Anyone composting?

[mamalara]

Calling all composting mamas! I have some questions for you. I would like to start composting, and know nothing about it. How do I get started? Would you share your experiences with me? What type of container do you use? Do you just place the compost material out in your backyard/porch, and keep it there until ready to use? Can you suggest any good resources that will give me good info on the whats and hows? Thank-you so much!!

[UlrikeDG]

This is discussed on the gardening forum (Diggin' In The Earth) some. Right now, I don't have a container outdoors at all, just a pile. I reuse empty paper flour sacks or lunch sacks inside. Fill it up, and then put the whole thing on the pile. The paper counts as "brown" matter.

I do want to contain my pile somehow, though. Lately, something (racoons?) has been raiding it.

[oldgirl,newtricks]

There is also a great composting forum at Gardenweb. Read through all of their posts.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/

Check out your library for books by Rodale or any organic composting books. You local county extension office is a great resource for you local conditions.

You don't need any fancy equiptment. You can just build a pile in the corner of your yard. Most of us use something to keep out critters. I use an old big wire dog kennel. I also just put down cardboard and pile kitchen scraps and leaves to build garden beds right where I want them.

It's really better that the compost pile have contact with the ground to get all of the microbs going. I wouldn't keep it on a porch. Hit the library and get reading. It's great fun and you will be amazed at what you use to throw away and will now compost. You'll soon be scavanging the local stores for produce throwaways.

[teacup]

Or you could just be lazy and do it like I did: I put some huge bricks (oh, I don't remember what they're called, but they're the ginormous ones) that the previous owners left in a three-sided square off the yard barn, then started dumping. Mostly stuff from the house (veggie matter only, or coffee grounds if I'm so inclined), but occasionally grass clippings. We also put our leaf clippings in a separate pile. They dimish very rapidly.

I don't turn anything. I don't have a special container. After several years, though, I have a huge, beautiful pile of black gold. It took a while to get that way, though. You get faster results with a hot pile (equal parts brown--leaves and papers, I think--and green--foods, and then turned, and in the sun and wetted occasionally) than a cold pile.

www.yougrowgirl.com is another good gardenming site, though it's a lot of container gardening info. And the BH&G garden section ha a ton of green thumbs over there, though it's been forever since I've been.

[root*children]

teacup - you should have more browns than greens.

UlrikeDG - what a GREAT idea of putting the compost in the flour bags and then tossing it all in the pile!!! I'm going to start doing that!! Thanks I struggle with getting enough browns in there. We have a teensy tinsy yard, and 2 trees. I don't rake the leaves, I just let them lie where they fall, and the kids run around so much they are crushed into the dirt in a few days, so it's probably some rejuvination for the dirt! I end up snatching bags of leaves that people leave on their curbs

I have 2 boxes made out of wooden pallets that were gotten from freecycle. I had to saw several of them down, so the piles would be so big! The 2 boxes are connected by a common wall, with no top. The front walls of each are hinged with clothes hangers, while the other walls are secured with nails. I fill one a year, then empty the one that's been sitting for the year into the garden each Spring. So I'm rotating on a 2-year basis. Though if I had enough space for it, I'd probably make the bins bigger, and have a 3-box (3 year rotation) system

[Nico DeMouse]

I did vermicomposting (indoor composting with worms) when I was an apartment dweller. Actually, it was a huge indicator of DH's husband-worthiness when we were dating and he asked what was in the big box in the closet, and then didn't react poorly when I told him!

Now that we have a house, I have a compost heap outdoors. It's between our garage and the fenceline of the property. I keep scraps in an old ice cream bucket under the kitchen sink and empty it once a week. Right now, it's just a big pile. My dad bought me a pitchfork for my birthday last year and I turn it whenever I feel like it.

I'm planning on building a wire enclosure for it. The previous owners of our house were packrats and left a LOT of stuff behind. I just found a roll of chicken wire and some metal fence posts in the shed I think I'll use, when I get a chance.

[Llyra]

We do vermicomposting in the basement. Basically, we have three closed bins (Rubbermaid storage containers, extra large) in which live many, many earthworms. The worms eat the scraps, and turn them into wonderful soil. At least that's my understanding of how it works; they're DH's pet project. Anyway, they're discreet enough and clean enough that they sit right in the corner of my family room down here and nobody even knows what they are.