Composting! Learn how to compost in this video. What food can you compost? What food should not go in the composter? What kind of bin should I buy or build? Watch the show and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
To compost in your backyard, you'll need a bin of some sort. You can buy one - here are a few models - or you can build one - here are some GF videos with compost bin plans.
Composting Ingredients
Here is a brief list of things you can compost:
- Eggshells
- Coffee Grounds
- Salad Greens
- Corn Cobs
- Vegetables
- Newspaper, napkins, paper towels
- Light cardboard
Stuff you should not compost:
- Meat
- Foods saturated with oil
- Cat Litter and Dog Waste
- Cheese & Dairy Products
Most backyard composting takes months to break down, because of the lack of a large biomass, the pile cannot achieve the ideal temps for hot cooking of the material. But this isn't a reason not to do it. Taking food scraps in to the backyard instead of the trash can is a super eco green way to live, and its real easy. There's really no wrong way to do it.
Backyard Composting can be as simple as a pile of leaves and yard waste in the back of the yard, or in a more structured bin, its up to you. Whatever type you go with, be sure to aerate the pile, turning it over on itself, or lifting it up and poking holes in it. The pile needs air to work.
I've found that most of the compost accelerators don't do much more than a good shovel full of manure will. What do you think? Let us know below:
Scott Gillespie
I've got the three bin system. Maybe this is what you'll be building. I'm working at turning it now and just put a picture on my blog: http://cowboyjunkey.blogspot.ca/2013/10/yearly-compost-turning.html
Its essentially ready after the first turning but one more year gets all the big pieces broken down nicely. Over the winter nothing happens but by March or so it will start going. I've had it over 140F when it really gets going. The bin is nearly full by then but reduces through the spring and in the summer I can fill it but then the next week its back to the same level.
Katie P
Your dad is very smart to put scraps through the food processor. I do the same thing, it helps it along. Also, I live on 9 acres in the forests of Montana where there aren't many deciduous trees and we have no lawn so there are no leaves or grass to put in the compost. I have to buy a bag of composed manure from the big box store about once a month to add to my compost. It works well. I do put the paper towels and napkins in, good advice. I didn't know about commercial florist flowers being bad for the compost, great information.
Katie
Eric Gunnar Rochow
hi katie, manure works! the florist flowers aren't great for compost, eric.
Hoss
Our purpose in composting is (1) to reduce volume into landfills and (2) to use the compost in window boxes, hanging planters and, with a few additives, for houseplants. That said, the process for us is very simple. We place compostable material into a single mound in the yard -- not in any fancy container. Worms invade the mound doing all the work (no manure needed). To speed things up, I occasionally turn portions of the pile with a shovel. Keeping it simple w/o spending money on composting containers or so-called composting manure works well too.
Eric Gunnar Rochow
excellent! i'm all about keeping it simple Hoss, thanks for the easy compost how-to. we have several piles in the yard like this. eric.