One of my projects for this week, along with re-potting the tomatoes, was to make a scrap composter. We have a great compost program for yard waste in the city but I wanted those nutrients for my yard.
I followed the directions I found on a handout I got from a Tilth volunteer at last week’s UW Farmer’s market that don’t seem to be on their website.
Here’s how I made it:
- I bought a galvanized 20 gallon metal garbage can with lid at City People’s for $22
- Drilled 20 – 1/4″ holes in the bottom with a regular drill
- Drilled 20 – 1/4″ holes around the bottom 1/3 of the can sides
- Buried the can in the ground to just above the holes, or about half of the can’s height
- Backfilled dirt around the can
To use the composter I put a layer of dried leaves in the can bottom and then threw my recent food scraps in (veggies, eggshells for calcium, coffee grounds, etc). I threw a few more brown leaves on top of the food scraps and tightly closed the lid so racoons, rats and the dog couldn’t get in.
Layering dry and wet will help the composting process and ending with one layer of dried matter will help keep fruit flies and odor at bay. Worms will find their way in through the holes and being to work.
In about 6 months the process should be complete and you can buy a new can to start a second batch of compost. To get to the completed compost at the bottom shovel off any incomplete compost and put it in your new can. Remove the completed compost or leave it in the first can to use as needed.
This was a fun project to do and a great learning exercise for kids. My 5 year old gave it two thumbs up!
Toddler in action – crushing up eggshells for the compost bin. A busy child is a quiet one…
2 responses so far ↓
1 Homemade Food Scrap Digester « Sustainable Eats // Dec 27, 2009 at 3:02 am
[...] Read the rest of this entry… [...]
2 The Chicken Tractor and Castings // Mar 1, 2010 at 3:17 am
[...] also have some small garbage cans sank halfway into the ground with worm holes drilled in. Into these go my smaller kitchen scraps, [...]
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