It’s been awhile since we talked about composting. I don’t think much about it, it just seems to be incorporated in my daily life. I’ve got two big bins in the front yard, and a little composter just outside the kitchen door. The word “composting” seems to be a scary thing for lots of people. Basically, it’s not a big deal if you follow a few basic rules. You need green products (kitchen scraps like rinds, tops, cores, grass clippings, green leaves -anything that breaks down and doesn’t contain meat or fat products.) To offset the green products, you need to add brown products (dried leaves, paper, cardboard, straw and wood chips). Too much green and you’ll end up with a stinky mess. Too much brown and it won’t break down as quickly. Eggshells and coffee grinds are excellent things to add to your pile. Common sense dictates that the smaller your pieces are, the faster the breakdown.
Keep in mind that you don’t want to compost plant material that has been sprayed with herbicides. It will remain in the compost and kill plants if you spread it around the garden. Also, weeds can be composted, BUT only if they have dried out and have not gone to seed.
I practice vermiculture, which means I cultivate worms which, in turn, compost my kitchen waste products. My end product isn’t just compost, it’s worm castings. Gold for the garden. Remember, too, if you are raising worms, their mouths are small, so crushing eggshells and chopping their food into small pieces is a courtesy they will appreciate. Aren’t they cute?!
The Kids
I have been composting shredded paper mixed into my bins for awhile. My latest success story is a by-product of my bird feeders. The birdseed I use is black sunflower seed and I am going through a bag a day, so that translates into a lot of hulls I rake up weekly. With a layer of sunflower hulls in the compost bins, the worms have multiplied exponentially, which means they are really chomping through the stuff I through in; i.e. faster turnaround. Is it wrong to be so excited about that? 
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Composting,
vermiculture
I opened up my compost bin the other day to dump some stuff in and this is what I found.
I raked up all the loose black sunflower seeds hulls under my bird feeders and dumped them in the compost a couple of weeks ago. I know there were some undisturbed seeds in all those hulls and apparently they’ve all sprouted! I stirred the top of the pile around a bit and discovered that the worms LOVE it! Sunflower seed mulch. Who knew?!
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Composting,
sunflower seeds,
worm bin
Learn the art and science of composting and how to teach it to others in this five-week, hands-on course taught by Master Composters from the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation. This course is sponsored by the City of San Diego.
Master Composter Training Course
Tuesdays, March 16 – April 13, 2010
6:00 – 8:30 pm
City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Building
9601 Ridgehaven Court, San Diego 92123
After completing the course, participants volunteer 30 hours for the Solana Center by teaching and inspiring people in their communities at workshops and community events, in school classrooms and gardens, and at
compost demonstration sites.
For more information, and to register, visit www.solanacenter.org or call (760) 436-7986 x217
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Composting,
master composter
As a self-proclaimed lover of worms, this information is GOLD! From the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation A brief description of different composting worms: “Earthworm” is the common name for over 2,500 species of Earthworm. But not all species are suitable for vermicomposting or the compost bin. Earthworker worms do not eat a large volume [...]
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Composting,
vermiculture,
Worms
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal had a nice article about composting and comparing different models. Read the full article here…. Journalist Gwendolyn Bounds also made a cute video about her attempts with different composters. She even plays piano for the “kids” in her Worm Factory 360. I think she and I could be friends! [...]
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Composting,
vermiculture,
Worms
We’ve been saving our coffee grounds for the compost, but I wasn’t really sure what their value was to the garden. I was afraid they might be too “strong” to use too much but I didn’t have any basis behind my concerns so I decided to do some investigative work. Starbucks commissioned a study in [...]
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Composting,
soil preparation
Today was an impulse shopping day. Since my conversation at the Del Mar Fair with Mr. Worm Guy, I’ve been hitting garage sales on Thursday mornings in search of a blender or food chopper to break the food scraps down before I throw them in the worm bin. I’ve since learned that these little appliances [...]
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Composting,
vermiculture
At the Fair, I found Mr. Worm Guy, and we had a good talk about worms. My “kids” don’t seem to be eating fast enough and I learned that I started with too low a number of worms when I first set up my new little Worm Factory stacking composter. I think I collected about [...]
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Composting,
vermiculture,
Worms
