How do you compost?
I’ve gone down the composting wormhole on the interweb (see what I did there? 🪱🌱) and I need my #TheWateringHole friends to pull me out 😂
Here’s my situation:
☑️We live on a small lot and I need something that’s easy to maintain.
❄️Our zone is 6B.
🥑I definitely want to incorporate at least our non-meat/dairy kitchen scraps.
🦝Our neighbor feeds the skunks and raccoons (don’t even get me started) so open piles are out of the question.
🪱I have two composters that I got from neighbors and haven’t tried yet: a two compartment TUMBLER and a small WORM composter set up.
🧐I’m also curious about BOKASHI composting.
So bring it on…HOW DO YOU COMPOST?!?
#debbiedo
Here’s my situation:
☑️We live on a small lot and I need something that’s easy to maintain.
❄️Our zone is 6B.
🥑I definitely want to incorporate at least our non-meat/dairy kitchen scraps.
🦝Our neighbor feeds the skunks and raccoons (don’t even get me started) so open piles are out of the question.
🪱I have two composters that I got from neighbors and haven’t tried yet: a two compartment TUMBLER and a small WORM composter set up.
🧐I’m also curious about BOKASHI composting.
So bring it on…HOW DO YOU COMPOST?!?
#debbiedo
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We’ve done various composting techniques but it’s really my hisband that has done it so my knowledge is more limited. When we lived in San Francisco we had a worm compost. it took a TON of food for very little dirt- prob why it’s so expensive to buy. It was kind of fun though. He also had a plastic bin that rotated for a while but I’m not sure what happened to that. He said it took a lot of work and wasn’t very effective. He had trouble with temp management. We tried some when we moved to CLE but I don’t think it stays warm enough here long enough without tons of extra work so the cost sort of out weighed the gain for us. A few years ago I bought him one of the countertop composting machines. I don’t love it but he’s been diligent to use it. 1. It’s loud. 2. The container is small and it takes prob 4-6 hours to continue a cycle and then there is is hardly anything to show for it. If it were up to me it would be gone! Ha! No technical knowledge but just a wife’s experience.
@Devsleafypals climate definitely play a big part and the species of worms temperature ranges are different so depending on where you live different worms would be a better choice most worms like it under 80° some like it under 50 F. Absolutely no soil is needed. The recycling way is to paper, shred cardboard, and the moisture comes from food. Nothing else is involved But worms
You can make the whole process as simple or as complicated as you want, but it can be very complicated to get things adjusted to the proper living conditions.
You can never have too much browns, but you can definitely have too much greens “fresh food” too much moisture is easily fixed by adding shredded cardboard “browns” 
You can never have too much browns, but you can definitely have too much greens “fresh food” too much moisture is easily fixed by adding shredded cardboard “browns” 
@OhGollyItsJolly @Just1More @Devsleafypals @debbiedo I have been thinking composting would be fun! 😊 Have any of your ever heard of MILL ? It's a composting machine for in your kitchen. It's the size of a trashcan. It's not cheap! But it seems efficient enough.
I’ve done a LOT of composting. The enclosed rotating containers are the bottom of the list due to lack of worms. The “vermicomposter” on the right I have used INDOORS with red wiggler worms and that was great. The ideal, at least for me, is an outdoor enclosed composter that is staked to bare earth. It’s the most work because you need to manually mix it up occasionally with a strong garden fork, but the worms come up from the soil for the food you’re providing and they are the key to the best result. These are not huge, I had two of them at my last house on less than .09 acre and mine made enough compost for 6 raised beds, 5’X5’ annually. It’s worm castings that truly make the soil! I placed mine in a part shade area to avoid overheating and still they never froze- I’m in Wisconsin- so they were ‘ cooking’ soil all year. Hope this makes sense! Compost is garden gold!
@luvmygreenhouse I’m with you that the cost, along with the power usage, put the composting machines lower on my list. They seem to get mixed reviews, but doesn’t everything? 😂
@MentorNoognug77 Very helpful, thank you! Did you have any trouble with fungus gnats in your vermi-composter? And I’d love to hear more about how you managed your outdoor bins (what you put in, how often you mixed, etc). 😁
@izzyandsugar So true! I was just watching one person who said: Everything composts EVENTUALLY, everything we’re doing is to just speed that up 👍🏻
@debbiedo we had a basic compost bin that was already here when we bought the house. It was fun for a little while but having a small yard it drew too many insects and it got very hot & smelly in the summer. That was was many moons 🌓 ago. I’m sure there are much better small yard composters available now. I’ll be curious to see what you end up getting 👍
@MariansOasis I think I’ll just play with the little tumbler I already have before invest in any more equipment 😂
There are some good comments in here and I’ve been studying this for years. That being said everything is expensive as you let it get if you want to do it cheap the most effective and beneficial way build you a box out of something like a square or a rectangle 4x8 1ft tall.
put it in your yard in the shade on the ground. 
get you a yard of topsoil from the local landscaper or mulch yard. place why a yard because it’ll cost around than $30 and fills the bed of a truck can usually have it delivered for less than 15 . “That’s 16 1sq ft bags of soil btw” can buy sq yard of compost at some places,
Pound of worm is roughly 800 worms that will cost anywhere from $40-$65. Cover with hay/straw or alfalfa hay if you want to splurge on this part “incredible slow nutrient release”
If you have chip drop, you can just layer it two or 3 inches of some wood chips and of course, when you go to put your food scraps in there, just dig your little hole plant food scraps cover them back up walk away.
If you’re scared to get your hands, dirty or touch the stuff ?? lol ? 😂 get you a coffee can drill some holes in it bury it put your food scraps in it put the lid on it success doesn’t have to be expensive 
put it in your yard in the shade on the ground. 
get you a yard of topsoil from the local landscaper or mulch yard. place why a yard because it’ll cost around than $30 and fills the bed of a truck can usually have it delivered for less than 15 . “That’s 16 1sq ft bags of soil btw” can buy sq yard of compost at some places,
Pound of worm is roughly 800 worms that will cost anywhere from $40-$65. Cover with hay/straw or alfalfa hay if you want to splurge on this part “incredible slow nutrient release”
If you have chip drop, you can just layer it two or 3 inches of some wood chips and of course, when you go to put your food scraps in there, just dig your little hole plant food scraps cover them back up walk away.
If you’re scared to get your hands, dirty or touch the stuff ?? lol ? 😂 get you a coffee can drill some holes in it bury it put your food scraps in it put the lid on it success doesn’t have to be expensive 
@debbiedo nothing dairy or meat at all whatsoever. This is where the stench comes from. Greens & browns is what you want no colored or shiny cardboard or shiny newspaper.
A paper shredder is great for adding cardboard for browns. Mine was being thrown away by someone at the dump when I was taking trash there. So ya recycle at its best lol works like new with a little coconut oil? lol 😂 🏝️
A paper shredder is great for adding cardboard for browns. Mine was being thrown away by someone at the dump when I was taking trash there. So ya recycle at its best lol works like new with a little coconut oil? lol 😂 🏝️
@OhGollyItsJolly I like the simplicity of your DIY description, Jolly! What do you in the winter? I’m zone 6B
@debbiedo well i figured this method if all goes wrong ?? Well you helped to amend the soil to get better. Best case scenario build another one or move it & plant directly in the ground. The cold I don’t have to worry about too much it does freeze here but being on ground worms dig deep “snow actually works as insulation” and with the oak trees in my yard you best believe they make it rain several feet of leaves in the fall easy layer of leaves.
My biggest thing is I need a leaf mulcher or wood chipper lol not that I want one but need one bc of the oaks 😭 I plan to build a pallet leaf matter stall setup this year. Last year stacked a pile 8ft high of leaves & put on top of the garden it’s sandy here 8miles from the coast🤦🏻♂️
My biggest thing is I need a leaf mulcher or wood chipper lol not that I want one but need one bc of the oaks 😭 I plan to build a pallet leaf matter stall setup this year. Last year stacked a pile 8ft high of leaves & put on top of the garden it’s sandy here 8miles from the coast🤦🏻♂️
@debbiedo oh my gosh, how did I miss this post?? Well I’m very glad you asked me about it in @Bmd Brandon’s post! Here is my comment from there, copy pasted. And oh Lordy I didn’t even go INTO worm composting ie vermiculture 😱 (Which I did indoors and loved!)
@debbiedo Ok, first of all Debbie, thank you SO much for asking, because that was the kick in the pants I needed to get at least that compost area raked. (And no feeling bad, ☝️ the motivation to clean up was sparked by the overwhelming urge to explain my composting methods 🤣)
2nd of all…DETAILS you say? 😏👏 Buckle up!
So I really couldn’t have picked a better place for compost, the tree that it’s under protects it from harsh sun and drying out in the summer, and also from the non stop rain at other times of the year. It’s a few steps from my back porch door, which leads to my kitchen. Making it easier to go here, instead of out front to my city compost bin.
Ok, full shot now, I hope you can see leaves in the chicken wire bin. When I bring out fresh kitchen scraps to dump on my pile, I always scoop some out some dried leaves to put on top (so I’m adding greens and browns at the same time). This helps both the compost to cook well, and deters animals and pests by not having fresh kitchen scraps open to the air and tempting them! If I’m starting a new pile I can open the bin and scoop freely from it.
I have three sections for compost, and they are divided by the concrete blocks. (The first bay has something wooden in it…I should probably get that outta there) Eventually I would love to have my three bays made out of wooden palates with lids, but this is how I started them. You don’t need fancy-shmancy anything for composting. You don’t even need three bays. You could have only one pile and get along just fine. The most important thing though, is that your material touches the bare earth. That’s how the good bacteria and microbes get into your pile to make it compost! The spinny/wheely raised compost machine things are nice and all…but you’d have to add dirt from your garden to get the microbes into it! Right now I only have one active compost pile in the last bay. I was lazy this spring and wasn’t actively hunting down good carbon sources like I normally am 🤷♀️😄🥱 (My husbands boss used to give us their used rabbit bedding which was straw mixed with rabbit poop. Pretty much the GOLDEN STANDARD of fantastic things to add to your pile. Besides comfrey or yarrow) But if I did have 3 piles going, I would dump fresh kitchen scraps and yard debris only onto the first bay and pull ready to use compost from the third bay. I turn them regularly, then when it had cooked enough in the first bay I would transfer it to the second bay, and transfer what was in the second bay to the third bay, which is usually my finished compost pile. Right now I’ve just been turning the pile back and forth from 2nd to 3rd bay. “Turning it” or restacking the pile helps the beneficial microbes get to all parts of the pile, and gets oxygen in there so it doesn’t go anaerobic (lacking oxygen and getting SMELLY and blech).
I do hot composting, where I have the perfect ratio of brown dried stuff (carbon sources) to fresh stuff (green nitrogen sources) that the microbes love it, they get to work composting for me, and it heats up to quite hot! (The ideal ratio is either 2:1 or 3:1, so 2 or 3 parts carbon to every 1 part of nitrogen. Rabbit poop is pure nitrogen, and that used bedding we got was already a complete 2/3:1 ratio 😱😮💨🤩, but it’s not “hot” like cow or chicken manure, which it’s NECESSARY to age it (compost it) before you put it on your plants, otherwise you’ll burn your tomatoes. Rabbit poop can be added to your garden AS IT IS) In your compost pile Nitrogen breaks down really fast, and gets really hot, but if it was all nitrogen it would burn up in a second and then all your microbes would go away and find something else to do with their lives. Carbon breaks down slowly, if your pile was all carbon it would be pretty cold and could take years before you have useable compost. So you need to have enough nitrogen so that it stays hot, but enough carbon so it doesn’t burn out too soon. You need to do hot composting to have any hope of being able to put weeds with seeds in your compost. If the weed seeds don’t get cooked adequately, then you’re just spreading around more weeds every time you use your compost 😆 (ask me how I know this 🙄😬🫠) But also, I never put diseased plants on my pile or plants that got taken over by things like powdery mildew, for example. Those spores can live through lots of things, even the heat that I can get mine to. That kind of icky stuff goes in the city compost where I know it will be destroyed. But I can’t risk that for my own home garden.
To start a hot compost pile, you do need a large amount of what you’re composting ready to go, fresh green stuff, and dry brown stuff so you can build up your pile in layers. Hopefully enough material so that you can make a 4’x4’x4’ pile. (Or was it 3’x3’x3’? 🤔 ) Or you can build it up slowly, layer by layer, but that will just take longer. Then, in an ideal world, you would turn your compost pile once a week. If you did that, you could have fresh beautiful healthy compost, ready to go, in 3-8 weeks. And NOTHING is better than adding pure freshly made compost from your own pesticide-free garden back onto your garden. It’s got minerals and nutrients in it, from plants that you grew before, it has the microbes that live right where you do, and literally feeds you, the soil, and your plants, it acts like a slow release fertilizer, fixes nitrogen, improves your soil composition, and is a home for tiny bugs and fungi that help protect your plants from pests, illness and diseases. The plants you grow in your own compost will be healthier, stronger, and more resistant to pests and disease than compost bought from Home Depot. (Not knocking that though, if that’s the only thing you can get, it’s better than nothing, so please do!)
And here’s my favorite pitchfork, it’s a Dewalt with a fiber glass handle. I’m not a tall person, and I was using my 6’2” husband’s large and heavy pitchfork, until it broke, and then he got me one that was much smaller and lighter that was the perfect size for me. 🤗 Match your size to your tools for a much easier time of it!
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 😅 And let me know if I missed anything! (I sure hope not but wouldn’t put it past me 🤣)
Oh right, that’s a bale of straw that I use for carbon when needed too!
Ooh and thank you for the kiwi vine tip!! 😊
@debbiedo Ok, first of all Debbie, thank you SO much for asking, because that was the kick in the pants I needed to get at least that compost area raked. (And no feeling bad, ☝️ the motivation to clean up was sparked by the overwhelming urge to explain my composting methods 🤣)
2nd of all…DETAILS you say? 😏👏 Buckle up!
So I really couldn’t have picked a better place for compost, the tree that it’s under protects it from harsh sun and drying out in the summer, and also from the non stop rain at other times of the year. It’s a few steps from my back porch door, which leads to my kitchen. Making it easier to go here, instead of out front to my city compost bin.
Ok, full shot now, I hope you can see leaves in the chicken wire bin. When I bring out fresh kitchen scraps to dump on my pile, I always scoop some out some dried leaves to put on top (so I’m adding greens and browns at the same time). This helps both the compost to cook well, and deters animals and pests by not having fresh kitchen scraps open to the air and tempting them! If I’m starting a new pile I can open the bin and scoop freely from it.
I have three sections for compost, and they are divided by the concrete blocks. (The first bay has something wooden in it…I should probably get that outta there) Eventually I would love to have my three bays made out of wooden palates with lids, but this is how I started them. You don’t need fancy-shmancy anything for composting. You don’t even need three bays. You could have only one pile and get along just fine. The most important thing though, is that your material touches the bare earth. That’s how the good bacteria and microbes get into your pile to make it compost! The spinny/wheely raised compost machine things are nice and all…but you’d have to add dirt from your garden to get the microbes into it! Right now I only have one active compost pile in the last bay. I was lazy this spring and wasn’t actively hunting down good carbon sources like I normally am 🤷♀️😄🥱 (My husbands boss used to give us their used rabbit bedding which was straw mixed with rabbit poop. Pretty much the GOLDEN STANDARD of fantastic things to add to your pile. Besides comfrey or yarrow) But if I did have 3 piles going, I would dump fresh kitchen scraps and yard debris only onto the first bay and pull ready to use compost from the third bay. I turn them regularly, then when it had cooked enough in the first bay I would transfer it to the second bay, and transfer what was in the second bay to the third bay, which is usually my finished compost pile. Right now I’ve just been turning the pile back and forth from 2nd to 3rd bay. “Turning it” or restacking the pile helps the beneficial microbes get to all parts of the pile, and gets oxygen in there so it doesn’t go anaerobic (lacking oxygen and getting SMELLY and blech).
I do hot composting, where I have the perfect ratio of brown dried stuff (carbon sources) to fresh stuff (green nitrogen sources) that the microbes love it, they get to work composting for me, and it heats up to quite hot! (The ideal ratio is either 2:1 or 3:1, so 2 or 3 parts carbon to every 1 part of nitrogen. Rabbit poop is pure nitrogen, and that used bedding we got was already a complete 2/3:1 ratio 😱😮💨🤩, but it’s not “hot” like cow or chicken manure, which it’s NECESSARY to age it (compost it) before you put it on your plants, otherwise you’ll burn your tomatoes. Rabbit poop can be added to your garden AS IT IS) In your compost pile Nitrogen breaks down really fast, and gets really hot, but if it was all nitrogen it would burn up in a second and then all your microbes would go away and find something else to do with their lives. Carbon breaks down slowly, if your pile was all carbon it would be pretty cold and could take years before you have useable compost. So you need to have enough nitrogen so that it stays hot, but enough carbon so it doesn’t burn out too soon. You need to do hot composting to have any hope of being able to put weeds with seeds in your compost. If the weed seeds don’t get cooked adequately, then you’re just spreading around more weeds every time you use your compost 😆 (ask me how I know this 🙄😬🫠) But also, I never put diseased plants on my pile or plants that got taken over by things like powdery mildew, for example. Those spores can live through lots of things, even the heat that I can get mine to. That kind of icky stuff goes in the city compost where I know it will be destroyed. But I can’t risk that for my own home garden.
To start a hot compost pile, you do need a large amount of what you’re composting ready to go, fresh green stuff, and dry brown stuff so you can build up your pile in layers. Hopefully enough material so that you can make a 4’x4’x4’ pile. (Or was it 3’x3’x3’? 🤔 ) Or you can build it up slowly, layer by layer, but that will just take longer. Then, in an ideal world, you would turn your compost pile once a week. If you did that, you could have fresh beautiful healthy compost, ready to go, in 3-8 weeks. And NOTHING is better than adding pure freshly made compost from your own pesticide-free garden back onto your garden. It’s got minerals and nutrients in it, from plants that you grew before, it has the microbes that live right where you do, and literally feeds you, the soil, and your plants, it acts like a slow release fertilizer, fixes nitrogen, improves your soil composition, and is a home for tiny bugs and fungi that help protect your plants from pests, illness and diseases. The plants you grow in your own compost will be healthier, stronger, and more resistant to pests and disease than compost bought from Home Depot. (Not knocking that though, if that’s the only thing you can get, it’s better than nothing, so please do!)
And here’s my favorite pitchfork, it’s a Dewalt with a fiber glass handle. I’m not a tall person, and I was using my 6’2” husband’s large and heavy pitchfork, until it broke, and then he got me one that was much smaller and lighter that was the perfect size for me. 🤗 Match your size to your tools for a much easier time of it!
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 😅 And let me know if I missed anything! (I sure hope not but wouldn’t put it past me 🤣)
Oh right, that’s a bale of straw that I use for carbon when needed too!
Ooh and thank you for the kiwi vine tip!! 😊
@OhGollyItsJolly I totally forgot in my novel up there ☝️ 🙄 that yes! Very important to not add dairy or meats. It can get pretty stinky in your typical home compost. HOWEVER…if your compost gets hot enough, you could absolutely get rid of a body 🤔 , er, I mean, “meat” and dairy 😂😂 Lol, just kidding, murder is wrong kids, that’s why we garden 🤷♀️ I do seem to remember a story about a farmer who said he could compost a whole pigs carcass and it would be gone, no signs remaining, in less than a week though 🤔
ANYHOO, And I also use a paper shredder for plain cardboard for my worms, OR on my reg compost if I’m out of other browns.
ANYHOO, And I also use a paper shredder for plain cardboard for my worms, OR on my reg compost if I’m out of other browns.
@luvmygreenhouse @debbiedo @Devsleafypals @Just1More @izzyandsugar I’m afraid to let you know, well, actually not afraid, because those things are da** expensive, that those machine really are only fancy dehydrators. They do not turn anything into compost, they just remove all the moisture. I know it sounds nice because you can do it inside! Fast! But it really doesn’t give you any of the benefits of composting 😒😠
@DreamMachine you did have a lil novel right there didn’t you lol I love the knowledge & experience. After your novel I decided not to go full funky chicken crazy plant guy lmfao. Bc damn I almost went chicken noveling haha. I became to breed funky chicken breeds to put it lightly. Working on a masterpiece of a beeed currently & it super exciting lol how about a Tolbunt Crested Polish crossed with a white peacock 🤯 ya it’s gonna happen 🙀
@DreamMachine Wow! I did not know that!!🫠 Thanks for warning me!!🤗 I had been wondering how it does composting so fast!🥴🤔
@debbiedo @Devsleafypals @izzyandsugar @Just1More @Malagueña @MamaLinne @MariansOasis @planthoe40 @luvmygreenhouse @MentorNoognug77 @OhGollyItsJolly @GardenCat43 @Bmd
Sorry, hopefully tagged everyone that might have been interested in or already doing worm composting.
This is the video I followed to make my cheap and easy 5 gallon bucket system worm composter.
https://youtu.be/-fzUkvWbGhY?is=QX0H4g7tpA9JiR7z
I had red wrigglers and I kept the composter in my kitchen. I got my worms for free, after putting out an ask on marketplace or BuyNothing, a neighbor came over and gave me a quart container of their worms for free! 🙌 I never had a problem with smells as the worms eat a lot and it’s important to cover any food scraps you add with additional damp shredded cardboard or the like.
I never had a problem with fungus gnats, although I did have some interested fruit flies in the heat of summer. BUT nature solved that problem for me. We had a very ambitious and hard working spider 🕷️ post up directly under the top lid of my worm bin! She wove some webs 🕸️ so that any fruit flies 🦟 flying into the top air holes were immediately caught! She was so cool. My kiddo named her something like “Meadow Sparkle Sunshine Daisy” and I called her my employee 👷♀️😅 I was always very carefully about opening and closing the lid, but she was usually hanging out in a safe spot.
I’m only not doing worms right now because my attention was dragged too much in other directions, but I still have my worm buckets 🪣 if I feel like starting them up again!
Right now I’m using them as colanders for rinsing the dust off of large amounts of perlite.
Sorry, hopefully tagged everyone that might have been interested in or already doing worm composting.
This is the video I followed to make my cheap and easy 5 gallon bucket system worm composter.
https://youtu.be/-fzUkvWbGhY?is=QX0H4g7tpA9JiR7z
I had red wrigglers and I kept the composter in my kitchen. I got my worms for free, after putting out an ask on marketplace or BuyNothing, a neighbor came over and gave me a quart container of their worms for free! 🙌 I never had a problem with smells as the worms eat a lot and it’s important to cover any food scraps you add with additional damp shredded cardboard or the like.
I never had a problem with fungus gnats, although I did have some interested fruit flies in the heat of summer. BUT nature solved that problem for me. We had a very ambitious and hard working spider 🕷️ post up directly under the top lid of my worm bin! She wove some webs 🕸️ so that any fruit flies 🦟 flying into the top air holes were immediately caught! She was so cool. My kiddo named her something like “Meadow Sparkle Sunshine Daisy” and I called her my employee 👷♀️😅 I was always very carefully about opening and closing the lid, but she was usually hanging out in a safe spot.
I’m only not doing worms right now because my attention was dragged too much in other directions, but I still have my worm buckets 🪣 if I feel like starting them up again!
Right now I’m using them as colanders for rinsing the dust off of large amounts of perlite.
@DreamMachine Thanks for your TED talk 😆🤣 and all your other information! It's giving me the urge to try composting!😄
@DreamMachine Thank you for reposting here so I don’t lose track of your awesome info 😊
I don’t think I’m ready for hot composting, space-wise or material-wise. At least not yet 🤔
The tumbler isn’t optimal, but I’m thinking it’ll let me at least get started with our kitchen scraps.
My big question is still about winter. I think our weather gets colder than yours, and my compost certainly won’t be as hot. I’m guessing I just let the outside bin sit during the winter?
I could worm compost in the basement but a couple sources mentioned fungus gnats which (given my latest battle) did not appeal AT ALL! 😒
Looking forward to hearing your experience with worms 👍🏻
I don’t think I’m ready for hot composting, space-wise or material-wise. At least not yet 🤔
The tumbler isn’t optimal, but I’m thinking it’ll let me at least get started with our kitchen scraps.
My big question is still about winter. I think our weather gets colder than yours, and my compost certainly won’t be as hot. I’m guessing I just let the outside bin sit during the winter?
I could worm compost in the basement but a couple sources mentioned fungus gnats which (given my latest battle) did not appeal AT ALL! 😒
Looking forward to hearing your experience with worms 👍🏻
@DreamMachine The open bottom bins could also work for me maybe. And if @MentorNoognug77 uses them all year in Wisconsin, that’s promising!
I’d also then have need for THE PERFECT PITCHFORK! 🤩
I’d also then have need for THE PERFECT PITCHFORK! 🤩
@DreamMachine we must have been typing at the same time! 😁 OK, worms might be back in the table for me. Going to watch the video…
@debbiedo yes we were 😅
my pleasure Debbie! I’m so glad you caught my attention after I missed your post, because composting has been one of my special interests for years! 😅
While the tumbler isn’t optimal, I think it would be a great start for you for you! Just make sure to add a couple shovelfuls of your own earth, primarily for the bacteria and soil microbes. If your own soil is not good quality, you can buy “compost starter,” like this one pictured. But it’s NOT necessary if your own soil is healthy enough to plant in.
And just to clarify a point about worms—they are great composters, but they only go into “cold” compost OR compost that has cooled down after being hot. That’s actually how I tell if my hot compost is ready: once I start seeing worms in it means that the hot decomposing bacteria have slowed down.
An open bottom bin would probably be the most ideal for you. It’s not fool proof but it will at least be somewhat of a barrier to the raccoons and skunks 🦨 being fed nearby.
And yes, just to drive my point home, if you have a healthy worm bin, you shouldn’t have a big fruit fly problem. Obviously they will be more attracted to the juicy pulpy fruit scraps than say zucchini 😅 But if you cover your scraps each time with a good layer of plain shredded cardboard, or similar worm bedding, that really helps. I also don’t know if this is still a general rule, but when I started it was recommended to never add garlic/onions or citrus to your worm compost.
And for my outside pile, if I notice higher rodent activity or the like, this is how I add my food scraps:
I pitchfork off a big top section of my pile, then I add my food scraps, then I put the top section back on. This way, the fresh food is buried somewhat in the very center of the pile and less likely to attract attention. And I always top the whole pile off with fresh carbon: straw (never hay!), dry leaves, shredded brown cardboard or egg cartons.
my pleasure Debbie! I’m so glad you caught my attention after I missed your post, because composting has been one of my special interests for years! 😅
While the tumbler isn’t optimal, I think it would be a great start for you for you! Just make sure to add a couple shovelfuls of your own earth, primarily for the bacteria and soil microbes. If your own soil is not good quality, you can buy “compost starter,” like this one pictured. But it’s NOT necessary if your own soil is healthy enough to plant in.
And just to clarify a point about worms—they are great composters, but they only go into “cold” compost OR compost that has cooled down after being hot. That’s actually how I tell if my hot compost is ready: once I start seeing worms in it means that the hot decomposing bacteria have slowed down.
An open bottom bin would probably be the most ideal for you. It’s not fool proof but it will at least be somewhat of a barrier to the raccoons and skunks 🦨 being fed nearby.
And yes, just to drive my point home, if you have a healthy worm bin, you shouldn’t have a big fruit fly problem. Obviously they will be more attracted to the juicy pulpy fruit scraps than say zucchini 😅 But if you cover your scraps each time with a good layer of plain shredded cardboard, or similar worm bedding, that really helps. I also don’t know if this is still a general rule, but when I started it was recommended to never add garlic/onions or citrus to your worm compost.
And for my outside pile, if I notice higher rodent activity or the like, this is how I add my food scraps:
I pitchfork off a big top section of my pile, then I add my food scraps, then I put the top section back on. This way, the fresh food is buried somewhat in the very center of the pile and less likely to attract attention. And I always top the whole pile off with fresh carbon: straw (never hay!), dry leaves, shredded brown cardboard or egg cartons.
Oh my goodness, thanks everyone for sharing ALL your amazing expertise!
I’ve decided to start simple, focused on just fruit and veg waste in my tumbler. I’ll use as much brown material as I can from the yard (plus some starter soil and compost). I also ordered these awesome electric scissors to help me break down boxes for the shredder 🤭 https://a.co/d/00ROpSTf
I’m going to try more “chop and drop” in my flower beds to reduce what we’re putting in our city green bin (and to gauge if we need/want to start a no-kitchen-waste cold compost bin behind our garage). https://youtu.be/36g1eoUXPO8
After I get my feet under me a little, we’ll see how far I want to take it. This guy might be my new hero for complete all-inclusive food waste composting…Bokashi, THEN tumbler, THEN worms! 🤯 https://youtu.be/kpTPomMMEYk
@DreamMachine @luvmygreenhouse @OhGollyItsJolly @planthoe40 @Malagueña @MariansOasis @MamaLinne @izzyandsugar @MentorNoognug77 @Devsleafypals @Just1More
I’ve decided to start simple, focused on just fruit and veg waste in my tumbler. I’ll use as much brown material as I can from the yard (plus some starter soil and compost). I also ordered these awesome electric scissors to help me break down boxes for the shredder 🤭 https://a.co/d/00ROpSTf
I’m going to try more “chop and drop” in my flower beds to reduce what we’re putting in our city green bin (and to gauge if we need/want to start a no-kitchen-waste cold compost bin behind our garage). https://youtu.be/36g1eoUXPO8
After I get my feet under me a little, we’ll see how far I want to take it. This guy might be my new hero for complete all-inclusive food waste composting…Bokashi, THEN tumbler, THEN worms! 🤯 https://youtu.be/kpTPomMMEYk
@DreamMachine @luvmygreenhouse @OhGollyItsJolly @planthoe40 @Malagueña @MariansOasis @MamaLinne @izzyandsugar @MentorNoognug77 @Devsleafypals @Just1More
@debbiedo several comments ago you mentioned about fungus Nats and it possibly being too cold where you live in a garage with concrete floor in Colorado it’s very possible & is pretty common bc of all the organic living soil growers. I have no experience with the temperature there myself, but I’m pretty sure it’s cold cold 🤷🏻♂️ i’m still a 100% true believer and supporter of the yellow sticky traps for fun snacks or fruit flies whichever one it is they’re attracted to the yellow the other one just gets stuck. And if you bury the food scraps even 1 inch that’s just not gonna happen anyway. I will still say a little common sense has to go into play and you don’t put a watermelon. That’s absolutely infested with bugs and pest that you don’t want to deal with right. Not to mention colder weather = what’s a bug? Not in all cases, but you know, if you’re thinking of doing an enclosed bin, I suggest deep wide and thick Bc of the cold more volume means harder to freeze or a thicker layer of mulch, leaves, woodchips, hay any insulating ground cover. I think you’ll be fine. I’m not saying go out and spend $1000 in worms or anything but put $20 in worms on one side and $20 in worms on the other side and $20 in ones in the middle, I don’t know. I don’t think you can go wrong They’re going to go towards the food and organic matter. Fungus Nats, or any type of little “no see um” is a pain. And my last case was on a pretty expensive plant I yellow sticky trapped, & watered once with 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide 2 parts rain water. After thoroughly researching. And this is what I found to be quick, cheap, and effective. It blew my mind 1st try bam gone by the time it needed watering again. It is not harmful to the worms, but the microbes do not like it when they will temporarily diminish in numbers and then replenish. Research says it’s OK to do this once every two weeks. I would say once a week but don’t wanna push the luck. And blackstrap molasses is like a nitrous boost, lots of horsepower real fast at the push of a button, but it goes away as soon as you let go. 
@debbiedo one more thing I would like to add since you said, adding yard debris the less amount of yard debris you add the less amount of pest and bugs you’ll have or encourage to become an infestation because you can shred cardboard paper and recycle. You’re doing a good thing and using your fruit as the greens. Will create higher amounts of potassium. I encourage local mulch or chop and drop especially localized to your yard or property. Instead of conpost or bag mulch. This also encourages no outside pests. Because for every garden pets can become an issue.  I wouldn’t spend no extra cost in starter soil for your composting bin. I think a better investment would be a cheap paper shredder. Don’t act like your last plant delivered wasn’t in a box that you should have recycled hmm? 🤔 lol pest free browns. Only shredded cardboard, few whole bananas & 1 cup of worm castings or vermicompost. Best starter you can have. If you have some pumice or crushed oyster shell if you have chickens you probably do would be great for aeration and grit for the worms hands full of sand works fine too 🪱 
 27gallon tote from Wally World 4 for 28$ 🙃 as hard or as easy as you make it 🤙🏽
 27gallon tote from Wally World 4 for 28$ 🙃 as hard or as easy as you make it 🤙🏽
@debbiedo yayyy Debbie I’m so excited for you! I love both videos you shared. I didn’t even think about ‘chop n drop’ in my novel up there 👆 I do that a lot in my garden. 🤗
And omg Jolly @OhGollyItsJolly do wood chippers produce sawdust at all? 🤔 I’ve never used one, but that would be sweet if they could! Much easier to compost. Kinda like how I used to make smoothies for my worm bin LOL. I’d take any produce scraps and blend them up, that way the worms can go through it faster and easier. I do remember thinking at times, mid-blending, ‘am I really doing this? I’m very seriously making a smoothie for my worms’ 🤣🤣
And Debbie I agree with Jolly on simply insulating your pile or bin for the winter. If it’s a cold bin, you don’t really need to worry about, it will just slow down more. But if it’s open to the elements you can put any number of different mulches, straw, or they even make burlap tarps for compost piles…just to keep it from getting TOO wet from rain and snow. Just never use plastic/standard tarps!! They break down too fast and leave plastic bits everywhere! Omg I did not know that the previous owners of our house had laid a blue tarp down directly where I started my compost piles (the tarp had been covered with years of leaves, dirt, so I didn’t see it). But I have been picking out shreds of blue tarp from my compost for years 🤦♀️ 😑 🙄 Hopefully I’ve almost got every piece 🤪
And omg Jolly @OhGollyItsJolly do wood chippers produce sawdust at all? 🤔 I’ve never used one, but that would be sweet if they could! Much easier to compost. Kinda like how I used to make smoothies for my worm bin LOL. I’d take any produce scraps and blend them up, that way the worms can go through it faster and easier. I do remember thinking at times, mid-blending, ‘am I really doing this? I’m very seriously making a smoothie for my worms’ 🤣🤣
And Debbie I agree with Jolly on simply insulating your pile or bin for the winter. If it’s a cold bin, you don’t really need to worry about, it will just slow down more. But if it’s open to the elements you can put any number of different mulches, straw, or they even make burlap tarps for compost piles…just to keep it from getting TOO wet from rain and snow. Just never use plastic/standard tarps!! They break down too fast and leave plastic bits everywhere! Omg I did not know that the previous owners of our house had laid a blue tarp down directly where I started my compost piles (the tarp had been covered with years of leaves, dirt, so I didn’t see it). But I have been picking out shreds of blue tarp from my compost for years 🤦♀️ 😑 🙄 Hopefully I’ve almost got every piece 🤪
@debbiedo @OhGollyItsJolly
I do want to give you both a word of caution on the molasses though! I know you’ll find SO MANY sources on Google or whatever search engine telling you that it’s good…but I’m telling you 🙏 it’s not. Most all of those “pro-molasses tips” are from A.I. generated sources 😡 and do not know how it ACTUALLY interacts with your soil and microbes.
Here are a few reasons why adding molasses can be harmful to your soil & plants:
1. ‘Regular’ molasses is high in sulfur, and will actually kill the beneficial bacteria you need. 🤦♀️
2. Either kind of molasses will create chemical imbalances in the soil. If you’re adding it outdoors it can create nutrient lockout. Once that soil is unbalanced you can't just balance it back out by adding something else. It can take YEARS 😱 to balance itself back out. Nutrient lockout can also take a lonnng time to be detected, also: YEARS. But then suddenly everything will be dying or getting infested or sick and you’ll have no idea what’s going on 😭 You can't always repair the damage done. 🥺
3. Sugars- WILL absolutely attract pests and not the kinds you want.
Nature is finely tuned and perfectly capable of sustaining itself outdoors. It is us that ruins perfectly good soil. 🫣🙄 And I hope no one takes this as a reprimand!! Not my intention at all!! I’m just passionate about this, and I hope, by giving you all this information that it might save your babies from unnecessary hardship!
I used to be a big believer in finding the next new thing, and the BEST things to add to my soil to get better and BETTER growth. But… now I keep it simple. Mother Nature is very good at caring for herself (and all of us)! 🥰
However!! I do encourage my husband to pee on the pile occasionally 😜
I do want to give you both a word of caution on the molasses though! I know you’ll find SO MANY sources on Google or whatever search engine telling you that it’s good…but I’m telling you 🙏 it’s not. Most all of those “pro-molasses tips” are from A.I. generated sources 😡 and do not know how it ACTUALLY interacts with your soil and microbes.
Here are a few reasons why adding molasses can be harmful to your soil & plants:
1. ‘Regular’ molasses is high in sulfur, and will actually kill the beneficial bacteria you need. 🤦♀️
2. Either kind of molasses will create chemical imbalances in the soil. If you’re adding it outdoors it can create nutrient lockout. Once that soil is unbalanced you can't just balance it back out by adding something else. It can take YEARS 😱 to balance itself back out. Nutrient lockout can also take a lonnng time to be detected, also: YEARS. But then suddenly everything will be dying or getting infested or sick and you’ll have no idea what’s going on 😭 You can't always repair the damage done. 🥺
3. Sugars- WILL absolutely attract pests and not the kinds you want.
Nature is finely tuned and perfectly capable of sustaining itself outdoors. It is us that ruins perfectly good soil. 🫣🙄 And I hope no one takes this as a reprimand!! Not my intention at all!! I’m just passionate about this, and I hope, by giving you all this information that it might save your babies from unnecessary hardship!
I used to be a big believer in finding the next new thing, and the BEST things to add to my soil to get better and BETTER growth. But… now I keep it simple. Mother Nature is very good at caring for herself (and all of us)! 🥰
However!! I do encourage my husband to pee on the pile occasionally 😜
@DreamMachine I absolutely agree. It definitely makes your soil acidic and it’s hard to come back from it at the very least.
and I’d like to share a video with you.
 https://youtu.be/92t7_3oYxZU?is=qa6ZNuIBdbf7R_5j
and I’d like to share a video with you.
 https://youtu.be/92t7_3oYxZU?is=qa6ZNuIBdbf7R_5j
@DreamMachine I found this article helpful as a quick comparison between different methods. I love the idea of setting up our compost bin in a different raised bed each year! 💡 https://speedibin.com/blogs/composting-education/13-ways-to-compost