Really Enjoy Composting For Fresh Top Soil

@WebMann (4731)
Canada
October 31, 2009 8:15am CST
My wife and I started to use a composter that was behind the garage when we bought our place just over 3 years ago. Now we are producing our own top soil for yard and kitchen waste. It's so cool and was much easier that I thought it would be. Do you compost your yard waste and kitchen waste?
2 people like this
5 responses
@tdemex (3540)
• United States
31 Oct 09
I used to, but unfortunately I'm down in Mexico now and have no where to do it! I also added the ashes to a separate small pile to create a more acidic soil for the plants that needed this. I know where you are located but not sure if you can grow this? But I got some asparagus crowns and made a great bed about 2 feet by 6 feet and it thrived after one year of waiting! They have a wide selection, you may want to look into this! I'm sure they have a type that would work in your area! They are so good, and the type I settled on gave a good sized crop twice a year! I even pickled a bunch for use all year around! Good Luck with that if you try them! tdemex
@marguicha (215792)
• Chile
31 Oct 09
Do you live in an apartment, gringo? I like houses. Specially since in my country there are earthquakes. I´m starting to make compost again this year. I´m planning to make a veggie garden that with produce the grester part of my needs. We´ll see.
1 person likes this
@tdemex (3540)
• United States
31 Oct 09
No were renting a house, but it's to small for composting, we just have a small area where we grow a few flowers! I'm hoping to get some land soon and build a small solar adobe home, and have a big garden and a small store! T----
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
2 Nov 09
Great point Tdemex, I didn't think about keeping ashes to make some soil more acidic. thanks
@peavey (16936)
• United States
6 Nov 09
I sheet compost for the most part. It's a great way to keep the soil in good condition, both nutrient wise and tilth wise. Nature does a fine job if we just give her a chance.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
8 Nov 09
Sheet compost means to put material down for composting in a sheet over a wide area of ground, like on the garden. I use it between plants during growing season. I also have a small area that I just chuck things into and dig in now and then. It's a builds soil a little slower, but it's less intensive labor wise.
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
7 Nov 09
I am not sure if I don't know what you mean by sheet compost or if it's a typo. :)
• United States
28 Jan 10
When I was married and had a house, I used t dig trenches between the rolls of planting. During the growing season I would put in the organic "waste" materials and in the spring, I would cover the trenches and make new trenches (where the plants were growing the year before) This would build up the soil fairly fast and there were earth worms galore to boot. If you do not get many vegetable wast materials , you might wish t let earthworms compost them for you. Yo can do this under your sink in a plastic bucket, the waste organic materials (no meats, fats or bones) go into this bucket and the worms will eat them. You can order worms from a bait shop of out of the back of several magazine including gardening magazines, fishing magazines etc.
@dmrone (746)
• United States
16 Nov 09
Hi! I would love to but i have no idea on how to get started. I had a nice size garden this year and i know the compost would have come in very handy. I guess i will have to check in how to go about doing this, as i plan an even bigger garden for next year.
@millertime (1394)
• United States
2 Nov 09
I love to compost! It's like getting something for nothing. You put in a bunch of leaves, grass, coffee grounds, egg shells, vegetable and fruit waste, etc. and after a while, you get out nice rich, black, nutrient filled topsoil to amend your garden soil with. It's great! Plus everything you compost doesn't go to the landfill so it's very environmentally friendly. When I lived in the country, I had a big compost heap and even when I lived in a house in the suburbs I had a small pile. Unfortunately, I can't have one where I live at the moment but that's going to change pretty soon and I'll get back to the country with a big garden again, so I'll start a good compost heap. I've always wanted to try one of those big drum type composters so you can load it up and just crank the handle to turn the pile but they're kind of expensive. Definitely a handy way to do it though.
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
3 Nov 09
It amazes me just how many bags of yard waste don't have to go to the landfill now that we compost. Even the kitchen waste bag is much smaller since we started composting. It is fun as well. We live in a city but I would love to be able to move back to the country.