Tell me how you compost

[Anonymous]

We chose Compost Crew just because their end point is closer to our home. Veteran's was pretty far out, but I think they provide a clean bin each week - our bin gets very gross in summer especially!

My father lives in PG, and they seem to have just started composting county wide, or at least in his area - he was provided a bin for indoor waste, and a large on for yard waste.

[Anonymous]

What will you do with the compost you produce? That was our issue - we have a lot of landscaping, but no real use for the volume of compost we generated.

Thankfully now Arlington county takes it in our yard waste bin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will you do with the compost you produce? That was our issue - we have a lot of landscaping, but no real use for the volume of compost we generated.

Thankfully now Arlington county takes it in our yard waste bin.

My yard is 0.25 acre and I've got a DH and 3 kids, eat lots of fruits/vegetables/coffee. We also have 7 mature oak trees and smaller ornamental trees. Even with all we have to compost, I have to pick/choose which beds get the compost because there just isn't enough. If I had 'extra' like you do, I'd just layer it more thickly in the beds or sprinkle the excess on the grass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cold compost in my backyard. I built a simple three section open system with some old wood pallets and strong nails. I use the Grove brand compost bags and the OXO lidded bin to store waste, then take it out every 2-3 days to the pile. I turn the pile when I add new material, and add more browns (shredded paper or dry leaves) if it seems too wet. I never have a problem with dryness in this climate. I take all my leaves to a huge pile and pull from that throughout the year.

We generally compost year round except the deep freeze months and compost egg cartons, coffee filters, egg shells, and all fruit/vegetable waste except onions and citrus.

It’s really a lot easier than I anticipated. And so satisfying! All I had to buy was nails, the bin, bags, and a pitchfork. The pallets were free from the hardware store.

Many of my neighbors use compost crew or compost cab, but complain about the cost and the unreliability.

I wish our trash companies would get their acts together and make composting part of regular waste collection!

why no onions or citrus?

NP. A veteran gardener taught me long ago to avoid hot chili peppers, citrus and onions because the earthworms don’t like them.

I dunno -- I've tossed both citrus and onions into my compost and never had a problem. It's really simple, really. You toss in anything "plant" and it eventually breaks down enough to be mixed into your soil (only non-plant exception for me is eggshells). You can mix, use staged bins, but it really isn't necessary. Just put it in a pile and wait. You can read about optimum carbon/nitrogen mix, but at the end of the day, it isn't necessary.

+1 I grew up on a farm and have always composted. The only reason I use staged bins is so that I don't have to sift the uncomposted stuff from the composted stuff. I've never paid attention to the ratios. I do have a bin of shredded leaves that I throw on top of the kitchen scraps to help hide them from the squirrels.

[Anonymous]

Like 10:50, I build a 3 bin composter with free pallets. It probably took a couple hours because I wasn't familiar with the impact driver. I have one bin that's done composting, another that is in the midst of composting and another where I put all the new materials. In the house, I have just a regular large bowl that we put our used coffee filters/grounds, egg shells and vegetable scraps in. Every other day or so, I'll either dump it in the compost bin or put it in a regular old rubbermaid bucket on the porch. Once that's full (or I'm in the backyard), I'll dump it into the compost bin and throw some leaves on top of it.

Like with coffee making, you could be all scientific about it, measuring temperatures and ratios. I don't. I just throw it all in the bin - including onions, citrus and hot peppers. The only thing I don't put in there are weeds or diseased plants. Grass clippings stay on the lawn. I have been known to take bagged leaves from the curb at my neighbors' houses......

[Anonymous]

I compost in summer only -- drop off at farmer's markets. There are several in NW DC (Van Ness, Cleveland Park, Dupont (which is year round)) and probably a few more.

I keep a big plastic container on my counter. If it gets full, I dump the contents into a paper bag and freeze it until the weekend. Drop it off at the market.

I don't compost in the winter.

[Anonymous]

I keep my compost in the freezer until I take outside-- no smell/fruit flies, and helps to break it down. Then "cold" compost in three layer bins. (Didn't know it was called that. My master naturalist friend and I just call it lazy composting!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep my compost in the freezer until I take outside-- no smell/fruit flies, and helps to break it down. Then "cold" compost in three layer bins. (Didn't know it was called that. My master naturalist friend and I just call it lazy composting!)

Some people do high maintenance composting, the rest of us just do composting, not lazy composting!

[Anonymous]

In NW DC, and I’ve been using compost cab’s weekly service ($32 a month IIRC) for years now. They pickup the contents of your container (which they provide and I leave on the doorstep). I also have a smaller container next to the sink that I use to collect scraps and transfer them to the outdoor bin when needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will you do with the compost you produce? That was our issue - we have a lot of landscaping, but no real use for the volume of compost we generated.

Thankfully now Arlington county takes it in our yard waste bin.

It works down to very little. I use it for spring plants.