My poor garden has been neglected for probably about 6 months... since the last time I planted really... and today I finally pulled all of the dead/overgrown bits out of it as well as trimmed down the rose bush and the lavender. This left me with a lot green waste that I can't really put into the worm farm... mostly because they are struggling to keep up with what is in there at the moment.
After a year of having the worm farm, the bottom tray is finally full of worm castings... I honestly didn't think that it would take that long. While we still add bits and pieces to it (at one point I even added extra worms to help them get through everything...) we are still throwing out a bit of waste simply because the worms cant process it all... and in all honesty, we don't really produce that much green waste!
About a month ago I actually entered a FB competition through
Tumbleweed to win a composter, a tumbler one in fact. I didn't win. But since then it has been on my mind about how much we could add to it...
Fast forward to today, and I have all of this green waste and a garden that is struggling to soak in water (hydrophobic soil would you believe! haha) and as a novice gardener, I took to FB to ask my lovely friends what could be done, and most of the responses was to add more organic matter. Now I currently have some from the worm farm, but once that is used I will have to wait another year...
So I have spent all afternoon doing research on composting, how it works, best bins/set up and how it can best be used for our household.
We don't live in a big place. We don't have a lot of scraps, particularly fruit and veggies (I am trying to work on this though lol) which is what composting uses (it is a little more complicated than that with
green and brown wastes), but we do have a few weeds and the garden has green waste, so we don't need a particularly large compost bin.
Now you can pick up a bin a Bunnings
for only $30... the thing with this is that while it is cheap... it doesn't suit how B an I are because we simply don't have time (or the inclination) to aerate it manually... which is why I think that a tumbler would be the best option for us. The bin that I have found is the Maze Roto Twin Composter I think suits us, as it's compact and wont take up much space in the back yard, it looks stable, it has 2 compartments (a big selling point for me!) so I can have one "curing" and another that I am adding to. I also really like that it's easy to spin (looks easier than the long tumblers) and it would be fun to get Miss 4 to help me too.
One other thing that I have been thinking a lot about lately was purchasing a little bin for our sink, so that I could put scraps into it straight away, but what has held me off was the smell... how gross would it be...
However during my research I found out that there are actually bins designed for fruit and veggie scraps, including
this one at Composting Home, basically it can use a liner that is also biodegradable. What appealed to me on this one was that it was lined... it wouldn't be as messy AND it would be easier to take out to the composter.
However, while I was on their site, I came across this
Bokashi composter, something that I had heard of years and years ago, but never really looked into... but O.M.G!!! This thing is amazing!!! You can add practically ANY food scraps to it! In this one you can add cooked meat, dairy, and even processed foods like pizza and pasta!! Imagine the small amount of garbage you would have by using this!! The foods ferment in the container, helped by the microbes/spray which also reduces odor. This can then be added to your garden (not my style) or added to your compost (my style!) where it can then further breakdown and then be added to your garden. I love that practically anything can be added to this, this is definitely my style!!
I have never had a compost heap, but I have always wanted one, even from when I was little :) I think that teaching Miss 4 about sustainable living also helps to promote how to help our planet for future generations. We already have separate bins for recycling, grow some of our own food (when I don't neglect the garden lol), and she helps to feed and "bath" (aka add water) the worms.
The other thing is that if on the off chance we actually produce more organic matter than we need, it's definitely something easy to get rid of... both my sister and aunt are avid gardeners!
Now... to see if B likes this idea too... haha!! Hopefully this is something I can implement... I have to admit I am actually more than a little excited! :D
EDITED: On a side note, as I was having issues with my plants getting enough water, a friend showed me
this site where you can use empty plastic bottles to help keep your plants well watered! Something else I am going to do!!
