I've always just chucked garden waste into the compost heap and hoped for the best. Never shred or break it down and as a result never get any good compost. This summer I've ended up with SEVEN "compost bins" as the main two were just too full. Today I emptied out all the bins, and used the lawn mower to shred the leaves, and my new shredder to chip the branches. Took me 4 hours to do it and I'm feeling satisfyingly achy and need a bubble bath.
Photos show all my compost bins, and what they looked like when I opened them. You can also see what it looked like after shredding.
I got 4 bags of finished compost, and all the remaining leaves, wood chips, unfinished compost managed to fit into just one bin.
I gave it a VERY good watering.
Moving forward, all garden waste will be shredded before putting them in the bins. I'm finally taking it seriously. Bring on compost!
by LaceyProst
6 Comments
I use the 3 bay compost system. I got 387 gallons of compost dirt from just newspaper and grass. It almost got to 200 degrees last week and I die from the heat every time I turn it
I love all the little gremlin compost stashes 😄
We are getting a ridiculous amount of satisfaction out of our 2 wire bin cylinders serving as compost bins. So much better tossing veggies gone bad in the crisper into the compost than the trash. Well done!
However I fell into the pit already just looking at the last pic 🤣
Inspiring! Now tell us about this shredder…
Do you have to arc your piss?
Hi, I also turned two of my piles today and in addition about 10 bags of size as yours. I feel as if I would have build a house today. But it was worth it as I got a lot compost for coming season and have finally some ‘new’ capacity in the bins.
I usually use the bags as temporary storage and mix it into the piles whenever it suits. As I also collect new material from neighbors, there is a lot of mass to handle throughout the year.
I also use the mover, especially for green leaves and fresh branches. Dry and stronger branches go into the shredder from Bosch. It produces nice little and brocken chips – only very fresh material is a pain.