Compost time

So I went to the nursery yesterday and saw some roses that reminded me of my grandma.  She had these roses along her house that were alway big and pretty.  I always loved her front yard.  Her house was U shaped and in roof was level with the street so her house kind of hidden from the road. You had to drive down to her house.  ANYWAY! I got three bushes one for each of the kids.  I got yellow, white and red with white stripes.  The yellow reminds me of my grandma so I planted it up front and center.


OK! Soooo that was background on my compost blog.  I now have roses that need next to perfect soil! They need fertilizer and feed and all this stuff.  SINCE I can't just go into someones stables and get some manure I created a compost.  I always wanted to, but was scared because it looked a little complicated and guess what? Nope! Super easy! AND the blog I got the info from says that 40% of everything we throw away can probably be composted.  


What you need - A bin with a lid 
                           dirt (I used top soil from Walmart)
                           garbage
So I got a small-ish garbage pale from Walmart ($15). It has wheels so it will be easy to move around so if I want to move it closer to the plants to shovel the dirt onto.  You then need to make some air holes, but they can't be so big that flies can get in.  You also need to put the compost where it can get sun.  The heat is supposed to help the process.  The blog says TOO MUCH heat can be bad though.  Not sure what too much heat is though.  

Ok I did air vents on the lid and around the top of the actual bin.  I put some top soil in there. I hope you can see the vents I made in the photo of the lid.  THEN I cleaned out my fridge. HOLY MOLY the stuff I found in there.  I then put more dirt on top of that.  You want about 50/50 dirt/rubbish ratio in your bin.  I heard of some people putting warms in there to help the process.  I probably will once this process is going well.  I printed out the list below and now have it in the kitchen.  You'll want a little bin by your sink or something so you can through you banana peels, egg shells and so on in and at the end of the day dump it in you compost.  You also want to turn the soil IN the compost to keep everything mixed.  Also shake it every once in awhile to air circulating.  The blog also said if it starts smelling your ratio is probably off so add more dirt.  Here is the blog if you would like to reference  http://gatheringinlight.com/2007/10/15/how-to-start-a-compost-bin-in-the-city-with-little-money/
So that's the compost.  THEN you can take a shovel and get the new fabulous soil out and put it around you plants in your garden once stuff has broken down.  I have seen actual compost bins ... those things are MONEY! I can't see paying $80 for a bin with vents when a steak nice to a trash can worked great! You might be thinking,  What can you compost?  Here's a loooong list of things you can compost! HAPPY COMPOSTING!
Paper napkins 
Freezer-burned 
vegetables 
Burlap coffee bags
Pet hair 
Potash rock 
Post-it notes 
Freezer-burned fruit 
Wood chips
Bee droppings 
Lint from behind refrigerator 
Hay Popcorn (unpopped, 'Old Maids,' too) 
Freezer-burned fish 
Old spices 
Pine needles 
Leaves 
Matches (paper or wood) 
Seaweed and Kelp
Hops 
Chicken manure
Leather dust 
Old, dried up and faded herbs 
Bird cage cleanings 
Paper towels 
Brewery wastes 
Grass clippings 
Hoof and horn meal 
Molasses residue 
Potato peelings 
Unpaid bills 
Gin trash (wastes from cotton plants) 
Weeds
Rabbit manure
Hair clippings from the barber 
Stale bread 
Coffee Grounds 
Wood ashes 
Sawdust 
Tea bags and grounds 
Shredded newspapers 
Egg shells 
Cow Manure
Alfalfa 
Winter rye 
Grapefruit rinds 
Pea vines 
Houseplant trimmings 
Old pasta 
Grape wastes 
Garden soil 
Powdered/ground phosphate rock 
Corncobs (takes a long time to decompose) 
Jell-o (gelatin)
Blood meal 
Winery wastes 
Spanish moss 
Limestone 
Fish meal
Aquarium plants 
Beet wastes 
Sunday comics 
Harbor mud 
Felt waste 
Wheat straw 
Peat moss 
Kleenex tissues 
Milk (in small amounts)
Soy milk
Tree bark 
Starfish (dead ones!) 
Melted ice cream 
Flower petals 
Pumpkin seeds 
Q-tips (cotton swabs: cardboard, not plastic sticks) 
Expired flower arrangements 
Elmer's glue 
BBQ'd fish skin 
Bone meal 
Citrus wastes 
Stale potato chips 
Rhubarb stems
Old leather gardening gloves 
Tobacco wastes 
Bird guano 
Hog manure 
Dried jellyfish 
Wheat bran 
Guinea pig cage cleanings 
Nut shells 
Cattail reeds 
Clover 
Granite dust 
Moldy cheese 
Greensand 
Straw 
Shredded cardboard 
Dolomite lime
Cover crops
Quail eggs (OK, I needed a 'Q' word)
Rapeseed meal 
Bat guano 
Fish scraps 
Tea bags (black and herbal) 
Apple cores 
Electric razor trimmings 
Kitchen wastes 
Outdated yogurt 
Toenail clippings 
Shrimp shells 
Crab shells 
Lobster shells 
Pie crust 
Leather wallets 
Onion skins 
Bagasse (sugar cane residue) 
Watermelon rinds 
Date pits 
Goat manure
Olive pits 
Peanut shells 
Burned oatmeal (sorry, Mom) 
Lint from clothes dryer
Bread crusts 
Cooked rice 
River mud
Tofu (it's only soybeans, man!) 
Wine gone bad (what a waste!) 
Banana peels 
Fingernail and toenail clippings 
Chocolate cookies 
Wooden toothpicks 
Moss from last year's hanging baskets 
Stale breakfast cereal 
Pickles 
'Dust bunnies' from under the bed 
Pencil shavings 
Wool socks 
Artichoke leaves 
Leather watch bands 
Fruit salad 
Tossed salad (now THERE's tossing it!) 
Brown paper bags 
Soggy Cheerios 
Theater tickets 
Lees from making wine 
Burned toast 
Feathers 
Animal fur 
Horse manure
Vacuum cleaner bag contents 
Coconut hull fiber 
Old or outdated seeds 
Macaroni and cheese 
Liquid from canned vegetables 
Liquid from canned fruit 
Old beer 
Wedding bouquets 
Greeting card envelopes 
Snow 
Dead bees and flies 
Horse hair 
Peanut butter sandwiches 
Dirt from soles of shoes, boots 
Fish bones 
Ivory soap scraps 
Spoiled canned fruits and vegetables 
Produce trimmings from grocery store 
Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded) 
Grocery receipts