Does anyone compost?

04JaxBride

Trying to decide if this is something I want to try.  We have tween-age/teen-age kids,s o it would be kind of fun to help them understand how it all works.

 I've done a lot of reading and internetting on the topic, and it looks like there's the pile-o-stuff, the expensive-composter-apparratus, and the home-made composter apparatus.

I'd love feedback from anyone who's done this, particularly in the south.  I'm  in suburbia with a small yard and pretty much just grow flowers and do a little square-foot gardening in the backyard.  I have a LOT of "green" scraps (and of course plenty of brown) and would love to turn them into good compost... so long as it doesn't spell pest disaster.

 

Any pointers, horror stories, success stories, do's/don'ts? 

karimychel

I have two compost barrels in my back yard. We own a townhouse, so we don't have a ton of space, but they are in a corner out of the way. The barrels I have are these, we received a discount through the city on them.

This Spring will be the first time I go to use my compost soil. That is why I have 2 bins, so I can continue to compost while I have a barrel breaking down. So ideally, I'll have fresh compost soil every spring and fall.

I have a little bin under my kitchen sink for my scraps and empty it often. There are also compostable small trash bag type bags you can use. Becareful if you use them and forget to take it you! You'll find a mess in your cabinet.

We've had them in since last summer and I haven't noticed any pests around. Occasionaly a few flies, but nothing unmanageable.

alliapistor

Last year, I tried the DIY composter from a tash can.  I drilled holes all over the can and filled it with stuff.  I got bungee cords to keep the lid on when turning.  But I still found it very awkward to turn and I was afraid everything was going to fall out when I rolled it -- even with the bungee cords.  As a result, I didn't really turn it enough and so it didn't breakdown like its supposed to.  Over a year and still no usable compost.

No problems with pests or odors though and we have a lot of animals in our neighborhood.  In fact a fox or raccoon got into our garbage a couple of times, but left the compost alone.

This year, I think I will breakdown and buy a proper tumbler composter.  I've been keeping and eye on Craig's List for used ones.

Kids that age may also enjoy worm composting.

ETA: We did have some oozing of compost tea.  So if you're going with a style with holes on or near the bottom, I would not store in a garage or area that you don't want to get wet.  With a tumbler or closed system, you probably wouldn't have this issue.

04JaxBride

i have a potting bench in the backyard, and was planning to keep the bin out there.

 

so, i live in houston where we have a LOT of rain.  should i keep the bin out of the rain (if we go the garbage can route)?  will the extra water cause problems? 

i know i should just break down and get a tumbler... i just can't see spending $200 on good dirt.  i'd rather just buy good dirt...lol. 

alliapistor

04JaxBride:

so, i live in houston where we have a LOT of rain.  should i keep the bin out of the rain (if we go the garbage can route)?  will the extra water cause problems? 

If you keep the lid on, it should be okay.  When you go to turn it, just check to make sure that it is moist but not wet.  If it consistently getting wet, you may want to put something over it (e.g., a trash bag) to keep the rain out.  But the lid worked fine for me and I had to add water every so often (in Northern VA with a lot of afternoon thunderstorms).

alliapistor

04JaxBride:

so, i live in houston where we have a LOT of rain.  should i keep the bin out of the rain (if we go the garbage can route)?  will the extra water cause problems? 

If you keep the lid on, it should be okay.  When you go to turn it, just check to make sure that it is moist but not wet.  If it consistently getting wet, you may want to put something over it (e.g., a trash bag) to keep the rain out.  But the lid worked fine for me and I had to add water every so often (in Northern VA with a lot of afternoon thunderstorms).

04JaxBride

i'll try it and see how it goes.  i was thinking of drilling some holes in the lid/can and zip-tying for the rolling process.

of course, in my book, zip ties are the answer to most problems (taming bougainvillea and other vines... for instance). 

dirtyred

I'm lazy, so I just have the pile-o-stuff.

I don't really turn it, but I do cover up the new stuff added to the pile with older parts of the pile.  If it hasn't rained in a while, I water it.

It makes compost, just not as fast as if you had a bin.

Daisy07gray

We have a pile- it works great, somewhat slow, but you could add worms to the mix and I love turning it.  A little slow at first, but once a good mix gets started, it smells good and earthy (to me). 

I'm looking for a new inside jar since I broke the one we used on the counter... for you, with lots of rain and good turning with a rake or shovel, it should come out maybe somewhat chunky but good for soil.  Our flowers loved it at our old place.  GL!

FSUalum

We have one that is 5Wx5Dx4H. The biggest problem is that roaches like it.

Hey Jellisy

We do all 3.  Wer bought a tumbler at Costco for a $100.  We got a trash can turned composter off of Freecycle an we have a pile.  The tumbler is obviously the fastest and most efficacious.  We generally fill the tumbler from the trash can and get it going and remove the composted material ever 6-8 weeks.  We add greens and browns to the trash can and turn it weekly.  After we empty the tumbler, we fill it with the partially composted material from the trash can.  In the pile, we only add garden wastes and we turn it every so often.  Usually material there winds up in trash can as a layer of browns.  We've been using this system for about a year and it is pretty efficient for us but it does take up more space than you may have.    

jen5-03

We have the homemade garbage can bins. Not a problem. We leave the lid off the one we're adding to and close the lid on the other just so we know which to dump scraps in. It very very rarely gets turned and makes compost just fine - a benefit of Houston's climate!