Composting

Why Compost? As an compulsive-obsessive gardener I found I was spending more and more money on my yard. As you might have noticed by now I am very fond of 'free' and 'cheap'. After doing some research I discovered that I already have most of the amendments that I need for a successful garden right in my own house and yard.

Now my take on composting is super lazy; I have three bins with the bottoms cut out. One is for the current years trash. Two is for last years - now usable compost. Three is for leaves from the yard.

In bin one I throw kitchen waste, paper junk mail, and the few paper products that we use. I layer it with leaves (from bin Three) and green yard waste such as grass clippings, prunings from my banana plants and other non-woody garden trimmings. I keep it moist, and throw in red wigglers about once a year. No turning or fussing with it. This supplies me with compost for my garden - free, and cuts down on the number of trips I make to the dump which saves fuel - cheap.

So what about bin Two? Around spring time I shovel all of the compost from the current year (bin One) to the Last Year Bin (bin Two). The bottom of the bin has by then turned mostly into crumbly black brown matter and it will end up on top. I currently have lettuce and carrots which are a fall crop here in the south planted in that bin. In the spring I will spread it all out into the garden beds.

People always worry about the smell - they never smell. If your bin smells it is probably too wet or you have too much green material and not enough dry, such as paper or leaves. For a more scientific approach to composting go to the Simple Organic Compost Recipe shown on the right side of this blog. Happy Gardening!