Can I use a Rubbermaid barrel for a compost pile? I rent my apartment and the owner doesn't want any contraptions.
Hardiness Zone: 6a
Joyce from Danvers, MA
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I'd check with the owner of your apartment before doing anything. You wouldn't want them to cancel your lease and then ask you to find another place to live.
You could look into a worm composter. Basically it is a box with holes, some dirt and alot of worms. You just add your kitchen scraps and they do the rest. There are plans for them online or companies that sell them. I went to a master gardners class that was showing some that fit in a kitchen cupboard! Also if your landlord pays for garbage removal you could mention how much money composting would save him.
I agree with both posters. My daughter has a worm farm under her sink and loves it but your landlord may not.
I also rent and want some composted material. Online sources mentioned that the minimum amount to process by oneself efficiently is about three cubic feet -- quite a bit for an apartment.
I asked a gardening guru who is also one of the very best columnists at my local newspaper. He suggested brewing compost "tea". Mix one cup of compost in a gallon of water and let stand in summer sunshine for a day or two. Then repeat. He said you can never use enough.
Where to get the compost? Beg, buy, steal, I think. Tis too late in the growing season to buy from WalMart -- they cleaned out their inventory here at $1 a bag.
I have my eye on a seemingly mature compost pile at a local fire station nearby. I'm sure they'd give me a shovelful or two.
You probably know way more people than I do -- ask.
My MIL has a worm bucket in the basement. She just started with some soil and peat moss... it's one of the under the bed type rubbermaid totes with holes drilled in it. You have to order the worms though - the ones you dig out of the backyard aren't quite the right kind to use. She puts veggies and I think pasta in them, no meat so no smell.
If you are doing this indoors, the worms are the way to go. No one will know that you have them. We did this at my school for many years, although you have to have a healthy population of worms for it to work, and if you get the container too moist, it can smell. Do not, no matter what any site tells you to do, do not poke drainage holes in the bottom of the container you use. It drains all right -- a black tea colored slightly stinky stuff that is likely chock full of nutrients, but makes a big mess on the floor. Also, if it gets overloaded with something like orange peels, you can get a fruit fly problem. However, these problems can be managed by keeping a lot of worms and by making sure your compost is always well covered with soil, compost, or shredded paper.
The worms to use are red wiggler earthworms. They are smaller and thinner than the earthworms that we have here, but in some southern climes, I am sure they are the native population.
We fed the worms to our turtle, red-bellied newts, and goldfish, when we felt that we had too many of them.
Yes you can. Just make sure it's not the kind that have a mildew inhibitor in the plastic. I have done this & I used a hand circular saw to cut slots across the sides.
We have a cheap black, plastic trash can that we drilled 1" holes on the sides and use as a composter. We set it in the yard in an inconspicuous place, and no one knows the difference.
Yes You can use almost anything like that. I got mine started off using cheap potting soil. I also after putting in veggie scraps went to Lowes and bought compost accelorator and sprinkled it on the top. This product works wonders for a compost pile.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
