Nothing New, We've Done It For Years
Apr 29 '01
The Bottom Line Do it yourself without all the expensive composting tumblers and bins and you'll get the same results at a much lower cost.
In the last 20 years of so, there has been a trend towards a more natural way of gardening. There's been more emphasis of natural fertilizers over those chemicals made by man. Manufacturers decided to give the public what they wanted and all of a sudden we could see many different kinds of composters advertised. Most of the models, I saw, were a barrel and a handle on a stand. The directions said "Put in your grass trimmings and table scraps, then turn the handle once every other day for two weeks and you'll have dark rich compost to add to your garden". The price, $299.00 or $399.95 or whatever you're willing to spend. I actually saw one, I think it was made by Rubbermaid, that was a 3 foot cube, and cost $69.95.
When I was younger, we used to save all the vegetable matter that was left over form cooking in a bucket on the porch. When it was full we would pour the contents in the garden and mix with some soil. That was it, quick and simple. Some of the other things that we kept were coffee grounds and egg shells. Both are supposed to be very useful and beneficial to the garden. We never thought of purchasing something to do what was already being done for free.
When the garden was going in full production we created a compost pile. This is probably the best because you could put a lot of waste in a small area, Once every two weeks you needed to go out, with a pitch fork, and turn it over to assist with the decomposition. Depending on how much you put in the pile, it would take somewhere between 5 to 7 weeks to make nice rich soil. In the fall we always till in grass trimmings and mulched leaves. By doing this in the fall it allows the entire winter for composting to take place.
Remember composting requires both heat (sun) and water to work properly. Some of the manufactures sell chemicals to start the composting process but if you use the theory of water and heat you won't need these chemicals and composting will take place naturally.
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Epinions.com ID:
my_mother
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Location: St. Petersberg, FL
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