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Ghetto-Gardener Composting

LunchBox

LunchBox

I've searched for weeks regarding composting, and read a thousand different ways.

I have a sandy-silt/loam mix native soil. I've started a compost bin tossing in egg shells, ashes, coffee grounds, and veggie kitchen scraps...onion ends/peels, broccoli stalks, banana peels, etc. I even found a patch of worms that I dug up, and added.

However, I'm a total novice as to what need to go into the mix for growing supers. I'll be tilling it in.

Thanks!
 
lol. Add some brown leaves, too, every now and then. Leaf mold rocks the house. I'm signin' on here, too, though, in case someone has a pepper friendly mix. Maybe pepperguru will chime in...
 
I have been meaning to add brown leaves...need to do that. I also have a bale of hay that got moldy, and I was going to work that in as well.

cory_huck said:
your worms arent gonna like those onions
Click to expand...

They better learn to love 'em...we use close to an onion a day.
 
I compost in two ways: "hot composting" in a large bin of black plastic where bacteria and fungi do most of the work and worm-composting in smaller plastic tubs where it's all about keeping the worms happy. I can be pretty indiscriminate about putting stuff in the big bins so that's where yard waste like weeds, chopped up banana trees, and citrus stuff go (my worms are okay with onion but not citrus). I put stuff in there and forget about it until I have some time to turn the mix to aerate--otherwise the middle and bottom get compacted, anaerobic and kind of stinky. The hot compost does not like being too wet, either.

The worm bins take a bedding material--I started with coco coir, but now I just use broken up egg cartons. They get kitchen scraps like coffee grounds, cabbage bits, onions, guava ends, carrot peels, etc. I don't like putting egg shells in because they take forever to break down and are kind of sharp when you have to run your hand through. Compost worms are the red ones you find near the surface and not the grey brown worms that you find when you're digging deeper.

I'm a beginner with the worm composting, too, but so far it seems pretty easy. After a few weeks there's a buildup of brown castings. I collect this stuff by sifting through a course mesh into another plastic tub. Some worms will pass through when I do this, so I let it sit for another couple of weeks, while the baby worms grow up and finish off whatever bits of food get through. Then I can hand-collect the bigger worms and move them back to the bins with lots of food and I have some nice castings to use for tea, covering seeds in trays, and amending soil.

I don't know if there's a special formula that peppers like, but the finished compost or worm castings is the kind of stuff that will make anything grow like crazy.
 
I think the key is to have a good variety of stuff in the compost bin,
including both wet green and dry brown materials. I like to make a 'layer
cake' of ingredients and just keep alternating the layers (The layers are turf loam
or other soil, kitchen waste, small dry yard debris, coffee grounds, then repeat.)
until the bin fills up. Then let it sit for several months until the worms have done
their thing. I have three bins, so one is always being filled, one is resting empty
with a thick layer of leaf litter on the bottom, and the third is full and being broken
down by worms and other composters. This is a very informal composting system
and takes more time and room than a tumbler or worm farm, but also is easy
and keeps me in compost - I have three six cu. foot containers that I keep the dug up
compost in to cure and that I work out of.
 
PaulG said:
I think the key is to have a good variety of stuff in the compost bin,
including both wet green and dry brown materials. I like to make a 'layer
cake' of ingredients and just keep alternating the layers (The layers are turf loam
or other soil, kitchen waste, small dry yard debris, coffee grounds, then repeat.)
until the bin fills up. Then let it sit for several months until the worms have done
their thing. I have three bins, so one is always being filled, one is resting empty
with a thick layer of leaf litter on the bottom, and the third is full and being broken
down by worms and other composters. This is a very informal composting system
and takes more time and room than a tumbler or worm farm, but also is easy
and keeps me in compost - I have three six cu. foot containers that I keep the dug up
compost in to cure and that I work out of.
Click to expand...

Paul...what you're doing sounds exactly like where I want to be. The "casual-composter"...lol
 
LunchBox said:
Paul...what you're doing sounds exactly like where I want to be. The "casual-composter"...lol
Click to expand...
That's a great title - we'll call it the 'casual composting method' :lol:
 
LOL...I'll probably change the title of the thread too. I didn't realize what I was looking for, until a few people chimed in.
 
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