Dose anyone have an outdoor compost? I am interested in starting one but am clueless...

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
I want one that is easy to maintain and that won't attract unwanted critters. How do I do it? I have watched the gardener guy on HGTV talk about it but I am still unsure of what to do. I strive to throw as little as I can into the trash can and recycle as much as I can but I need to be better. How does your composter work? Any recommendations for the novice?

Thanks!

 
GRRRRR, I just typed a long dissertation about composting and then hit "back" instead of "Submit."

Barbara, compost is one of my life's passions and I love to go on about it. I'm swamped this weekend so I may not get back to you until next week.

Joe

 
I have an outdoor compost and I compost everything - from

vegetable peels to meat, bones, cheese etc.

I bought a compost a couple of years ago. It's made of plastic, and has a small door at the bottom where I take out the compost (I fill it from the top).

The top has a lid and the air holes has steel netting so critters can't get into it.
I am terrified of mice and rats, but so far I haven't had a visit from either at my compost (- and I live on a small farm. They are sure to be here somewhere.)

I love my compost. It converts food into wonderful compost in 3-4 months, and my garden loves it too.

 
My neighbor just bought one of those nifty ones on a stand that you crank - EASY!

Hers looks like this:
http://www.composters.com/compost-tumblers/space-saver-compost-tumbler---90-gallon_38_2.php

But for a new composter, I'm sure you need something simplier (read: cheaper!). I have one - looks like a trash can without wheel and you have to toss the stuff around with a pitchfork - trust me, it's a lot of backbreaking effort!! If I had it to do over, I think I'd get one that's easy to rotate - this is a basic tumbler model:
http://www.composters.com/compost-tumblers/spin-daddy-55-gal-compost-tumbler_392_2.php

I love the 'soil' it makes - so rich, dark, and full of nutrients.

http://vegweb.com/composting/

 
I'm anxious to hear what you have to say. I wonder, however, in humid rich area

I live if all composting rules everyone adheres to, we can't.

 
I listen to You Bet Your Garden ... he's an organic gardener .. scroll down to C for compost

I listen to him weekly via his podcasts. He has a whole section of the site dedicated to "question of the week" in which he goes in depth into questions emailed to him.

I had never thought of it before, but to really enrich your compost - see if your local coffee store will give you their spent grounds. Starbucks has a policy of giving them away.... really good for the compost.

I built one a few years ago - using chicken wire and stakes - as a way to use the shredded leaves from the fall. Then I add coffee, tea leaves and kitchen scraps (veggie only).

Here are some of the compost topics he covers on the site...

Compost
Compost 101
Compost: Can You Buy It in a Bag?
Composting is EASY!
Composting Kitchen Waste Can Be Tricky!
Defeating Leaf Spot and other Dread Diseases
How can you keep compost cooking when it’s COLD out?
Is Your Mulch Magnificent? Or Miserable?
Shred Those Fall leaves into Future Garden Glory!
What Do ‘Compost’, Topsoil’, ‘Humus’, ‘Composted Soil’ and Other ‘Dirty Words’ Really Mean?
Compost, As disease cure
Disease Resistant Roses
Compost and Compost Tea Against Disease
Yes, you CAN Protect Your Roses From Dread Diseases
Compost, Bulk
How to Acquire “Compost Mulch”
Compost Chimney Trick
Forget Chemicals – Make Compost!
Compost Ingredients
Compost Questions
Composting Kitchen Waste Can Be Tricky!
Using Wood Ash Wisely
What can you do with SAWDUST?
Compost making
Forget Chemicals – Make Compost!
Compost, What to include
Can You Compost Correspondence?
Composting Kitchen Waste Can Be Tricky!
Compost Tea
Yes, you CAN Protect Your Roses From Dread Diseases
Composted Soil
What Do ‘Compost’, Topsoil’, ‘Humus’, ‘Composted Soil’ and Other ‘Dirty Words’ Really Mean?
Composting
Using Coffee Grounds Correctly
Composting, how-to
Composting is EASY!
Composting, using kitchen scraps
Composting Kitchen Waste Can Be Tricky!

http://www.gardensalive.com/article_mcgrath.asp?ai=4&bhcd2=1245529809

 
They now have enclosed "composters" but all you really need

is an area large enought to cover your waste with soil and turn it every few days, or when you add some new garbage. You'll notice it gets HOT in the soil, and that's how you know you're going it right.

Just remember: no protein or you'll get critters. If you cover it completely with fresh dirt, you won't even get flies. It won't smell. Within a few weeks, you'll get nice, fine, rich-rich-rich organicly fertilized soil to add to your garden and/or fill pots.

 
True. Some people just use chicken wire to fence off a small area and begin dumping kitchen scraps

The hit about covering well with soil is right on - no smell, no flies.

 
Barbara, I always compost everything......however I do not have a gadget...never had, fortunately ..

though, I have had big enough properties all my life to just make a pile in various areas....
BUT
the important thing in this case is to get it wet now and then....
Turn it now and then...
AND
never add cooked stuff, meat, chicken bones etc.
I only use kitchen scraps of fruit/veg, flower arrangement stuff, paper towel, screwed up newspaper on occassion, cardboard from loo rolls or paper towel centers etc.

Be careful not to add too many citrus skins and too many pine needles (these dont break down) and in my case palm leaves which stay quite formed forever it seems.

I have considered a turning thingy but this will blow away in a hurricane with my luck.....if I lived in a small garden I would go for one I am sure.......

 
Eva, this may be just what I need. I found a couple of recycled plastic ones on line...

I am worried about attracting critters and flies but I think if I do it right that won't be a problem. Thanks for telling me about this container.

 
Marsha, it is extremely humid here too so I may have the same kind of situation.

DC is a filled in swamp and the humid is hateful, along with the mosquitoes! I have been throwing dead flower trimmings into a pile and covering it with dirt and they seem to decompose pretty quickly. I want to do more tho!

 
Dawn and Joanie, maybe this would work for me because we have tons of leaf mulch in

the fall to mix in. I am worried that if I bought a container I would not be able to mix in most of the leaf mulch because it would be too small. My yard is not large but I do have a very shady spot (under all those threes that supply the leaves) that would work well for me unless I need to have some sun on it.

I do have PLENTY of lovely red clay "dirt" that I can layer in. Hopefully the compost would turn the red clay into usable garden dirt!

 
Sounds ideal...lucky you, I ahve stoney/shale clay...it's not an easy thing so I layer newspaper....

instead of soil, in the heap.
You can also cover with a tarp if you like. But wet it now and then.
Use eggshells cooked or uncooked, tea bags etc.
I buy veg/fruit with the extra leaves so I can chop off and add to compost pile....
(like long leek tops, very leafy lettuce. In fact sometimes I fill a bag of what the shelf staff are picking off and tossing.)

Rule: Just dont put fatty stuff, bread, cooked veg etc in there at all.

 
Barbara, make sure the air holes have the steel netting. Nothing can

come through that.

Also, if the compost gets too cold or too dry, you can get flies in it. We've had it happen a couple of times, but we have just added water and been better at turning the compost, and the problem has gone away.

The compost doesn't smell that much but I would recommend you to not place it by an outdoor sitting area. You know, on hot summer days you can smell a little BUT a good compost smells fresh - not of rooten food.

Here's a picture of what mine looks like (sorry for the language - it's not in english but you'll get an idea of what it looks like).

http://www.strombergs-plast.no/kompostbjoern.php

 
I think you need soil in there, don't you? An old professor would very much want

me to mention that you want WORMS in there too, to facilitate breakdown of the organic material. I don't know why you wouldn't add cooked vegetables to it though? I would say you definately need soil in there too (to cover and mix in with the organic peat that will result), but it if works without it, great!

 
We referred to our steel-mesh covered composter as "The Rat Condo". Little suckers set up house!

Needless to say, we no longer feel the need to compost quite as much as before.

 
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