Garden Girl TV: Simple Easy Compost Bin

Patti, the Garden Girl, shows you a simple and easy way to make a compost bin for your organic lawn or garden.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• compost
• bin
• permaculture
• urban
• sustainable

[mukwah1111]

Hi Patti If you use your weed wacker to mulch down those leaves inside the composter ...just stick it in and buzz them up....not only will they break down faster but it will allow more room to add more leaves or plant materials. Adding fresh kitchen waste or green matter between leaf layers also breaks it down into a complete compost. Happy composting !!!

[leiatyndall]

Usually the concern in vermicomposting (worm composting, which usually uses newspaper for bedding/food), is that some inks contain lead. However, many newspapers use soy-based ink, so you have to find out which type of ink your local papers use (lead or soy-based). Also, it's usually recommended to only only plain newspaper, not the colorful stuff. I figure if it's OK for my worms, it's OK for my other compost.

[jbibm81]

what do you do about turning it? Do you add soil to speed it up?

[BeWellMyFriends]

I love that idea about the cheap and easy compost bin. I saved this video in my favorites. I would like to make compost and I have questions about worm bins. 

[bluesdog88]

What about pulp from the juicer, isnt it better to bury that stuff in your soil?

[Henrie818]

This is a great video. The tips are so easy and simple. It just shows the type of things we can do ourselves to help the environment. Your tips reminded me of a video I did on my show Talking with Henrietta about all of the benefits that trees give us to improve the environment and to add beauty to our lives. Trees are one way to fight global warming & it is a plus that we can use the leaves from the trees to enrich the earth.

[Jefferdaughter]

Nice for an urban backyard. In a rural setting, I leave the leaves to protect the lawn grass over the winter, and mow them in the spring. They are quickly incorporated into the soil.

In the suburbs, I just mowed the leaves in the fall as they fell, and let them nourish the lawn along with the grass clippings. (I only pick up the grass clippings if they are especially heavy.) BYW, most lawn grasses should be allowed to grow at least 3" tall, 4 is even better, expecially in summer.

[alaznist]

I started a compost bin a week ago and it should be ready to use next week. I googles fast composting and it came back with the Berkely method. It takes 2-3weeks to completely finish. Use an equal amount of grass clippings and leaves or any carbon. Shredded boxes or newspaper if you can't get leaves, and water. you can also use saw dust mulched tree limbes or sticks even some table scraps. Great stuff.

[RHEAD100]

@RawkStarrPrincess They were feeding you some really good info. for someone that likes to keep things complicated and work hard. I don't like to work hard. SO; I Kiss (keep it simple stupid) my compost pile. Any organic material in contact with dirt and or water. As for PH , just check your garden dirt once a year and add lime as needed.

[dontlikenumbers]

If, by any chance, your compost pile starts to smell bad, it is a sign that the nitrogen level is too high, add a little carbon to the mix. I have at one time had to use some clean wood ashes to deodorize it. The mix can be important, if your pile doesn't decompose well you can pass bad stuff back to your garden plants.

[dontlikenumbers]

Yes, egg shells are best ground up a bit. They add calcium which is good for fruit production, like tomatoes.