How to Start a Compost Pile when You're Lazy or Inept
May 21, 2008 by
Have you watched your attempt at compost piles turn into a mini hill of weeds?
Do you garden and watch gardening shows on TV, only to feel that familiar twinge of guilt when they start talking about composting?
Do you find yourself buying bags of compost in order to improve your lousy
gardening soil?
Do you want to avoid poisoning your vegetable garden with chemicals?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, welcome to my world.
I love to garden and have always had an interest in growing my own vegetables for the table and flowers for the birds, bees, butterflies and my own mood improvement. But creating and maintaining a compost pile that would bring lovely worms and improve my soil just wasn't a thing I seemed able to do.
There were times I came close. I'd even see a bit of steam here and there when I tried to turn the mass, but alas...eventually the weeds would sprout and there would be one more tiny hill my husband and I would have to hack through and level off. After at least three of these monsters, and piles of instructions from the local farm bureaus, we decided there had to be a better way.
Enter hole composting. Yes, this is akin to trench composting but is even easier than that method.
What do you need to do?
1. Grab a bucket
The first thing you need to do is to get a good bucket with a lid. This is going to be kept in your house, preferably near or in the kitchen, so use your own judgment. We use an old plastic bucket our cat's litter came in. That works great because it has a handle, a lid and is easy to clean.
2. Save those vegetable scraps
All vegetable scraps go into that bucket: ends and tips of celery, unused lettuce, tops of bell peppers, onion peels, etc. In addition, you can add corn husks and silk, coffee grounds (even the filter if you use non-bleached paper filters), tea bags (minus the string), and egg shells (rinsed). If it can break down, it can go into the bucket.
Do you garden and watch gardening shows on TV, only to feel that familiar twinge of guilt when they start talking about composting?
Do you find yourself buying bags of compost in order to improve your lousy
Do you want to avoid poisoning your vegetable garden with chemicals?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, welcome to my world.
I love to garden and have always had an interest in growing my own vegetables for the table and flowers for the birds, bees, butterflies and my own mood improvement. But creating and maintaining a compost pile that would bring lovely worms and improve my soil just wasn't a thing I seemed able to do.
There were times I came close. I'd even see a bit of steam here and there when I tried to turn the mass, but alas...eventually the weeds would sprout and there would be one more tiny hill my husband and I would have to hack through and level off. After at least three of these monsters, and piles of instructions from the local farm bureaus, we decided there had to be a better way.
Enter hole composting. Yes, this is akin to trench composting but is even easier than that method.
What do you need to do?
1. Grab a bucket
The first thing you need to do is to get a good bucket with a lid. This is going to be kept in your house, preferably near or in the kitchen, so use your own judgment. We use an old plastic bucket our cat's litter came in. That works great because it has a handle, a lid and is easy to clean.
2. Save those vegetable scraps
All vegetable scraps go into that bucket: ends and tips of celery, unused lettuce, tops of bell peppers, onion peels, etc. In addition, you can add corn husks and silk, coffee grounds (even the filter if you use non-bleached paper filters), tea bags (minus the string), and egg shells (rinsed). If it can break down, it can go into the bucket.
Everyone works whether it is for money or to take care of their children. We spend more time working than we do relaxing. Don't we deserve to relax in our free time? I think so.
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