I got a 37gal compost tumbler from a neighbor that was moving (for free!) it has neglected compost on one side that I am trying to revitalize. I filled the other side with shredded cardboard, leaves and about a month of kitchen scraps. It's already full. (I go through a LOT of produce) I'm now thinking I need something else to compost all of my scraps. I don't think hot compost would really work because from what I understand you have to put everything in all at once?
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Any ideas on how to compost all of my scraps?
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I have some room in my yard, but I live in a rental. My landlord and neighbors are pretty permissive. Anything that would be stinky or attract rodents/roaches would be a no-no.
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Pic of my shredded cardboard for attention
by Acrobatic-Turnip5964
5 Comments
I have a tumbler that I inherited when I moved onto my property that I absolutely love! What I do is use it for my food scraps because it’s good at keeping critters out, then I also have a pile I put loads of leaves, cardboard, grass waste and chicken poo in. When my kitchen scraps get broken down into a hot, rich goo, I layer it into my big pile. There’s always some less decomposed material that inevitably draws critters, but the process has worked well for me. Using my tumbler for straight food scraps, instead of adding browns also, allows me to save space in there.
IMO with your restrictions i would get another tumbler. learn to hot compost so things break down faster and you can continually compost as things finish up. you already are saving the cardboard for next time so why not have a nice container in the freezer for the kitchen scraps? then every two weeks get one of the four sides (two tumblers) up and going hot.
You should start by adding some water until everything in that side of the tumbler is damp. Gently stir or rotate it as you so everything gets moistened. Once everything’s damp and you get some microbial activity going the contents should shrink a bit and let you add more. You may need to keep adding water in the future, but you should pay close attention to the level of moisture in the contents—I hear that excessive moisture can be a problem for tumblers. Going forward you might try adding a slightly higher ratio of greens to brown, maybe two parts brown to one part green or even one to one. Something I’ve found very useful both for storage of my scraps and for measuring my green:brown ratio is keeping the scraps in a plastic bucket with a lid (2 or 5 gallons). This would save space in the freezer, not attract too many insects, and also give you a handy way of measuring how much cardboard you’re adding to the tumbler. Also, adding a big load of scraps all at once might help your compost get slightly more active even if you don’t achieve “true” hot composting.
Coffee grounds, a blended up crate of rotting fruit & plenty of piss
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