The following is from BalconyCompost fan Alex of Toronto. She is new to the composting scene and made her own custom features to the Simple Style Composter. An early spring in Toronto means some cold compost, here’s what she had to say:

“There has been a bit of a stall due to cold weather the last week or so. I went to add green material yesterday and change buckets, but everything was frozen. Good thing I haven’t bought the worms yet. For brown material I used the shredded paper from my document shredder after doing some research into whether or not it was a good source. Turns out that it is, and I have an abundance of paper shreddings. To turn the bucket once a week, I just dump one into the other. I’ve been doing it after carrying a batch of green material out in the small plastic ice cream bucket I keep on the kitchen counter for food scraps. It serves as a scoop to help transfer material from one bucket to the other.

The buckets are white, but I just painted them black to help them absorb the sun’s heat the compost and cause it to break down more quickly. Sadly, I am running out of room already! I hope the warm weather we are getting now will cause the process to move faster. I would hate to have to dump my green material back into the garbage bin.”

I let her know that running out of room is one of the number one concerns of the Simple Style Composter. Once you fill up one of the buckets you are down to just one bucket without being able to turn it unless of course you go with a third bucket. Time to become friends with a gardener and share your bounty for barter! Also it is a good time to start looking at worms a secondary output for your kitchen scraps. It’s always good to have your buckets for easy drop off access and any composting experimentation you can think of. Not to mention how nice they are to keep your worms safe over the winter!

« Previous Next »

1 2 3 4

Some of you may have noticed talk of Carbon Nitrogen (C/N) ratios being thrown around like it’s going out of style in the world of compost. But what’s it all about? Is it even important? If so, how can I use it to my advantage? Well look no further.

All organic material and otherwise have a defined C/N ratio. This is pointing to whether a specific item is high in carbon or high in nitrogen. When an item is considered to be high in carbon it is also considered to be “brown.” And likewise, when high in nitrogen the item is considered to be “green.” Simple enough.

Next step here is to figure out what a C/N ratio is and what numbers mean it’s high in carbon or high in nitrogren. Let’s take a tomato vs. a nut shell for our example. Tomatoes have on average a C\N ratio of 15. Meaning for every 15 parts of carbon there is 1 part nitrogen. Seems high right? Well a nut shell has a C\N ratio of 60. So the carbon:nitrogen is 60:1. So yes, even the materials high in nitrogen have a much higher carbon component than nitrogen.

So where is the line between Green and Brown? I’ve read on some sources that 30 is the line, and I’ve read some places that say 25. So we’re going to say between 25-30 is considered ‘Neutral’. Below 25 is considered ‘Green’ and Above 30 is ‘Brown’. And what you’re looking to do is have your compost in the bin in the neutral line. So you’re in a constant game to keep the two amounts even.

The big question here is “how am I supposed to know what the C/N ratio is of any particular item?” Well, other than taking it to a Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory you can take advantage of the leg work I’ve done in the “What to compost” section of the website. Which I have gotten from various sources including this one. If anyone else reading has some more resources for more c\n numbers please comment them below!

Now does anyone really expect you to do this C/N thing perfectly and have the perfect neutral mix of your compost? No! I’m certain I don’t have it down. In fact it’s kind of confusing and I feel like I have way too much carbon most of the time and still want to add more paper to soak up some of the moisture! The key is to keep in mind what you typically compost, and think of it by weight knowing that the greens are probably going to weigh a lot due to water saturation. Add some dead things or shredded up stuff to help keep the ratio and suck up the smells and you’re good to go :)

Now this is a trick that I picked up from a published gardener while I was on a backpacking trip with Sierra Club Outings. I mentioned I did this compost blog and we started really getting into our favorite practices. This is hers that I now have fully encapsulated into my own.

You may have heard that there is a known lack of calcium within our soils causing our plants to suffer from a sort of calcium deficiency. In fact some fertilizers with a more than healthy dosage of potassium or nitrogen can be the causers of this issue.

So what do you do? Why you create the Egg-Shell Calcium Enrichment Treatment! ESCET! Or ‘escet’ if you prefer.

Now instead of throwing away or doing the normal composting with your egg shells, let’s try out a new technique. Have a small jar or ceramic container to place your egg shells (preferably washed, but not mandatory) then use an unobtrusive beating tool to smash down the egg shells into tiny bits on the bottom. My beating tool is a bottle opener.

ESCET

This way they will be compacted allowing for more room, as well as 1 step closer to becoming paste. When you are about half full with your container or at a level where you feel it sufficient we will commence with our finishing grind of the egg shells. This is best done in a style similar to grinding corn meal from corn kernels. But being that I’ve never done such a thing I will probably just put it in a big ceramic bowl, take the back-end of some tool I have and go to town. I will then dilute the paste into my watering vase and further the lives and lusciousness of my beautiful plants!

My ESCET Container sits proudly on top of my oven where I won't forget :)

For urban composters such as myself this technique is perfect because I can still compost, creating something wortwhile, while not having to worry about my space requirements, smell, or putting something outside when it may be freezing!

Another worthwhile benefit to note is that worm don’t enjoy feeding on half-broken egg shells in their bin. They much prefer things broken down before inhaling them. SO, use this technique for all of your egg shells and then add some to your worms with some water later in the month, they’ll thank you for it.

Worms are a simple creature from the outside and it’s easy to think that they are fragile and weak. I thought so too! In fact I thought I had killed my worms in the frozen dead of winter here in Denver Colorado. My compost bin was frozen solid! I even poured some hot water over the bin at one point when it was 15 degrees to help thaw them out and hope for a warm day soon to keep it thawed, but it dipped down lower and I thought they were gone for good.

But then it got warmer! As it often does here in Denver, popping into the 60s! So I decided to dig around in the ‘ol bin and see if I could spot any live ones or if they were all sadly composting themselves into the dirt they so long to make. To my surprise I was able to find about 11 thick and juicy guys right on the top stack of the bins and now I have them saved in a 5 gallon bucket in the closet until the spring arrives again. Of course I filled up the bucket with some things for them to work on in the time being.

Do not underestimate the power of the red worm! They are a lot more complex than you think! See visual:

We’ve all seem them by now. Those neat plastic-ware items like Corn Cups that say biodegradable on the bottom. Uber chic at any outdoor event I assure you. But before becoming comfortable plopping them in the ‘ol worm bin I had to do my due diligence of a compost professional. My report to you:

May it be known to all that composting of these biodegradable cups (and other plastic-ware) is indeed safe for your home composting setup, and depending on the item and method will take anywhere from 3-12 months. Earthworms will (more…)

I just finished my first custom application for BalconyCompost! So exciting. There are a lot of sites that just list a bunch of things to compost. Which is a great start! But sometimes it’s important to have some more information, specifically the green and brown category, and equally important, extra info for vermicomposting!

Well wait no longer:

Check out our What Can You Compost? Page (more…)

How can I get started composting right away?

What’s the technique with the worms all about?

Composting is as simple or as complex as you’d like to make it. But one things stands true no matter what: it’s fun. Oh yeah, and it’s beneficial to yourself, the community, and the environment. Here are some good places to start:

• Find the method that fits you best.
• Learn how to use greens and browns appropriately.
• Make sure to keep your compost aerated.
• And of course the proper moisture level helps a ton.

Stay up to date on our Commercial Composting Story!

Composting in Cherokee Row

Here is a list of the latest compost additions:

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.

One of the most fundamental principles of creating compost in the quickest fashion in aerating your pile. Also, one of the reasons your kitchen scraps compost in the landfills at extremely slow rates is because they compact everything so much it doesn’t allow for aeration. Let’s not make that mistake ourselves. Here’s what you need to know to make the most out of the air around you.

Different composting methods allow for different methods of aeration. The most notably air friendly composter is the tumbler.

Named after its wonderful ability to tumble your compost in the midst of plentiful air and mix the two together, it is the most aeration friendly composting device you can have. Just give it a swift nudge and your compost is aerated. There are also air holes on the tops and bottom to allow air to move freely through the contraption, and some have compartments to capture excess liquid or “tea” to keep the compost at the right moisture level.

Now as far as using something more like the Simple Style Composter: (more…)

I don’t care what you’ve heard. Having worms isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, it’s a whole new level of cool I wasn’t familiar with before this recent experience. I feel like I’m a part of a brand new counter-culture of innovative people who find new and better uses for the things they have, do and consume.

I’ve got worms. Eisenia fetida worms in fact. You may also recognize them as “red worms” or “composting worms”. There are many resources of where to find worms: shipped from a website; dropped off at your house; or picked up at a local nursery. I picked mine up from the local nursery City Floral in lovely Denver. And they even came in a little Chinese food to-go box!

The box included “300 Red Worms in various stages (eggs to adult).” I’d say 95+% were alive and kickin’ ready to get their eat on.

The worms most likely didn’t want to stay locked up in that bag much longer so I got to work on my worm bin:

1. I had already cut up the newspaper for the bedding, so my next step was to add some dirt for worm congestion.
2. Then to dampen the newspaper and dirt for the happiness of the hungry wiggling worms.
3. Next, just plop the ol’ worms on top of the dirt in the center of your bin.
4. Finally allow light (daylight or lamp) to shine on the top of the bin so the worms will start working their way into the bedding. This should only take a few hours max. From that point on make sure to keep a lid on your bin

Tada! Now all that is left is to wait a week (I cheated and only waited 3 days) for the worms to get situated to the new environment and hungry for kitchen scraps.

Composting is getting popular! For the first year in the 18 year history of the composting program in Denver they fully sold out their compost classes. In fact, composting in Denver has become SO popular that in order to fulfill the need they added 20-30 classes!

There are two types of composting classes in the area, one is on general composting, and the other on vermicomposting (worm composting). The one I participated in recently was the general, and I’m signed up for the vermicomposting come late-June (so keep posted!).

The general class is as it sounds, and covers the basics of all styles of composting, with a focus on backyard pile styles and general knowledge of best composting practices. They also touched on tumblers and vermicomposting with two gracious leaders answering any questions people had. One was the charismatic and fun-loving composter lady, and the other was an encyclopedia of composting knowledge. Both great instructors that had recently come out of the "Master Composter Program" that Denver Recycles offers along with the Denver Urban Gardens.

Although neither teacher had vermicomposted before I was able to get my questions answered on the subject (more…)