These items (bio-bags and stainless steel compost pail) are on my wish list at Lee Valley Tools.
The other day when it was warm (unlike now), I emptied the old plastic popcorn -- I mean compost -- bucket and I noticed a ripe odour wafting out of the composter. All through the winter there was no smell, since most of the compost was in kind of a holding pattern. As soon as the sun hits the black plastic container for any length of time, though, the compost starts cooking.
To eliminate the smell I need to add "brown" or "dry" ingredients. Ideally this would be fallen leaves collected in autumn and saved through the winter, but of course I don't have any. [EDIT: We now make a point of saving a bag of leaves.] I have enough junk to store through the winter without actually saving the fallen leaves I collect. So what I usually do is empty some soil from last year's planters into the composter to cover up the ripe "green" or "wet" ingredients and stop them from producing an odour while they cook.
I'm not an expert at composting. What I do works for me. If you click on the title of this post, it will take you to a site on the web that talks in great detail about how to compost.
I only have two tips to share, and the second one might not be available to you. The first is a generally available product called Compost Accelerator, which is absolutely wonderful and really works to help things along. The other is small kitchen bags made of biodegradable plastic, manufactured by a company called Bio-Solo. (By small, I mean small enough to line a compost bucket that sits on your kitchen counter.) If these are available in your area, they are worth trying. However, I should caution that I have not yet seen the results of how well they decay. Also, I have read that bags made of cornstarch and soluble oils are better (though they are twice as expensive and each one only lasts a couple of days). [EDIT: I have since learned that these bags are not biodegradable, but photo degradable. They need to be exposed to sunlight in order to break down. This means that burying them in a pile of compost inside a dark container is not a good way to use them. Oh well.]
We have two composters in our yard, despite the fact that they are not the most beautiful additions to the landscape. We need two, however, because it really takes two summers to make a rich organic compost. With two composters, we can alternate year-by-year, emptying one and filling the other. Compost at the end of one summer is fine to use; you just have to sift it because it's still a little chunky -- which sounds a lot grosser than it actually is. Some things like corn cobs or pieces of woody stem need two summers to decay properly. If you are going to put these things into your compost, be sure to chop them up as small as you can.
One of our composters is actually disguised from view, come August, by all the plantings around it. The other one is just a necessary part of the landscape. Using black as the colour of a compost bin serves two purposes: it helps the compost cook by attracting the heat of the sun, and black is also the most "invisible" colour if you have to have functional items on display in the yard.
In the lush photo above, taken in August you ought to be able to see both composters. The second one is hidden on the far right (it resides next to the arbour bench) among all the plants. By October, when I have cleared the area to avoid harbouring insect pests over winter, the second composter is clearly on display.
As you can see, there is no real way to hide or disguise the composters, but we don't feel that they are too intrusive. I know other people create lattice or willow-fence enclosures, or use bushes to disguise a composter, but honestly in this case I think that would look more artificial than just having it there on display.
We are proud composters anyway. It's environmentally friendly: we divert about 200 pounds of garbage a year out of landfills -- actually that sounds to me like it could be a low estimate.
And above all composting is garden friendly, and that's nothing to hide!
4 comments:
Maurice, if you are a real person and not a spammer, please come back and leave a comment telling me about your garden.
I have the stainless pail from Lee Valley, and I don't think you need a liner.
The lid sits firmly on the top of that pail, and I have only noticed odor from the bucket once or twice in the two years I've had it. And I don't cook much, so it doesn't get emptied very often. I do drink a lot of tea, and the bags go in the bucket, so that may keep odor down?
Anyway, I'd buy the bucket and trial it for a while before making a decision on the liners.
Well, the cool thing is I found a stainless steel cannister I had tucked away in the back of pantry that was just holding a few (stale) snacks for my son's school lunches. I emptied it (no great loss) and put it on my counter as a compost "pail". I am using the cheaper liner bags I already have and things are working out well. No need to spend $60 at Lee Valley. The only drawback is that, unlike the pail, the cannister lid is a tight fit. I normally just balance it on top loosely.
BTW, our compost bucket is mostly full of tea bags too. ;-)
That bucket sure looks nice. I use an old plastic container that I keep in the fridge and empty it into the composter every couple of days. I've tried to keep it out at room temperature and in different places in the house but I can always smell it. I think the worst is the stale coffee smell. The refrigerators keeps the smell under control.
Post a Comment