. Actually, I started composting in order to "decrease the amount of trash I was sending to the landfill." I got the idea from No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. I enjoyed it so much that when it transformed into soil, I wanted to use it.

So then I ordered All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space from the library. I felt that gardening for food was "doable" for the first time after reading that book.

That began my quest to garden for food.

Okay. That is just the background. My tip is this: I discovered that if I threw the ice that falls to the floor, and the leftover cups of water we were planning to pour down the drain anyway, into the compost bucket instead of into the sink, it really helped keep the compost wet. I haven't had to use the hose to wet my compost in months. Since I started giving the compost the little bits of water leftover, the compost stays nice and damp and the stuff turns to soil much quicker. And I don't have to lug the hose over, dig through and water it by hand. Win. Win.

ice that fell to the floor

stuff for the compost bin, with leftover water things and ice in
the bucket
***Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com. I have never actually earned enough in this account to be paid for it, but people want to know that I could be paid for it. I received no compensation for any of the books listed. They were just books I used in my journey to food gardening.***


6 comments:

  1. I have a black composter that I use for kitchen scraps. I find it often gets too wet. Usually. Not all the time. Of course my leaf pile could really use the extra water. It is usually too dry.

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    1. Mine was too dry until I started adding the ice and leftover water. It works wonderfully now. But I keep the leaves right in there with the food scraps. I can't keep them separate because of the neighbors.

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  2. I make worm compost in my basement in worm bins. I don't have an outside compost but wish I did. I just squirt the scraps/newspaper with water when I dump it in and then collect the worm juice and compost once it's done. It's awesome! :o)

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  3. What kind of worms did you use? I need to start adding water to my bins as well, they're as dry as a bone, lol.

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    1. I just used fishing worms, available from the local fishing shop. I tried the ones from Walmart, too, but they just died. The local fishing shop had living ones.

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