We are just getting started on composting at our house and although I've read 'how to' instructional articles, I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or advice. I'm excited to get started!
Thanks!!
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We don't have one but I've done it in the past! Plan to start again in the spring.
It really depends a lot if you are doing it for fertilizer or to reduce waste. If you are mainly just doing it to not throw scraps away then you don't have to worry so much about the perfect balance of wet and dry materials.
In general, throw away scraps like peels, cores, egg shells and coffee grounds and tea bags. Shovel to stir occasionally. Water if it's super dry. You can add grass clippings in but if you do too much it will get dry. Avoid oily and meaty things. Get some worms!
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This is a great question, I was only researching this yesterday - bump, bump, bump!! Come on gardening bees, I know you're there!!
I'm about to clear some ground and build 4 raised beds in my back garden so I'm going to do some trench composting this year, as I will be double digging the patch anyway. I will dig deep trenches and fill with the rotting apples which are littering my garden (we had a bumper crop and couldn't use them all, even though we made cider!!) and a bit of additional garden waste. I will then replace the top soil - you can plant a couple of months later!
Ongoing, I'm not sure what kind of system to use. We have a plastic compost bin...... Hopefully this thread will give me some pointers!!
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The only advice I have is if you live in a cold climate, invest in an insulated compost bin (if you plan to go plastic). We had 2 bins, one is insulated, the other just normal (it looks really sturdy) but it freezes in the winter, which takes ages for the compost to mature. We had to buy a 3rd bin.
We use it for fertilizer and hubs pretty much does all the work. We put in: fruit and veg peels (no citrus), grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, tea bags. No food or meat, except for the occasional leftover white rice. DH doesn't stir it much and I've never seen him water it. But we have a ton of plant matter, so something's always going in.
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I went to a composting workshop recently and they gave me lots of really good tips, one was to dig a moat about 10/15 cm deep to put your compost bin in.. then kinda pile the sand up around it! not sure why but it helps hehe!
They also said to make a pile in the bottom of the bin of scrunched up newspaper and leaves to give it a nice airy base to start with! Another tip was to get a bin without lots of vents and stuff, they said the solid ones are best.. like this http://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/Tumbleweed220Lcompostbin We have one like that and one with vents, the solid one has been the best I think! So we build one up and then let it do its thing while we use the other one.
They also said just use your eyes and nose, you can always tell if it is too dry or too wet just by looking at it, then just add water or leaves.
You can add just a handful of manure every now and again to 'activate' it too
Also make sure you stir it, even if it is just once a week. They have these cool things here in Australia and I'm sure they would have them in the US, they are special compost spiral things and you drill down and pull it up to air your bin.. sooo much easier than digging it. Just don't drill down too far or you can put your back out hehe!
Also empty toilet rolls are great to add because they halp to air it too.
Hope that helps!
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Thanks for all the tips and info!!
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