Our compost bins (we have two...made of wood pallets lined with 1/2 inch square wire fencing) are full of the normal yard waste as well as kitchen waste.
My husband keeps the bins filled with outdoor materials, and I keep a compost bowl on the kitchen counter to make sure that as much kitchen waste as possible gets into the compost mix.
If you were to investigate, here are some things you would find in our pile:
Grass clippings - excellent "green" material. My husband accepts grass clippings from the neighbors and his co-workers. It saves them a trip downtown to drop off their bagged clippings. Prevalent in the summer. Too many grass clippings dumped on top tend to get stinky. It's best to keep it mixed up with other materials.
Shredded leaves - excellent "brown" material. Prevalent in the fall. It is especially nice to find leaves shredded by the lawnmower mixed with green grass clippings. My husband uses the wheelbarrow to haul this combination home from the curbs in front of the neighbors' houses.
Wood ashes - from our outdoor fire ring. It's not a great volume of ashes. I think it helps keep down the odor and adds some diversity to the compost.
Egg shells - about 2 dozen per week. Yes, I know they take forever to decompose. And, yes, when we spread out the compost in the gardens, there are some undecomposed egg shells. But, they do decompose eventually and add calcium to the soil.
Pumpkins - when carving, all the junk goes into the compost pile. When the jack-o-lanterns are done, they go in the pile, too. They go away surprisingly quickly. This year we let a volunteer pumpkin vine grow in the compost pile, and it produced a beautiful, large pumpkin.
Coffee grounds with filters - the filters decompose quickly.
Tea bags - small, but every little bit helps.
"Sticks" from grapes - ditto.
Banana peels - compost gold as far as I'm concerned.
Grapefruit rinds - we have alot of these in the winter months, and they just sit frozen on top. But, in the spring they go away quickly.
Raw broccoli stalks - no, we don't eat them even though we probably should. They take forever to decompose.
Apple peels - tons in the fall when we make homemade applesauce.
Potato peels - 'nuff said.
Rotten tomatoes - damaged garden produce.
Miscellaneous fruit and vegetable trimmings - tops from strawberries, bad spots on bananas, outer lettuce leaves, peach pits, etc.
Decaying food from the fridge - I really try to not waste anything, but once in awhile it happens. Then the stuff goes into the compost pile.
Waste from science experiments - we homeschool. Recently, we've had science experiments using red cabbage and all-purpose flour. When the experiment was done, the waste went into the compost.
Hair - yep, hair. When my husband and son get haircuts, the clippings go into the compost pile. We hope it helps scare away the vermin.
Here are some things that I have been tempted to compost, but I've thought better of:
Bread products - stale buns, heels, etc. The crows just make a mess and carry them off.
Popcorn & unpopped kernels - ditto.
Turkey carcass - after boiling the carcass to make turkey broth, I'd love to toss it in the compost, but my husband convinced me that it will only draw scavenging animals.
Shredded newspaper - too much work to shred it. Plus we don't get the newspaper anymore.
Shavings from pencil sharpener - I decided that since I don't know what is in the pencils (especially the colored pencils), I really don't want all that spread around my fruits and vegetables.
Scrapings from dinner plates - I do put small scrapings in the compost bowl, but nothing major. See my explanation under turkey carcass.
Dirt from vacuum cleaner bags - I'm just not nuts enough to go that far. Yet.
Labels: Gardening
