Greener Gardening

[Roguegal]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe that it is a bin made of wood or something that you put your waste products in along with worms. The worms eat the waste product and their waste product becomes the compost. At least that's what I understand to be. I could be completely off my rocker too.

[Green-Moo]

Originally Posted by Roguegal

Can anyone advise me on composting? I live in a mobile home with a small yard. I am interested in starting a compost for my garden. What I am trying to find out is what kind of container do I use, exactly what I can put into it and how long does it have to set for it is usable.

You can use any container that will drain easily and allow air to circulate to make compost in, or just make it in a heap on the ground. It doesnt want to be in full sun, or it will dry out. You will need enough space to be able to turn it over.

You can add garden waste, veg peelings, shredded newspaper and cardboard, small animal bedding, cotton based fabric - basically anything organic based that will break down. The smaller the pieces are, the quicker they will break down.

You need to a create a combination of carbon & nitrogen rich materials to make good compost, ideally 30:1.

In an ideal world you would allow your compost to heat up in the centre, then you would turn it, and repeat. This will speed up the decomposition process. But it's not essential and you will eventually get compost even if you just dump a pile of stuff in a corner & ignore it.

If you are looking at composting in a small space consider making a rotating composter. For the life of me I can't remember what they are called, but picture a barrel suspended lengthways that you can spin. It will save you a lot of work & some allow you to drain off the liquid (compost 'tea') to use as a plant fertiliser.

If you just type making compost into a seach engine, you'll get loads of results.

[Green-Moo]

Originally Posted by trick-r-treat

What is this, Green-Moo? And how does it work? I am trying to picture it, but I can't...

A worm bin is really just a composter with worms in! You can buy or make a worm bin yourself, and add worms from your garden or buy special worms to add to it. You'll find lots of designs on the net, bearing in mind that the worms nustn't be able to escape, it must drain otherwise the worms will drown, you must be able to close it down to prevent other creatures taking up residence and you must be able to empty it easily.

Worms process home & garden waste astonishingly quickly and the resultant worm compost is superb. Some wormeries also allow you to collect 'worm tea' to use as a fertiliser. You can add more kitchen scraps to a wormery than to your ordinary compost as it will break down faster.

You can get tabletop ones with see through sides which are fascinating to watch (particularly for little boys ). Mine are in old plastic garden composters which I 'converted' myself with the aid of gravel and weed membrane underneath.

If you're interested, there's another thread here somewhere where I posted links to sites that will tell you more about vermiculture and where you can buy ready made worm bins.

[Roguegal]

That thread is called "Composting" and the links are excellent. Thank you once again for the information Green-Moo! This is exactly what I was looking!

[mtrent]

Originally Posted by Green-Moo

All my kitchen greywater is diverted into a large jug which is reused in the garden. I don't use chemicals in the kitchen. I also save all water from baths and showers. I'm hoping to get a proper greywater recycling system set up this year with a pump for moving the water around. At the moment it's me and a bucket!

Way to go green!!! Whenever I go to the lake or rivers near me I always fill my cooler and extra containers that I take with me to use on my plants, but this is an excellent idea.