If I have tons of peels etc. from juicing throughout the day, can I just throw the leftover rinds and such onto the dirt in the garden or do I have to do something special to them?
Thank you.
Throw 'em right on.
I'd recommend using a hoe or a three toothed claw thing to mix them in the dirt a bit - everyday or every few days. I did and my MIL still does on the farm and the garden (mine) did great the next year and the crops in that area (hers) are always more bountiful in the area she tosses items.
Hi! I love composting and have been doing it for years.
It really depends on what you want from your leftover peels, and what you want for your garden. If you are just throwing leftover peels on the ground, consider what's going to happen to them. Composting is usually contained because it is a great way to attract vermin (rats and mice, esp.) to your home.
Consider getting a basic composter, and do some research online as to which size will fit your needs. Also look online for some DIY ones.
Also, consider the food you are composting. It has to be worm friendly, and worms will love apple, banana, strawberry trimmings, but not citrus. They won't touch citrus and then your compost pile will grow mold, which is also not good for your future soil.
Here's a list of composter reviews... we have a homemade one with an open frame and metal wire mesh on all sides, but it does take longer to break down. Then again, we compost a lot of fruit and veg trimmings. Starbucks is also great for getting big bags of coffee grounds for free. Compost piles love them.
well, you can, but it's not the most efficient or attractive way to do it. composting is so easy. i did invest in a compost bin. mine is terrific, and it was only around $40. it has a removable lid so i can add my kitchen compost every couple of days, and a handy-dandy sliding door at the bottom so i can remove the composted material when i want to add it to planting soil. and it's so self-contained that no varmints can get into it, and there's absolutely no odor.
i keep a metal bowl with a lid on my kitchen counter and add coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells and any vegetable waste that doesn't go to the horses (they love strawberry hulls and corn shuckings, but not onion rind or any cruciferous.) i spray the bottom of the bowl with pam and put in a plain white paper towel, which makes it all slide out easily into the compost bin. in summer when i'm grooving on all the fresh produce i may have to empty the bowl once or twice a day so fruit flies don't emerge inside it.
my compost bin is about waist high, and even as much as i compost i've never come close to filling it. it breaks down very quickly. the dirt i pull out of the bottom generally has a lot of the same shape and substance as what i put in because i don't bother with turning or watering it, but it doesn't bother me. it's all broken down enough to work beautifully. so that grapefruit half or pineapple top just gets dug right into my tomato pot and it's far gone enough that it crumbles right into the soil.
overall it's very low-maintenance, even for a lazy girl like me. and oh, what wonders it does for my soil! my kitchen garden, herb bed and flower pots thrive on it.
good luck!
:) khairete
S.
You can do it that way, but it will get a bit messy. If you don't want to buy or build a compost bin I would probably dig these peels into the soil a bit. Or if you have an out of the way spot, make a compost pile. Throw in your household scraps and yard waste, and turn the pile over ocassionally. Keep in mind that the smaller the pieces are, the faster they break down. Whatever you do, it beats throwing them in the trash!
One thing you might want to do is, so called "trench composting". You dig a trench, put your food waste into it, and toss the excavated soil over top. do this successively, and you can put all your food waste to good use without worrying about smells, vermin etc. Great, if not slow way to get composting done.
Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.
Not super special but you do want a separate pile while things decay. Then at the end of the growing season you can turn it into you garden. If you want to speed along the process it helps to water your compost often and turn it over every few weeks. In the future you'll want two piles, one you stop adding to in mid august since it will go into the garden at the end of this season. The second pile you'll contine adding to until the next fall and then you start again. Don't forget to throw in brown mater, leaves and lawn clippings. You'll be amazed by how much less trash end up in a can;).
Good Luck!
I compost my produce scraps in a container at the back of my yard (you can buy one, or construct one from chicken wire), water and mix them periodically, and let them decompose for awhile before I dump them in the garden. The main reason I don't just throw them directly onto the garden is that I don't want to attract bugs, birds, or rodents to my garden, because then they might look around and decide that my growing things look even more delicious than the scraps.
Ditto on the trench composting. My uncle digs shallow holes and once they're filled he covers them up! Quick and easy and you'll feel good about "feeding" your soil!
