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Newbie composting ?'s
I just recently (December) got the Deluxe Pyramid Composter for my birthday and have been busy filling it up. I started reading "Let It Rot" last night and have a couple questions.
So far, my compost pile consists of a bottom layer of dead leaves and then I've piled in kitchen scraps (veggie peels, apple cores, grapefruit rinds, lemon/lime rinds, onion and garlic peels, tea bags, coffee grinds, eggshells, broccoli stems), more dead leaves, dried up pine (and assorted) garland.
I'm wondering a couple things:
- can I just throw in leaves or do they need to be "chopped" up?
- can I put in newspapers? what about the ink on them? do I need to shred them?
- can I put in shredded paper? what about the ink?
- DH is not on board (yet) with going chemical free on the lawn, is it best to keep the grass clippings out?
- can I throw in dead outdoor plants (annuals that won't come back this year)?
- should I turn it? if so, with a shovel, hoe, rake?
I love the idea of composting but I'm afraid I'm going to do it wrong and have my neighbors complaining in July b/c of the stench (we live in a cookie cutter subdivision). Our yard is fenced but Georgia summers can be brutal.
I think that's all my questions for now but I'm sure I'll have more.
Thanks!
Heather
Re: Newbie composting ?'s
Hi! I'm a GA girl and a composting newbie too. I just have a simple bin that I made using a plastic trash can that I drilled holes in. I've kept all our grass clippings out because we too aren't chemical free yet. So far I have veggies scraps, fruit scraps, mushrooms, dead flowers, deadhead clippings from my hydrangeas, some newspaper, coffee and tea grounds, eggshells, etc in my pile. Not sure how big or what shape your container is, I just lay mine on the ground and roll it around every few days when I take my scraps out to dump them. I think I'm going to add a few scoops of horse manure (my friend has 3 horses) into the mix as well. I'm curious to see the answers to all of your questions that the more experienced composters may have.
Are you doing a veggie garden this year? I'm doing my first one and I'm so excited. I'm doing a square foot garden and dh and I just finished building the raised beds for it last night.
I'm wondering a couple things:
- can I just throw in leaves or do they need to be "chopped" up? You don't "have to" chop them up, but they will compost much quicker if you do. In general, the smaller you chop/shred something, the quicker you'll have useable compost for your garden.
- can I put in newspapers? what about the ink on them? do I need to shred them? Call the company and ask if they use food-safe inks. If they don't you'll have to recycle them instead. See note above for shredding.
- can I put in shredded paper? what about the ink? Not sure about this one, we don't do paper. We put the compost on our veggie garden, so we're bit more strict about what goes into the pile than something who's using compost for a flower bed.
- DH is not on board (yet) with going chemical free on the lawn, is it best to keep the grass clippings out? Yes, keep them out. Pesticides/herbicides designed for a lawn can harm other plants.
- can I throw in dead outdoor plants (annuals that won't come back this year)? Yes. Don't throw in seeds or else you might get some fun stuff going in there :-) Same goes for weeds, the plant part is okay to compost, seeds are not. Don't want to fertilize with weed seeds right?
- should I turn it? if so, with a shovel, hoe, rake? Yes, we turn ours once a week or so. Use whatever works best for you, we use a shovel. It also breaks down a lot quicker if you wet it occasionally. We have a tub outside that collects rainwater from our patio set, we dump that in there. I wish we could have a rain barrel but our HOA doesn't allow them
ETA: The layers of your pile sound great, BTW.
Thanks!
Mrs Manner - my composter is pretty much a square so I can't roll it around.........I am going to attempt tomatoes and stawberries again this year. I had success with tomatoes but not strawberris last year. I've also got some blueberry bushes that I'm hoping will produce this year since they didn't last year. I am toying with the idea of a few other veggies but there are a couple CSA's close by that I may join with a friend so who knows.
SuperGreen - Thanks for the information. What things do you put in your compost pile other than food and dead plants. I'm trying to think of other non-food items to put in.