Hmmm...our stuff decomposes over the winter........
Hmmm...our stuff decomposes over the winter........
Do you live where temperatures are mild? It gets too cold in Kansas. Those stacks of food waste just sit there and freeze/thaw with minimal decomposing. An open compost pile is much different than using a compost tumbler, and for the most part, they both go dormant in the winter with very little decomposing going on. Which type of compost do you have?Originally Posted by CathyA
Ditto what Steve said. That's what we do, too.
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Tussiemussies, I would compost it. I have had volunteer watermelon plants come up in my garden from my compost. I just pull them or leave them. I compost all year, and dig a hole very deep in the pile for my scraps. I keep the pile at least three feet by three feet. Right now I need more browns. Soon the leaves will be falling, and they will build up the pile. I tall leads back to compost...
Cathy, that is a good idea to still collect kitchen waste and put it a big garbage can. I was just going
Ing to cut up a canteloupe and really wanted to compost the rind somehow. This will work very well...thank you. Thanks Steve, Lessisbest, Catherine and awakenedsoul for all the great information you gave. I am so excited to finally have another garden next season at our newer house and to use compost for the first time. I always used dehydrated manue and it worked so great, but now we have well water so that is out of the question. Christine
Another thing you can do Tussiemussies, is to add some leaves to the fozen stuff.....if you have leaves around. You could actually put some leaves to start with in a garbage can-type container, and mix the food scraps into it as the winter progresses.
Oh.....and I'm wondering why you can't use the dehydrated manure if you have well water?
Sounds good Cathy, I just though since it was manure, that I couldn't use it. My gardens will be very close to the well water...
I am going to try to keep the fallen leaves for next year's composting. We ran out of this year so my compost is not 50/50 so I don't want that to happen next year...thanks again.
For a compost tumbler --- an easy way to add something dry is to use a lunch-size brown paper bag for your scraps each day. I found a damaged bundle of these bags years ago for a couple dollars and have used them for scraps for 8-years. How to: I cut about 2-inches off the top of the bag and use it to reinforce the bottom of the bag so the bottom doesn't give way from getting soggy. I then place my bag in a stainless steel container and put a light cover over the top (a small elasticized plastic bonnet) .
Another way to have brown material in the summer is to dry new-mown grass. We do that on the patio on a small tarp. It helps to keep the grass from blowing off the tarp if you can lift each corner of the tarp a little (it's ALWAYS windy here in Kansas). I do that with cords and attach the cords to my umbrella clothes line that is at the edge of the patio. You can also just leave the grass on the lawn in an inconspicuous place and it will dry in a few days. Then you can rake it up and store it in a 5-gallon bucket. I also keep 5-gallon buckets of saw dust to use as dry material. (Hubby can get me all the saw dust I can use at work.)
Do you get rats? We have a large yard and "pile composting" would be the easiest method for us, but I'm worried about critters.
Yeah, I'm sure we feed the coons, mice, deer, etc. I've only seen a rat once though.....and it was in the basement. YIKES!
Here's a pic I took of our compost pile in the winter. haha
I call this pic the highways and byways of my compost pile..........
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