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#300188 - 10/12/21 07:17 PM Any gardeners around here ?
Chisel Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1562
Got a question about composting

Been watching videos about composting and it seems everyone has a bin or two or three , and they fill them with kitchen scraps, sprinkle them with water every few days, and turn them for aeriation.

OK, that is simple enough. However, if you have a continuous flow of kitchen scraps, how do you manage the composting bin ? Do you throw stuff in it daily ? If so, the stuff will not be at the same stage of decay. Some will be still visible food scraps (like banana or orange peels, or lettuce leaves), while older stuff have already turned into brown fertilizer. There will not be a "DONE date".

So, what is the trick ?
Thanks

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#300189 - 10/12/21 08:44 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
My season is short. I find it best to treat the "primary digester" compost bins as separate systems. I add, fill, add, fill, mixing a few times a week; and when it's running hot and pretty full, I leave it work. Then I start filling the second one. It doesn't have to be perfect like commercial compost; it will finish working in the soil.

Some people use a screen, somewhere between 1/2" and 1" mesh, to filter out the unfinished stuff and send it back through the system.

I also have a slow pile, a multi-year project for gnarly stuff like sunflower stalks and tough, fibrous beasties. I just keep adding on top, stomp and chop with a sharp shovel, and down the road there's a lovely pile of finished material at the bottom. (I also deposit "liquid vitamin x" as I'm walking by, for the nitrogen and phosphorous; but that's another conversation.)

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#300190 - 10/13/21 04:40 AM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
Chisel Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1562
Thanks Doug

I am a novice gardener. My gardening style is chaotic at best. I even bury food scraps directly in the soil. It seems to work. But I need your thoughts on that

Thanks

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#300191 - 10/13/21 11:45 AM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1203
Loc: Germany
Do not overthink it. Having mutiple bins (or heaps) is the easiest approach. Start a new one at your own pace and leave the previous one to get "done". Just make sure to have some worms in the new one.
When you have a steady flow of kitchen scraps from only a few people vermicomposting may be a thing for you. That also gives you an abundant source of fishing bait. Some people even do it indoors.
_________________________
If it isnīt broken, it doesnīt have enough features yet.

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#300319 - 11/05/21 03:00 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
Chisel Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1562

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#300324 - 11/07/21 04:16 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
Treeseeker Offline
Member

Registered: 03/29/12
Posts: 189
Loc: California
I use only one bin. Periodically, I use a sifter made with a 1x2 inch wood frame (about 18" square) which is screened with 1/4 inch mesh screen. I just screen it into an old plastic cement mixer tray. Then I pour it into an old trash can for storage until needed. Or, I fill pots directly from the cement mixer tray.

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#300662 - 02/03/22 08:53 AM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
Chisel Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1562
Thanks everyone.

I got another gardening question. I have a few plants in containers and a few weeks ago, it rained heavily and some plants were damaged two ways. One, rain hit the plants hard and broke them. Two, the soil was flooded with water and the "soup" splashed out.

So, questions for gardeners : what do you do to protect small plants from he rain? I read a few local gardening pages and many of them talked about moving plants indoors. Some covered plants with something.
Moving the plants is not easy for me because the containers are heavy, plus I have a few joints problems.

Any suggestions ?? Thanks

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#300663 - 02/04/22 02:41 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Sometimes putting the pots under the eaves of a house or garage is enough to reduce the impact of heavy weather. They still need lots of sun though; if they don't get enough they will get "leggy," meaning they get deformed, growing long and spindly.

I know an old gardener who had a home-made cart made of plywood, about 3'x8' with a small lip all around and large casters mounted underneath. In spring, he would put all his small plants on it and pull it in or out of his garage to protect from frost damage.

I have seen pictures of coastal plant pots (probably at a hotel or restaurant) with cute little translucent umbrellas over them. This has been the subject of ridicule in serious gardening circles, but I guess if the rain is so heavy that it knocks off the blooms, then they are protecting their investment.

If we had to protect our young plants, we would probably use garden cloches. They are a sort of a mini-greenhouse made of glass or plastic with a hole in the top for ventilation. Any garden shop will have them. Improvised versions include gallon jugs from milk/pop/water, provided that aesthetics don't matter. For larger plants, I use my all-purpose garden scoops -- discarded 5 gallon water cooler jugs with the tops cut off (use a handsaw or they will crack). If you cut off the bottoms instead, you have an instant mondo cloche. If you cut off top and bottom, you have a mini greenhouse sleeve that works great, though not for rain protection. (BTW, around here the older jugs are #7 and not recyclable, so I'm saving them from the landfill.)

Hope this helps.



Edited by dougwalkabout (02/04/22 02:47 PM)

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#300667 - 02/04/22 04:34 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: dougwalkabout]
Chisel Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1562
Yes, thank you

Yesterday I noticed another pot was somehow dug up.
Maybe a cat needed to do its business.

LOL.
It reminded me of Huw Richards ( a gardener on You Tube ) who was upset by one of the chickens invading his plants , so he told her ( no dinner tonight !!) So instead of leaving fish scraps for cats, I just buried them in the soil.

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#300668 - 02/04/22 04:43 PM Re: Any gardeners around here ? [Re: Chisel]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Dug up pots? Yeah, sounds like a cat doing business or a squirrel stashing seeds. Wire mesh will discourage them. So will punji sticks -- just make sure you don't jab yourself by accident.

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