By mid summer, the first tumbler was ready, I had to store
it in a large container behind the shed. The second was ready, too, and stored
in another container. Can’t dump them on the ground, for now. Takes space =
family doesn’t like it. Finally, some space to continue composting, but... I’ve
ran out of leaves. I need browns. I used paper and cardboard. Cool, except, you
waste so much time cutting and shredding them. Paper, cardboard all over my
room. Family thinks I’m crazy. I read online that they’re not too nutritious
and that leaves are better. Too much time is wasted and not enough paper for
the amount of greens we produce. So I paid $10 to buy a large bag of shredded wood
at the pet store. Not the ideal stuff, but it’s not too bad. Solved the problem,
and it has lasted until fall.

Fall comes. Now is the time to get leaves, LOTS of leaves.
Here again, I’m wasting a lot of time and looking like an idiot collecting all
those leaves at public areas. Then comes the fun part. Shred all the leaves. I
use a trimmer (weed wacker) to shred them in a garbage can. A messy work.
Trimmer line sometimes gets cut. All the powder and leaves flying on my face.
I use a garbage bag to cover the can while I shred the leaves. It helps, but
still messy. The only crazy guy in the neighborhood, me, does this. You shred, but
it greatly reduces the volume, so it’s not enough. No matter how much leaves I
get, I know it’s not enough for the amount of greens we produce. Eventually, I’ll
have to go to the leaves depot (city run storage areas where people drop their leaves),
and again, like an idiot, possibly one of the few ones out there in the city,
will have to collect all those leaves (many bags) and bring them home. The
trimmer seems to work fine. At the moment, I don’t use a lawn mower. But obviously, if I wanted
something better, I’ll have to waste more money to buy a $100+ shredder. And
where to put all those large bags of shredded leaves? I have a solution of
course, but family won’t like it.

There you have it. This is home composting. This was my
experience. The crazy guy in the neighborhood alone is doing all of this, and I really
can’t imagine anyone else doing it, unless if the person is a garden/environmental
zealous. Verdict: I’ll continue doing it because I love gardening and fascinated
by it, but it’s obviously, too much work and can get expensive for the average
person!

Look into vermicomposting. It is pretty much composting except with worms. You can do it in your garage or basement as worms like it cool. All your family will see is a couple of stacked bins. You can find tons of do it yourself videos on YouTube.

Nice, you do work hard. What an accomplishment. :) I just do what my grandparents and parents did, I dig a shallow trench in my garden and toss in saved buckets full of banana peels, coffee grounds, ground eggshells, chicken and turkey feathers, kitchen vegetable/fruit scraps...etc.. then cover it back up with the soil. Then when I get another bucket full, I dig another shallow trench in another area of the garden where I plant.. I do this all spring through fall, (in winter I just toss it in the garden on top of the snow) add some leaves on top of the soil and dried composted manure from our farm animals.. It is ready to plant come spring.. That is what works for me..Composting does not have to be expensive, backbreaking, or complicated...

How about using sawdust from a woodworking/cabinet shop to reduce the amount leaves needed. Just one or two handfuls with each addition of kitchen scraps.

I know about the issues with leaves. I've been the local weird guy collecting them from the local parks for a 4'x4'x3' hot compost pile - and that takes a lot of leaves!! Or do what I did and just add some red wigglers to your compost bin. Before you know it you'll have a combination compost/worm bin. As long as the bin is fairly large the worms will always have some cooler places to hide- out if things start to heat up a bit and will return in earnest once the temp is back to where they like it.

You're doing the planet a favour and are rewarded with beautiful rich compost to feed all your garden soils. How many of our neighbours can claim that? And you also know exactly what's gone into yuor fantastic compost - for me that's worth some of that extra effort. Keep up the good work!

Harry

Congratulations on trying to convert your mother! Keep at it. You are saving the family from an unhygienic, stinky, indoor garbage bin. To me that is a revolting concept when compared with a nice, natural, outdoor compost heap. But please don't think composting needs to be expensive or difficult. You are making a rod for your own back. I doubt your yard is smaller than mine (about 25 feet by 15) and I have a cubic yard compost bin hidden behind a shrub. I got it for Christmas over 20 years ago and it is still going strong. On my allotment I have bins made from old pallets. I can honestly say I have never spent a single penny on composting. That would defeat one of the points of it. You do not need to shred leaves, you do not need to turn the pile, you do not need a tumbler and you do not need to cut or shred paper. I have never done any of those things in a lifetime of gardening and composting. In my house if I found a banana peel in the rubbish bin I would be on the rampage to discover which member of the family had committed the crime. Composting is a practical solution to the home and garden green waste problem and should never be a chore. If you just relax and use the resources on your doorstep you will still get compost. Some people view composting as a serious hobby which absorbs them totally but to people like me it is just no-brainer, common sense housekeeping.

This is perhaps a wee bit more general (great suggestions above) but I think it's really important to figure out what your goal is in composting. There's a lot of advice in different places about 'how to compost' that tells you that you should do it such-and-such a way. But if your goal is to reduce waste going into landfill stream with as little effort as possible, the 'right' way is whatever works for you within those constraints. You don't 'need' to make a hot pile because it produces the best compost - because you're not trying to make the best compost. If searching for tonnes of extra leaves and cardboard makes you less likely to compost, it's okay to do it a different way; do whatever works for you in the long term, and it doesn't work if you get super-frustrated and quit.

So the suggestion above about digging holes/trenches is a great one - not much muss, not much fuss. My own personal approach is mainly a big pile of stuff (in a cheap so-called 'bin' (just a plastic verison of the log version above) - cost less to buy than my time to put it together) that I make sure is populated with lots of vermicomposting worms (another approach mentioned above). You don't need to shred leaves, you don't need to add cardboard or paper unless it works for you; unshredded leaves break down too. My main reason for using leaves, cardboard, and paper is to have enough to keep the pile from stinking, and also to reduce throwing those things out/carrying them to the dump. For the most part, that doesn't mean a specific proportion of 'browns', but enough to have a good thick layer on top. I don't spend much time on it, and I don't worry about whether proportions are 'right', or how long it takes to compost. The worms care less about specific proportions than people think - they eventually eat everything.

For me, the magic of compost is that if you start a pile, and just keep adding to it, it shrinks fast enough that every time I think it's 'full', a little while later there's more room. Usually a lot more room. Sometimes it seems like I could just keep adding forever (except for leaves from our trees in fall, so they're just left in a pile on the ground until needed, they shrink pretty fast too).

And: if you do eventually get to the point where that pile is absolutely full and it needs a few months to 'cure' (get to finished, so you can spread it out) - well, to be blunt, if you can reduce the amount you send to landfill by 40, 50, 60, 80, 90%, and then for a while you have to send stuff to the dump - you've still accomplished something. If you need to take a break from adding new stuff to make it sustainable in the long term, that's okay. It's not a religion.

Well, maybe it is for some ))

^^^^ What he said.

If the goal is to reduce the waste stream, don't worry that shredded junk mail and old term papers isn't "as nutritious" ... just use it.

We started composting to deal with yard trimmings and shreddings to liberate us from the tyranny of the city trash schedule. Of the 4 collection periods, one was ski season and one was mid summer. It turned out to be good mulch for the veggie beds and the way to handle sawdust from the litter boxes.

Still composting in the new place, to deal with weeds, litterbox sawdust, and dead leaves. Kitchen waste is a small part of the pile, but it still turns into compost eventually. Just make layers, they shrink, add more. The pile is attracting beetle grubs, which is attracting the neighborhood skunk, but he's there at night. And he'll catch and eat mice or rats, so aside from the risk of spraying and rabies, I'm OK with him.

Tatty looking but effective compost bin made of 2 panels of concrete reinforcing wire. I just pile it and forget it until I need compost. For a less intrusive pile, line it with green or black plastic "poultry mesh".

I do it the same way in my urban setup. One big difference is that I have only 1 big trash can that I use. And when it fills up? I just stop putting things in . However, that's the magic of composting. It fills up for about 1 week, and then it's down, and then I fill it up again. (Note: It never really fills up per se, because I'm sure I can squeeze another bi-daily bag of greens into the can, and stir it, but I just mean that it reaches the top)

You might not have the ratios right because I can fill that thing up several times throughout the year. By the time I end up with the "finished" compost, or at least, it's time to use it in the garden, I have actually filled the trash can many times over.

However, I do agree that now and then, you have to find a way to get a large supply of browns. I did it one year by shredding paper also, using a cross-cut shredder that I already have. I did scratch paper and newspaper. I ended up with about 6 trash bags stuffed with paper, and that held me over for a while till I found other browns.

Another time, I bought a straw bale for under $8. Not so different from you buying the wood chips. I've used wood chips as mulch before, but for my little compost trash bin, I prefer using straw.

People are usually convinced by the benefits of composting when they see the results in the garden. However, gardening is a benefit unto itself, even after you count in all the long hours you put in to get veggies that you could have just gotten at the store in 30 minutes.

So composting and gardening will take up lots of your time. However, it's good time spent instead of being indoors too much.

I think as long as your family isn't forbidding you from continuing, keep at it and show them some results like that.

Avoid storing compost. If it gets done mid-season, rather than finding a place to put it, spread it around plants as a mulch/side dressing. It will do more for the soil that way than it will stored in a bag behind the shed.

Trench composting has already been suggested as a space saving method. I'm starting to think it's really a superior method as the composting process itself is beneficial to the soil food web.

Another idea is to use a small diameter wire bin (smaller than what lazygardens posted above) and squirrel it in between your garden plants or rows. Nutrients will leach out of it during the composting process, feeding the surrounding plants. Move it for the next batch to feed another spot. If necessary, have a couple of them going at once. Awhile back someone here posted about that. They actually designed the plantings in a vegetable bed so the composting cage was in the center surrounded by plants which would feed off it.

Awhile back someone here posted about that. They actually designed the
plantings in a vegetable bed so the composting cage was in the center
surrounded by plants which would feed off it.

That's the adaptation of the Lesotho "keyhole" garden, where waste and water goes in the middle of the planting bed.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/keyhole-gardens-african-technique-helps-drought-proof-gardens-1.2597327

Cool. Any idea who posted a thread on it? It was during the past year I'm pretty sure. I searched 'keyhole' and didn't find it. I remember a photo with a small diameter cage as I described with veggies growing around it.

You are over thinking this composting thing! I just picked up a pile of leaves from last year (in an area the wind blew them) that were already half composted!

I was given a leaf sucker at a yard sale, the same can be done with a lawn mower, fill a couple of construction bags and store in the garage/shed/wherever. Or NOT! Dump them in the compost bin and mix in your greens as you get them.

You don't have to get compost in 6 weeks or whenever the adds for the composters claim!

I actually have had good luck with a tumbler to get things started, then dump it into a standing bin to finish.

I have also put an open bin on top of a raised bed that is sitting for the winter and had great stuff to till in in the spring.....no shoveling, just a bit of raking.

CHILL! ;) Nancy

Did you spend any time with a good composting tutorial before starting your operation? This may be of some help.

http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/compost/

Or maybe this video might be of help.

http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/making-compost/

kimmq is kimmsr

I was 13 years old when I had my first organic garden, now 43 years later I still have more vegetables & fruit then I can process. I give most of it away.

I used a hoe to weed a 3 acre garden with my father & siblings, when I was 8 years old, now it is a fad to save the earth.

Many people think it will be easy, no sweat, but good soil takes time to build

We learn by doing, gardening is a skill that can save your life.

RD, I enjoyed reading your story and am sorry for your frustration and challenges with family. But, don't put yourself down by calling yourself "the crazy guy", you have a passion for gardening and are doing the best you can with limited space and resources!

My soil is on the lean side, though with the use of compost and previous applications of manure, it has now become very productive. I have the opposite problem when it comes to space constraints, my yard is very large and I maintain two heaping piles of compost where they can do their thing and make as much of a stink as they want, lol. I fuss very little other than making sure the "ingredients" are kept moist enough to ensure proper break down. Come spring, I take a small tiller to the piles and really churn the stuff up ... it's pure black gold!

RD left the thread straight after posting, it seems. I do hope s/he has not abandoned composting too.

No, I'm still here. :) I've read everyone's suggestions. My goal is to produce quality compost. Vermicomposting won't be considered because my family found the idea disgusting and is completely against it, even when I tried to explain that the worms are harmless and it won't stink. Some people just don't get it.

I like the idea of trench composting, but the garden is small and I wouldn't be able dig a trench and drop kitchen waste during spring/summer. I prefer to use the space to grow plants.

I've been collecting leaves from my city's self deposit sites. There are mountains of leaves, like snow. I should take a picture and post it here. Many of leaves have already been shredded. The only downside is that the shredded leaves are always somewhat wet for some reason. Even when an entire week is dry and there's no rain, the shredded leaves are still wet. When leaves are wet, I imagine it's slow turning into leaf mold and losing its "carbon value"?

Oh, good. Glad you're still following. I was afraid you'd given up.

Wet, or at least damp, leaves actually rot faster than dry. So don't be put off by the wetness.

This whole thing can be as complicated or simple as you want it to be. I am in the pile it up and forget it school of composting. I don't care about ratios, temperature, nitrogen, carbon or anything else. I just know that making and using compost is better than not making or using compost on every possible level and that's all that matters to me. My parents and their parents had compost heaps and the first chore a child in our family would learn was taking the kitchen waste out to the heap. It is far easier and less wasteful and messy than disposing of kitchen and garden waste in any other way. The idea of having kitchen waste in my kitchen bin disgusts me far more than any version of composting, including worms.

floral_uk, I think your idea might work if you're using a compost bin, but for a compost tumbler, you would need more dry browns to reduce the moisture.

If you never turn the pile or follow the ratios, wouldn't your compost heap go anaerobic?

No, it doesn't go anaerobic. I simply add whatever I have whenever I have it. When one bin is full I start another. By the time that is full the first is ready to be emptied. Anything not rotted down just goes round again. However, I don't have a lawn so there is never a huge amount of green stuff all at once. For kitchen scraps I add any paper that goes through the kitchen such as grocery, flour and sugar bags.

I think part of your trouble stems from the decision to get a tumbler. Many people seem to have trouble getting them to function properly.

A pile made up all at once of greens and browns that doesn't have enough browns (or any) will go anaerobic due to the fast decomposition in the center. Think of a pile of grass clippings. Floral's doesn't do that because she's adding materials a little at a time and they are on top of the pile, allowing them to partially decompose before more is added on top. By the time the material is buried very deep, its oxygen demand has slacked off a lot. Even a green-heavy pile will work OK that way. This is how a lot of composters can say they don't care much about ratios, they just add stuff when they have it and compost eventually happens.

You have a whole different set of issues with a tumbler.

You can get a "pile it and forget it" pile to go anaerobic and stinky but you have to either have 3 days of rain, water it too much, OR you have to dump a foot of lush grass clippings onto the pile.

they tend to self-regulate because moisture can evaporate off the top.

I think it is worth pointing out that attracting vermin with an open pile is a real consideration- it doesn't bother me when the pile is far from my home, but in a small city lot, you don't want to be attracting all the rats, mice, racoons, etc to your home, or near the house.

Not to mention lions, tigers and bears! Oops I mentioned them.

Classic example of adapting your composting methods to your situation.

I am a pile it up and let it rot composter. If composting involved a lot of work I would not do it. I've got too many other responsibilities to spend any time micromanaging decomposition that will happen regardless of what I do.

joe,I agree.

Simple is good, never stand when you can sit.

Some of us make a big deal out of doing things the hard way.

But even the easy thing take time to learn & one needs to try different ways to get to the same point.

That what I like about this site, a new problem for me may be an old hat for you & I get an easy answer or an easier answer.

Piling it up & using it later is an old tried & true way of getting fields ready for Spring planting.