Do you compost?

Do you have a compost pile? If so, what is your method and what kinds of things do you add to the mix?

Do you have a compost pile? If so, what is your method and what kinds of things do you add to the mix?

Yup, we've had one for almost 20 years now. Our method? We got ourselves a composting bin (our original used chicken wire, but since then we've gone upscale with one from Gardener's Supply Co) and add to it on a regular basis. From the kitchen, all veggie and fruit scraps go into a composting pail (get one with a lid to keep down odors), along with egg shells and some bread scraps (those that aren't high in fats or dairy, both of which are bad news for compost). From the garden, a few weeds and cut flowers and, at this time of year, dry leaves. We turn the pile regularly to keep it aerated.

Mark Lipton

For years. I collect neigbors' bags of leaves. I add coffee grounds and vegetable waste, but no eggshells because of the soil pH. Sometimes I run a lawnmower over the dried leaves to chop them.

A good idea I heard of for a mulch enclosure is four shipping pallets (which are usually given away for free). Stand them upright and wire them together. Ideally, red worms should be included to speed along the process.

Absolutely. A home made cedar, slatted enclosure with removable slats on the front side. All fruit and vegetable kitchen waste, crushed egg shells, end of garden plants, mulched leaves and horse and chicken manure. It is amazing how fast stuff breaks down and goes back onto the garden beds.
We have very little to put out on the curb each week for trash pick up. With a bit more effort, paper shredding and another bin we could almost totally eliminate our trash.

Liz is a biologist and with her science background we've been composting since 1979 and her father for 50 years before that. I want to add here that a month or so ago, when she was stirring up the compost, she had some kind of reaction that and caused difficult breathing and rapid heart rate. She blames the compost heap. Since then, we have switched from the vented, black plastic composter to a more open style...she'll never touch the other one again.

Yes. His name is Cooper. See solid white subject in avatar at left.

Oh, you OUTDOOR composters. I've got a Worm Factory ™ 4 level worm composter in basement. They can't quite keep up if we have a ton of waste at one time, but take care of a lot of it. We refer to them as "the boys" (as in "I've got a lot of stuff for the boys, can you take it down") though they are actually hermaphroditic. No odor, and the casings are incredible fertilizer

We have very little to put out on the curb each week for trash pick up. With a bit more effort, paper shredding and another bin we could almost totally eliminate our trash.

That has to make you feel good. We don't compost, but we recycle a lot. We usually have just one or two small trash bags a week at the curb, but several bins of recycling. That makes me feel good in my own little way.

Yes, veg/fruit peelings/waste plus egg shells and some garden waste (a few leaves, some grass cuttings, etc.)

We really need to turn it more often, but the design is a pain for that, hence not doing it often enough.

regards

Ian

I will eventually compost. Literally. And a fine one I'll make, too.

[Jenise]

Yes/No. No in that I tried in a small way for awhile, 'small' meaning that my unlandscaped yardspace is very limited and I don't really have a place to put a bin, but even in that small way I just couldn't stand the gnats/fruit flies/bugs it attracted. Still, all coffee grounds and tea leaves go into the raised garden. The rest goes to the yes part of my answer, that I pay for a yardwaste bin so that my sanitation service can put all compostable matter jettisoned from this house toward some collective good.

We have a compost frame, that looks like the stalls for three very small horses. Composting materials go into these, or rather into the one that is currently receiving new materials. The idea of having the three is that they are all at different stages of decomposition: one receiving materials, one "cooking", one ready to be used on the garden. All the food scraps go in except meat and fish (so as not to attract vermin), trimmings from the garden, grass clippings, and the occasional load of manure from the local racing stables. We don't seem to have much trouble with flies - I think the birds keep these at bay - and no problem with smells.