yhs: Fruits & Vegetables – Compost
From the start, there was no question that we were going to have an organic garden. And one of the most crucial elements of an organic garden is organic compost. My parents have composted kitchen scraps as long as I can remember so the notion of saving kitchen scraps was nothing new to me. But once we started reading up on the correct way to make compost, that’s when our heads started to spin.
Basically, there are a million ways it can be done. On one hand you have people who are super meticulous about the ratios of “greens” to “browns” and how often to turn it, and swear that you have to do this and have to do that. And on the other hand you have people like my parents who throw things in a pile at the edge of the woods and it seems to turn out fine regardless of the limited time they spend caring for it.
I think we are on the right track. Andrew built this amazing and beautiful composting bin out of old willow trunks. It seems strange that something so nice looking will be filled with decomposing stuff. I don’t think we will able to use any of the compost this season though. We got such a late start and like most good things it takes time to build up. Next growing season we will be ready!
–c.
lissa lowe - May 24, 2009 12:43 am
andrew, help us! started a mini compost bin in kitchen. realized that it needs to be dumped…but we have a lot of deer in our backyard + the garden guy said we’d likely attract, um, rats. it looks like we live in the county on our acre but, sigh, we don’t. envy you two!
Andrew and Crystal - May 27, 2009 9:59 pm
Yes, the deer are an issue. And I’ve heard from people that raccoons, rodents and other critters could be a compost problem as well. They say one way of deterring is to not throw any bread-type products and no meat into the pile. The chicken wire we put in the compost bin seems to work ok, but something small is still getting in!
–c.