OKintheDesert: My Compost Obsession

Composting and Gardening go hand in hand. Arizona soil is not necessarily the best soil for growing things so it needs a bit of help. It's easy to reach for the bag of MiracleGrow, but that can get a bit pricey. I love making things out of other things so my wheels got to turning and I started my research. After reading Randy's s BioWaste magazines I've learned that all of those kitchen scraps that end up in a landfill produce an abundant amount of noxious gases that end up polluting our environment. There are many large scale initiatives out there to try and curb the amount of kitchen waste that ends up in the landfills so I thought I would do my part for planet earth and compost our scraps--thus saving the planet and providing my veggies and flowers with homemade rich organic fertilizer. That and I just like the idea of making my own dirt. If you've been "Lowesing" lately ( I stole that term from Ashley and Matt) you know how much a bag of organic compost is. So that's how my backyard compost obsession started.

Our first efforts were crude and involved a large pile of "stuff" in the very back of the yard. Kitchen scraps, yard clippings, leaves, etc.. were left to rot in a pile. Well, this was not good for the neighbors behind us as the stench became quite unbearable. Plan A failed. I also tried my hand at Worm composting in big totes which worked well too until a crazy rainstorm came and flooded the poor things. More on that later.
On to Plan B. This is when I started my research in earnest. Phoenix has a program where they sell retired trash cans to the general public for composting. They cut off the bottom third of the container and sell for $5 each. My neighbor, Terri graciously offered to pick up 2 for me and for her. Here we go.
After layering green and brown materials in the proper proportions with a bit of store-bought compost, spraying periodically with water and using a pitchfork to aerate, I am proud to report that I've used one batch of compost in my raised beds and working on more now. The first batch had several big chunks of wood and some rocks which wasn't ideal, but Randy made a chipper to chop up the branches, etc.. from the yard which helped tremendously.I learned the hard way to chop up the kitchen scraps which will make them break down much much faster. Whole heads of cabbage take FOREVER so I chop.
Just takes a month or two to get beautiful black gold that has an earthy organic scent...not smelly in the least. Success!!
There are lots of websites devoted to composting but here are a few just in case.
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/composting-101
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/5-easy-steps-fast-compost
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/surprising-compost-items.htm
I was surprised to see how many things you can compost..... Tea bags, hair, vacuum cleaner bag contents, lint, pasta...lots of stuff. Love it!