What Can I Compost? Is Composting Hard?
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Our summer garden did remarkably well, especially for being organic. I knew, being pregnant, I didn't want to mess with any kinds of chemicals or pesticides that weren't natural. Our okra is taking off in this extreme Texas heat, but everything else is definitely end-of-season quality. It was a very satisfying experience though, for our whole family!
Now it's time to start planning our fall garden. I don't have big plans, but I do know I want to plant carrots, lettuce, and snap peas. I have big concerns that the soil has been depleted of the valuable minerals and nutrients that are needed to sustain a fall garden. We received a Toter composter at no charge to review and in July, we began piling it up with compostable items, and the compost is beginning to be ready! How exciting can turning old yucky stuff into nutrient rich compost for our garden?!
I have looked at a lot of composters and have been very satisfied with the Toter composter. It came with an indoor collection bucket that has been oh so helpful so we don't have to have an open container in the kitchen. It is also a great reminder to think before we throw things in the trash. Can this be composted? I wasn't sure, so I did a little research! Here's a list of things you can throw into your Toter composter:
- fruits and veggies, of course
- coffee grounds AND filters
- toilet paper and paper towel rolls
- tea bags (remove the staples if there are any!)
- paper napkins or paper towels
- paper
- wood chips
- cardboard, ripped into small pieces
- hay
- cut grass
- lint
- pasta
- rice
- bread
- popcorn
- paper bags, ripped into small pieces
- cereal
- corks
- paper egg cartons
- pine needles
- leaves
- matches
- toothpicks
- hair - human or pet hair
- paper muffin cups
- facial tissues
- bamboo or wood skewers
- cotton balls
- old cotton clothes
- wool
- wood ashes
- sawdust
- pencil shavings
- the stuff you clean out of your vacuum cleaner!
- flowers
- crepe paper
- egg shells
- vines
- garden soil
- latex balloons
- corn cobs
- gelatin
- feathers
- limestone
- soy products
- peat moss
- tree bark
- cotton swabs
- citrus waste
- potato chips
- nut shells
- straw
The list really goes on and on and on. It has been recommended to not add these things to your compost pile: meat, bones, fats, oils, dairy products, diseased plant material, feces from cats, dogs, birds, pigs, and humans. Some suggest adding urine to your compost pile to speed up the process, but well, that's up to you! I'm not sure I'm on board with that one yet.
Are you an avid composter? Have any tips to share with me?
LOVE THIS CONTEST to keep my neighbor cleaner by me just doing this one action is great
If I won I would give it to my father. He has a great landscape going on and he plants all kinds of things from flowers to fruit trees to veggie vines!
Would love to start using a composter for my organic garden....
Composting made easy.
Yes we garden and love it.Decomposition does take awhile with composting, the best tip is to mix it regularly as it decomposes!
I would like to grow herbs.
One thing my mom used to say is if its brown paper, boxes it can be composted, and it is important to turn the compost at times with pitchfork to keep it alive so it can brak down appropriately and don't put meat in the bin.
We just started our garden this year and learned what didn't work. Next year I would like to plant more zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant.
I like to grow hot peppers and tomato plants. I had one plant that did extremely well. It grew over six feet tall. I used Jerry Baker tips from his book.
We have a very large garden and I would love to start composting. I think that would be a definite help to our gardening.
We grow strawberries, corn, tomatos, peppers, peas, pumpkins, lettuce and cucumbers in our garden
I have a salsa garden growing....lots of tomatoes!
I sometimes use coffee grounds in the garden. Seems to help!
I'd be careful and NOT add cat or dog food since they do have at least some meat/meat by products in them.
That's a good point....thank you!
love to grow corn and tomatos and squash
I'd love to grow lettuce and spinach !!
I would love to grow strawberries, tomatos, jalapenos, different types of lettuce, cucumbers, and squash.
The most important tip I have about composting is to turn often.
I use dr. bronner's castile soap on my garden to keep bugs away
I'd love to grow tomatoes and herbs!
I like to grow veggies. This year we have cucumbers, squash, green bell pepers, and tomatoes.
Don't really have any tips but we love to grow tomatos. They are always a summer staple in our house.
Instead of catching our grass to mulch around plants (we like to leave it in the turf) we use newspapers.
I would love to grow a little of everything. we are beginners and would love to go completely green within the next 5 - 8 years. We want to become self sufficient..
I would love to grow tomatoes
I would really love to have some tomatos but it is really hard growing anything out here in Phoenix!
I don't have any tips but love my flower gardens.
im really new to gardening and composting and trying to learn more... thanks everyone for the tips!!!
I am just getting started in gardening so I am excited to get some fruit and veggies going!!
My hubby tries a garden every year, but it doesn't do really well. I think it's poor soil and this composter would really help. He loves tomatoes, but they just don't produce well here.
I would love to ave an herb garden!
We grow tomatoes and cucumbers. We had so many this year we gave lots to family and friends!
Coffee grounds are good for composting. I also use my chickens poop!
I have just started gardening, so I have no real tips, but I am enjoying everyone elses!
Thanks for the chance.
mogrill12@gmail.com
I harvested my crop of onions & now I want to grow more onions. I'm still baking with my pears.
Currently we are growing tomatoes & bell peppers. I want to grow onions again.
My garden is kind of odd. By chance, I am growing Jalapenos and really tall wild Sunflowers.
They are both sturdy and don't really need my care that much.
Despite my black thumb, my daughter and I have been gardening. We {successfully} grew peas and sunflowers. Unfortunately the cucumbers didn't get pollinated {after reading about manually pollinating online I know what to do next year!}. It may not be much, but considering we rent and are limited to containers for now... I was happy!
We had a garden this summer and grew corn, and watermellon, with some pumkins that should be ready by Halloween. I have tried to compost, but I don't get very good results. Probably because I don't turn it enough.
I grow black berries, raspberries and I just planted a pomogrante tree. Seasnal crops normally consist of tomatoes and sugar snap peas!
I like to grow a salsa garden, tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers and cilantro!
I would like to grow lettuce and tomatoes for salads.
I'd love to grow vegetables but the soil here is so full of clay, some compost would help.
Our family needs to compost all the wastes from our garden and food that we eat. I started teaching my class about how to make our planet green and what started as Social studies and Science lessons has caught on with my elementary students.
That's great!
we like to grow tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, carrots, cucumbers and green peppers!
I would like to grow some pumpkins.
I like to pull a few weeds here and there so there is never an abundance. I don't have too many gardening tips though, we just bought a house this year and gardening is something I'm trying to learn. Would love to win this.
I love to grow fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables. I am also trying my hand at growing a succulent garden.
I'd especially like to grow tomatoes, strawberries and melons.
We have a lot of red clay dirt here so every year we mix several bags of topsoil into our garden. Over the years it has really helped build our soil up and helped us grow bigger and better vegetables.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com