What is the bulk of your compost?

[kate23]

I'm interested in what most people's compost is made of, maybe it'll give me and other members more ideas on what they can throw in their compost bins. I know a lot of people, for instance, don't think about non-produce type compost, they will just throw out eggshells or coffee grounds without thinking.

The bulk of mine is made up of duck poop, rabbit poop, hay and newspaper (the newspaper is used for bedding for the ducks/rabbits).

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

My (new) compost is all coffee grounds and vegetable scraps leftover from my juicer. The coffee filters are in there too (for now anyhow). I have thought about newspaper, but haven't yet used it. Leaves are good, but it is the wrong season for that.

 

[Pat]

Leaves, coffee grounds, egg shells, fruit peels, tea is what I have to go into a compost. No poop.

 

[Jewell]

I use bokashi to compost all kitchen waste. It gets buried before veggie beds are planted. I use the city green bin for weeds, grass clippings and branches that are too large to chop. Hedge trimmings we chop and lay directly on beds as mulch. Compost bins I don't mess with. Takes too much time and space. Unfortunately living in the city rodents, possums and raccoons find them comfortable homes or feeding stations.

 

[claudine]

My compost is made of vegetable and fruit scraps and of almost everything edible that I didn't use. I don't add newspapers to it, because I prefer to burn them in a hearth fire.

 

[gata montes]

Nothing goes to waste and everything that can be composted goes into my compost - which means all my kitchen and garden waste - including coffee grounds and eggshells plus some of the ash from the fire - the rest of which gets put in a pile for later use - but I don't add printed paper, meat scraps or any form of animal waste.

 

[Dora M]

The bulk of my compost consists of vegetable matter, paper, card board and cow dung. Admittedly, I occasionally throw weeds into it and later regret it, as I know that the seeds probably survive and will later sprout again around my vegetable beds. But I have to say that it hasn't been too bad. I just cover the new weed shoots up with cardboard and the pull them out later, if I don't forget.

 

[burtpovski]

My compost is filled with banana peels and other fruit peelings. There's a bit of egg shells in there too. I usually just throw rotten vegetables and peelings in there and it eventually turns into dirt! From my experience, I think that peelings compost faster than other things.

 

[AliceM]

I use bokashi to compost all kitchen waste. It gets buried before veggie beds are planted. I use the city green bin for weeds, grass clippings and branches that are too large to chop. Hedge trimmings we chop and lay directly on beds as mulch. Compost bins I don't mess with. Takes too much time and space. Unfortunately living in the city rodents, possums and raccoons find them comfortable homes or feeding stations.

Do you keep your bokashi indoors? Would you recommend someone living in a 500 sq.ft. city apartment buying one?

 

[Jewell]

Yes the bokashi bucket is kept indoors. Our home is 800 square feet. I moved one full one outside for the winter. With my experiences so far I probably would not recommend buying one. I live in the city and have dogs. The dogs are highly attracted to the pickled scraps and I have had difficulties with them digging the bokashi up. I figure if my dogs are attracted to buried bokashi so would other wildlife. Rats are on outdoor problem here in the city as well as possums, raccoons and great blue herons. If I didn't have a big dog and 6 foot ivy covered wire fencing deer would also be a problem.

I have a significant pot garden and am trying to find better organic potting soils and replenishing/revitalizing used potting soil. Crop rotation, use of plant teas, epson salts, fish emulsion and leaf mold are what I am using at the moment. This is my second year of growing runner beans, kale, cole corps and edible pod sugar snap peas.

 

[aas1277]

My husband tried to make a compost bin outside but he used chicken wire. He has been filling it with leaves and weeds,etc. I don't want to put banana peels, etc. in it because it is open and I don't want to attract rats and other rodents. What else can we use that will not attract these animals?

 

[Jewell]

I visit the horse stables with my garbage bags for composted horse manure. It's free.

 

[fruitloops]

Now that it's fall here, leaves are the major component to my compost. I also pick up free used coffee grounds from a nearby Starbucks. Apparently the roasting process removes the acidity from the grounds and it's alll good.