Hi, I’m Cher your guest blogger for today.
I may be lazy, but I’m no procrastinator. I knew I was going to need room for my fall leaves, so I harvested one of my compost bins for the first time in two years. The result:
I had so much finished compost I had to find innovative ways to store it until I could use it. I utilized my old recycle bin (I no longer need now that I have a 95 gallon recycling cart). I also used empty cat litter buckets and some old plant pots. And when I got really desperate, I repurposed a sturdy bird food bag.
To conserve room and energy (my energy) I set my mower to bag the leaves and just emptied the chopped up leaves into my compost bins.
Anyone who has heard me talk about composting will confirm that I
readily admit to being a lazy composter.
I do not chop my food scraps into tiny pieces to help them decompose faster. I
do not worry about monitoring my compost for moisture – if it looks dry I take
the lid off before it rains. I do not turn my compost every two to four
weeks.
And between you and me, I am not
even avid about covering up my food scraps with carbon rich material. I just
got myself two compost bins so I always have room (my lazy composting takes a little longer than
active composting).
I may be lazy, but I’m no procrastinator. I knew I was going to need room for my fall leaves, so I harvested one of my compost bins for the first time in two years. The result:
I had so much finished compost I had to find innovative ways to store it until I could use it. I utilized my old recycle bin (I no longer need now that I have a 95 gallon recycling cart). I also used empty cat litter buckets and some old plant pots. And when I got really desperate, I repurposed a sturdy bird food bag.
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| Buddy was impressed. |
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| Mission accomplished! Look at all the room I created for my leaves. |
To conserve room and energy (my energy) I set my mower to bag the leaves and just emptied the chopped up leaves into my compost bins.
Cher is a Program Specialist
for the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District.
Thanks for sharing your story Cher. I just put my first composter in my Iast week and eager for my first load of composted dirt. As it is late October right now, some new dirt for my new veg & flower beds by spring time is my goal. I was happy to see you just dumping all your leaves right into the bin :)
ReplyDeleteI have to be careful with which leaves I use for my compost.I have black walnut trees that contaminate 3/4 of my available yard (1 acre), so I've been acting like a horder, gathering leaves from the one area that IS safe, and even stealing some from my neighbors property (no complaints from their side!). As you likely know, the black walnut leaves release a toxin that survives the composting process and will kill vegetables. I wasn't sure if It would be too much to shove all the leaves in at once - and I also had concerns about how to store my 'good' leaves and keep them from being contaminated by the walnut leaves. I was thinking of using a garbage can for winter top ups.
I'll follow your lead and just ram them all in there and see how they do over the winter. I'll run them over with the mower to mulch them up a bit first. Thanks again for sharing your story and photos.
- Rachel