Earlier this year, I built a compost bin out of scrap wood. It's pretty basic - a square box with open slat sides. It doesn't spin, turn, flip, or otherwise mix stuff. But I've been assured things will compost in it anyway. Even if we do nothing. That's my type of compost bin.
So, I was reflecting on things that I've learned since we started composting. I thought I'd share.
1) generally - the more of your meal waste can be composted - the healthier the meal.
2) old Cascade dish tab bins make great kitchen countertop receptacles for compost waste. They have wide tops and they snap shut to keep out fruit flies and keep in odors.
3) leaving waste in the countertop bin for too long makes it smell like vomit when you do dump it out - particularly if it contains onions. Coffee grounds smell good all the time.
4) coffee grounds contain lots of nitrogen. Nitrogen makes plants get "leafy" it does not necessarily make them bear more fruit.
5) compost shrinks!! Our bin is not big and we thought that we'd fill it up by June - which we did. But then suddenly it was only half full, and so we filled it up again. And then the same thing happened again. Cool.
6) An open compost bin does not attract that many bugs. Of course, there are flies and bees and the like - but they stay within about a 2 ft radius of the bin at any given time. Why leave - that's where the food is.
7) it doesn't smell out there (except in the case of #3).
8) you are supposed to also add newspaper. We don't do this enough.
9) I did once add fruity pebbles. They are still the color of highlighter markers several weeks later.
We'll see what it looks like in the spring when we spread it on the garden. Hopefully like nice black dirt.
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