Compost bag inside home - How to have an attractive place to store items for the compost pile.

For the longest time we have thrown our kitchen scraps into an old grocery plastic bag in the smaller side of the sink. Not only did this not look that great, but it brought with it some bad smells during times when we didn't take it out as fast as we should have. Having this bag of compost material waiting to be taken to the large outdoor compost pile also made a stain around the chrome drain ring which was hard to remove.

Easy fix! Check it out...it was more  simple than I ever thought :)

My old way to save organic waste headed for the compost pile outside.

Now this way is much better!!!

A 5 gallon bucket with a plastic grocery sack inside allows us to throw in any organic type of kitchen scrap that will soon be in the large outdoor compost pile. I try and take out the organic kitchen waste to the compost pile outside at least once a week. I take the entire plastic bag to the compost pile and empty out the organic contents then throw the plastic bag into the recycle trash can.

The 5 gallon compost bucket fits nicely under the sink on one side with just enough room to have a roll of paper towels handy. This indoor compost storage bucket is now out of sight and we have use of both sides of the sink again :)

Pumkins growing from seeds in compost pile

I uncovered the compost pile today by removing a thin layer of newspaper from the top. Just before I was going to turn the pile to get some oxygen into the organic ingredients, I noticed something really cool! It looked as it something had sprouted from within the compost pile. At first glance it  looked like it was a sun flower, however, I now think it is pumpkins we thew in the compost pile after Halloween. The roots were all the way from the bottom of the pile and I kept finding  more and more seeds sprouting as I dug into the compost pile. I thought this was so interesting and cool! These seeds had grown from within our compost pile! Covered by almost 2 feet of organic material, these seeds sprouted and grew through the maze of produce and yard waste and were just about to find away past the top layer of newspaper. I suppose that says something about the quality of good compost :)

Notice the two seeds near the middle left.

Two more seeds that have sprouted.

Just for fun I pulled some out of the compost pile and decided to see if they would grow in a container below the compost pile.

Straw for the garden and compost pile

Picked up 2 bales of straw the other day to use around the garden, yard & compost pile. The smell of the straw is so fresh! Plus it adds a nice look to yard, and should help keep the compost pile more damp.

Getting closer to adding some soil to our gardens. It has been so hot lately that we haven't wanted to go outside very much, which is why the long wait on soil.

We have read a nice way to start the garden soil off right, which will include some other items I'll list shortly. One is newspaper, about 1/2" thick across the garden floor covering some soft phosphate. I'll explain later...

The compost pile is getting filled up

A quick photo of our compost pile from yesterday.

I have added some rich bagged compost, about two handfulls, to help speed up the composting process and plan to add some bonemeal to the pile as well.

You can see that just about everything we don't eat goes right into the pile for compost! There are onions, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, peppers and I even throw in cardboard and other paper products thinking that if they are made form paper they should compost well...Any thoughts?

Compost ideas

Finding it hard to keep the compost pile moist during this high heat of 110+. I've read that the compost pile should be like a wrung out rag, however trying to accomplish this will take some planning.

Thus far I have found that keeping a 5 gallon bucket filled with newspaper helps to always have something to cover the pile scraps. Once wet, the paper seems to hold in a lot of moisture for a few hours. Having a watering can filled with water by the compost pile is nice too, but I want a better way. The water can needs to be filled constantly during this summer heat. I need to figure out a way to have constant water at the compost pile whenever I need it. The hose is far away and by walking to turn on the hose it's the same thing as walking to fill up the bucket, and I can't have the hose on all the time because of the pressure on the hose end.

To be continued, lol.............

Compost building injury

If you choose to build a compost bin like the one I've build, wear gloves!, lol, the thin wire is hard to work with and extremely shard. This little cut was actually really deep, thus the deep, dark blood...yuck & ouch!