Continuous composting is easy when you quit worrying about ratios and rules:
Stack it up as you have it, then let it rot.
That’s how I deal with the kitchen scraps and fine yard waste.
You’ve seen the big metal compost bin I use as a continuous compost digester. I don’t have to turn compost unless I want to. Instead, I just throw it in as we have it and wait. Nature does the rest. And look at that beautiful finished compost! It’s amazing.
Read More: “Supercharge Your Garden! 4 Steps to Vibrant Soil Using Compost and Crop Rotation”
It’s not quite “instant compost,” but if you just keep throwing things in a compost bin, they will break down and give you great compost without work.
“Continuous composting” means not waiting around until you get a big stack of greens and a big stack of browns at the same time. Just throw them in the compost pile as you have them.
When the bin gets good and full, I dump it out onto the ground or a tarp and let it finish off.
And that’s it.
In the video, you’ll also see how I’m composting coconut husks—they hold plenty of water as they rot, hence my using them in the bottom of pots.
Composting is a simple process of letting nature do what nature does.
We get plenty of rain so I don’t even bother covering the pile. Lots of food scraps come through our kitchen and I toss them all in, including moldy sandwiches and rotten meat. There are bones in this compost, and I think that’s great. I still can’t get over the fact that people buy bone and blood meal but are afraid to throw leftover ribs into the compost. Come on, people! It just makes sense.
The tall metal bin we have keeps most animals out, so that hasn’t been a problem. And if a few want to snack in the night, well, they can go for it. Who am I to begrudge a beggar some bones? They’ll turn it into manure somewhere anyhow.
Continuous composting is the best system for an average home. So compost everything!
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David The Good is a Grow Network Change Maker, a gardening expert, and the author of five books you can find on Amazon: Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting, Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening, Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening, Create Your Own Florida Food Forest, and Push the Zone: The Good Guide to Growing Tropical Plants Beyond the Tropics. Find fresh gardening inspiration at his website TheSurvivalGardener.com and be sure to follow his popular YouTube channel.
COMMENTS(3)
I’ve got to get my composting game on point. I haven’t been nearly as diligent at composting this year as I meant to. This is some good stuff.
Like this method of composting. Toss it out and pile it up. No sense in making things overly complicated.
Great information here! I’ve got 3 compost piles going – 2 in metal garbage cans and my newest is 4 ft round with 1/4 space wire around the edge. Currently it is about 4 feet high.
But that takes a LOT of work! I have a few books where I get my composting plans from. But I need to relax more and follow the advice here. I keep thinking about how does “nature” compost? Simple, Simple, Simple.