Today!!! We made our...

[melchpeppi]

next baby step in becoming more environmentally responsible :)

We made our COMPOST BIN!!

I am so excited, we are just about to dig it in and then christen it :D

Off to read more on what I can actually put in there (and make a sign :wink_smile)

This feels soooo goooood! :trippy:trippy:trippy

[Rinelle]

Yay! Congratulations Melchpeppi. Compost bins are fun.

The general rules on what to put in are anything that will break down, but not meat or other animal products, as they can attract unwanted pests. You can also put newspaper, unprinted cardboard, egg cartons etc in as well. And hair from your hairbrush, fingernail clippings, etc etc.

[melchpeppi]

YAY! Doesn't sound too complicated, which is gooood for me. I'm only hoping that it is big enough - we cut the bottom out of a black bin... Guess we will find out soon enough! I will have to severely rethink our habits if it is too small I think....

[Rinelle]

What size black bin? The 60 litre ones? I would say it will probably be big enough, but you might need two, one to fill while the other decomposes.

[Karena]

Yay congrats Mel, I'm sure you will be able to fill it in no time.

[melchpeppi]

Yep, its a 60L one - Ive nestled it amongst some shrubs, I hope in a good spot :). Do I fill it completely before going over to another bin?

:D Karena!!! (gotta love IP for the inspiration!!)

[Rinelle]

Yep, fill it completely. The more you have in there, the better it will heat up and compost. Make sure you put in plenty of dry material in amongst the food scraps. Newspaper (in strips, preferably shredded), dry grass clippings, leaves, cardboard etc all work well. I tend to throw in a handful every time I put some food scraps in, enough to cover it, and then let it all sit until I decide I need it (or I need the bin for my next lot of compost).

[SeaStar]

Woo hoo! we haven't set up a compost here as our council is very good and all our scraps go in the green waste, I miss the compost though.

[melchpeppi]

Lucky you!! We used to have a great green waste service in Toowoomba too :D.

Off to put the brekky scraps in the bin!

[SpringMumma]

Ooh, how exciting Mel. I'd love a compost bin, but not sure if I'm allowed to have one in a rental? Like, when I move out, would it be completely removable - like it was never there? How would I move one?

They're really quite simple, aren't they?

[Rinelle]

SpringMumma, totally removable. There would be a patch of lawn with no grass on if you made it on the lawn, but if you can put it on a garden bed there would be no sign of it once you moved it (except that that piece of ground would be far more fertile than the rest of it)!

[melchpeppi]

Yep - we rent here too, and I've just put ours in a garden bed :D

[SpringMumma]

So how do I do this? Get a plastic bin, cut the bottom out and start chucking vegetable waste/newspaper etc in there? Is that all, or do I need to start it out with soil too? Is there any area that it would be best in - ie morning sun/full sun etc? I'm thinking I'd put it near my back fence in the garden bed, which gets full afternoon sun - would that be good because it'd heat it up?

[Rinelle]

Yep, that is about it. It's best if you can keep the lid on, as it helps keep mice and rats etc out. No soil needed, but contact with the soil on the bottom helps, as the worms can find their way in.

Sun is good because it helps it heat, but you can do it in shade if you don't have a spare sunny spot. The heat is actually caused by the decomposition, but sun will help it along.

[SpringMumma]

Ooh, sounds totally awesome and totally do-able! Looking forward to next weekend...i'll be making a compost!

[Rinelle]

Yay!

[mama_bel]

Great news! I have a half-hearted compost bin here because every bit of garden and kitchen waste goes to the animals (well 99% of it!) I have to actually go and get stuff to put in the compost bin, which seems silly. I do have lots of mulch hay with chicken or cow manure though, and buckets of horse manure, and ducks who fertilise the lawn as they graze. :)

I love the idea of a compost bin again though...

[melchpeppi]

Oh IM in love with mine! And I love that I was able to repurpose a bin we had around here :D. Off to put more scraps in!!!