Composting

It’s time to start thinking about Spring coming up and what better way than to talk about Composting. I just got a new compost bin for my kitchen, from World Market,  and I love it.  It will hold about a weeks worth of compost and doesn’t smell because it has a charcoal liner.

Here are a few other kitchen composters I saw online.  There are so many to choose from that will match any style of kitchen.

The one on top is made from plastic bins that held coffee with holes drilled into the top.  Composting keeps your organic waste out of your local landfill, and makes a wonderful soil. Composting is easy, too. If you’ve never had a compost bin before, you might be surprised at how much satisfaction you get from seeing vegetable scraps, coffee, tea grounds and lawn clippings turn into rich, fertile soil, and it helps make your vegetable garden and flowers beautiful.  

 Listed below are the things you can compost.
Fruit and vegetable wastes - peels, skins, seeds, leaves
Egg shells
Coffee grounds (including paper filters), tea bags, used paper napkins
Corncobs - should be shredded to make them break down quickly r
Yard waste
Grass clippings
Leaves
Pine needles
Weeds
Woody materials (branches, twigs)
Straw or hay
Newspaper. 

Next is a photo of my outside tumbler composter.  When the kitchen one is full, I simply empty it into this large one, add a little hay or grass clippings, close and tumble.

I've also added photo's of what other's use to compost.  The possibilities are endless and can be very simple and decorative.  Just use your imagination.  What good this does our earth.

 
 Add water regularly during the compost-building process, about the wetness of a sponge.
Speed the process by turning the pile with a pitchfork once a week or if you have a tumble one like I do, just flip it.  Mixing it allows oxygen into the center of the pile, encouraging the growth of bacteria which will break down organic material. 
That’s it.  I know it may sound labor intensive, but believe me it isn’t.  Compost your scraps, add them to the outside pile with clippings from your yard, water and turn occasionally and you’ll have beautiful soil for your planters.  Happy gardening.