Have you ever thought about composting? It is a frugal way to nourish your garden and produce less trash. I have been talking about creating an inexpensive compost bin. If you missed the first two parts of this series, you can read them now here A Guide to Inexpensive Composting and here A Guide to Inexpensive Composting 2.
Once a week or so, mix your compost. You can do this by rolling the can around a bit or using a shovel or pitchfork to mix it all up. I know, we are supposed to add things in layers, right? But I guess mixing helps when things are already starting to break down. You compost should be ready in about four to six weeks, depending on the conditions.
Add the compost to your garden soil and your plants will thrive!
Some people compost with worms. Worms can make the composting process speed up, but they aren’t absolutely necessary for composting. If you do want to compost with worms, buy about 100 “red wiggler” worms. This little guys multiply fast and make short work of the compost. You might be tempted to just dig up some earth worms, but they don’t work to well on compost. We did find a red wiggler worm on our driveway just yesterday, but we probably wouldn’t be able to find a hundred of them.
The red wiggler worms don’t like citrus peels or onions, so avoid adding these items to your compost pile if you have worms. Also, you’ll want to be able to reuse most of your worms for more composting. You can help yourself out by taking the lid off of your compost bin for a few days before adding the compost to your garden. The worms shy away from the light and will wiggle themselves further down in to the bin. You can also gently “sift” the worms to some degree and then place them back in the compost bin.
Happy gardening!
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
Related Articles:
A Guide to Inexpensive Composting
A Guide to Inexpensive Composting 2
Using Egg Cartons in The Garden
Frugal lessons from The Amish: Growing Food