Simple and Cheap home Composting

 

It is springtime finally, and that means many Gardeners are out buying hundreds of dollars of plants and bags of dirt for their lawns and gardens. Some of us mulch and save some money on dirt. Some of these Gardeners them even make mulch.

The upsides of mulching are many, and I won't take space to tell you about it, as you already probably know. I have used all the mulching methods I will mention here, and each has its advantages depending on your needs.

The simplest for a small home is a Crock-pot liner with a cover. This is where kitchen scraps start their journey to becoming mulch for me. Most kitchen scraps go into the Crock-pot. 

If you are not sure what to mulch, there are several resources on the web. In general any dying vegetables and vegetable scraps are fair game. No meat as you do not want the things that meat attracts. I also add tea bags and a few tea bag paper wrappers. Eggs shells are okay for most areas.

Once the Crock-pot is full it goes to the backyard to have it contents buried. In about six weeks, there is little sign of what I buried. This is the easiest method I have found for mulching a little kitchen waste.

If you have more than occasional kitchen waste to compost this method works well. It does not, where I live in the Southwest produce compost, but it works well as the process is about 3/4 composted. All it takes is four clay planters or other containers with bottom holes in them that will stack. Find a raised base to keep the bottom container off the ground.

Add scraps to one container until it is full. Place a second container on top and start filling it. Continue until the fourth container is filled and stacked. If you live in a dry climate as I do, you need to add water to the top container and let it filter down to the bottom container.

Add enough water that water reaches the fourth container and starts dripping out. In my experience, when the fourth container is full, the bottom container has made 'almost' mulch that can be mixed in with your garden soil.

For yard waste, I found two methods I prefer. The first is four straw bales stacked two high against a fence wall with about a three foot gap between them. Add your yard waste as you collect it. If you live in a dry climate, the yard waste will need some water and possibly nitrogen to speed up the process. Eventually the straw bales themselves will compost and will need to be replaced.

The second is simply a 55 gallon plastic barrel with the bottom cut off. Add yard waste as you collect it. This works well for smaller amounts of yard and kitchen waste. When you need a little compost roll the barrel over a few feet and collect what compost that is left behind.

In wrapping up:

Crock-pot -> hole in ground or clay pots.

Four stacking clay pots filled from the bottom up -> add to your garden soil

Straw bales stacked -> compost is at the bottom of the pile. -- Pic at top of article

55 gallon barrel with the bottom cut out -> roll the barrel to the side to collect the compost.  - Pic at top of article

A small disclaimer. Many composting articles show pictures of cubic yards of compost being produced. If you are a single home owner in the city, the amount of compost you will actually produce will be more limited and the process slower.

All the materials added to the composting process return to the dirt they were before, minus most of the water. So do not expect a lot of compost for your work and time. The compost you do create however is something to be proud of and beneficial to your garden and yard.