The Compost Bin

Who needs an expensive compost tumbler when you can build one yourself? All you need to do is drill some big holes into a garbage can and cover them with some fiberglass screen. The actual tumbling part may be a little "low tech" but it'll get the job done.

If you took a look in my Kitchen Compost Crock, no matter what day of the week it was, you'd probably find coffee grinds (with the filters) and egg shells. In fact you could even rename my crock, the coffee grind and egg shell holder and that would be okay with me.

These are the ingredients that get me going in the morning and these are also the ingredients that get my compost pile going.

Now you've probably heard people say that you should never put meat or fats in your compost bin because they'll attract little critters and I agree with that. But I know some people who actually wash their egg shells before adding them to their compost. In my opinion, those people are crazy people.

I just toss mine in there and I'm done. Most of the time, I'll bury the crock contents under some leaves to keep the yard looking neat. But this time I wanted to get a few pictures first.

Do you love to eat peas but don't live near a supermarket? Have you wished you could grow peas in your own garden but never tried because it was just too complicated?

Well wish no more because with the Planting Peas instructional video, you'll be planting peas in no time.

I was looking over the Compost Bin stats the other day and noticed that lots of people who are searching for the keywords "Buy Compost New Jersey" wind up at my site. So it's probably a good idea to help those people out.

I'm really don't buy compost anymore but when I did, I went with MulchExpressUSA. When I first built my raised beds and when I first cut up my grass to make border beds, I needed lots and lots of compost. So I bought it by the truck load. MulchExpressUSA has nice quality bulk compost in Bergen County New Jersey and I never had any complaints.

Now, I make all of my own compost, mostly from leaves and coffee grinds. And if I do need some extra compost, I'll just buy a few bags at a big box store.

I still buy mulch from these guys though and their mulch is great too. In fact they just sent me a letter saying that due to the price increase of gas that they're going to have to raise delivery prices this year. But since I'm a loyal customer (I bought 35 yards of mulch last year) I can lock in an order at the old prices if I do it before the end of April.

And good customer service is always something that gets my attention. So I have no problem recommending them to everyone who's searching for compost or mulch in New Jersey.

What a good idea this Earth Hour is. In case you haven't heard about Earth Hour yet, here's what they have to say about it on their website.

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

Sitting in the dark for an hour sounds like fun and I'm sure my kids will love it. I haven't heard much about this event but if more people participate this year (like me) maybe it'll continue growing. Remember that last year it was only Sydney.

Let's see, with all the LCD clocks on every appliance in the house, I'm going to have to flip the main breaker. Otherwise I'll be pulling out plugs for the entire hour. And anything with a remote control is also using power even while it's off. The stuff in the fridge should be fine for an hour as long as no one opens the door. It'll be interesting to see the electric meter actually stop spinning for once.

I guess the hour after Earth Hour is reset your blinking clocks hour. But for a good cause like this, I really don't mind.

Everything is better,
When it is wetter,
Under the sea.
- Sebastian - The Little Mermaid

That little crab was on to something and scientists at The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA) must have been listening. They're currently experimenting with compost and mussels in hopes of making a healthier environment for marine life and in the process, create the most delicious mussels.

Underwater compost sounds a little tricky because it would seem to me to be too wet. They always say that your compost should be about as wet as a wrung out sponge. But when you combine one of my favorite sea foods and compost, how can you go wrong. Good luck to the folks at NIWA.

Here's a video from the TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) of
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. This speech really made me stop and think. The idea that we could farm or raise animals on a piece of land and actually improve the land in the process is just awesome. More people need to start thinking like this.

The video is a little long but it's worth watching.

After having a fig tree mysteriously jump into my shopping cart the other day, I figured I should walk around some other stores to see if it would happen again. Who knows if the fig tree incident was an isolated case or if this will be happening everywhere I go. So yesterday during my lunch break at the old 9-5, I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I thought a good test would be to randomly walk around the store and see if the shopping cart was drawn to any particular product. And sure enough, within one minute, I found myself circling the Aerogarden display. Around and around I went, stopping only to take a few pictures with my phone. Would that Aerogarden jump into my cart? Would I be growing salad greens and herbs on my kitchen counter without using any soil.

Sadly, the answer is no. I think the force that makes items jump into my cart is stronger in less expensive items. Although the shopping cart was drawn directly to it, at $150, I could not get the Aerogarden to jump in.

All in all, I’d say it was a successful test. It’s good to know the limits of this strange force that causes me to bring home gardening related products on a regular basis. And even though the Aerogarden didn’t jump in, I’ll be okay because I’ll be growing salad greens and herbs in my outdoor garden pretty soon anyway.

Sometimes when you go to the store to get windshield washer fluid, you wind up coming home with a fig tree.

I don't know how it happens but I think I saw something about this mysterious phenomenon on 60 Minutes. Something to do with spring and the polarity of the shopping cart making the plant just jump right in there.

Now I just have to explain this phenomenon to my wife. She loves figs. And then maybe she'll understand how I forgot to get the windshield washer fluid.

Some home owners avoid growing mint because it tends to spread all over the place. Well I say let it spread. You can never have enough mint. And does anyone know where I can find a hardy lime tree?

I've found that my houseplants do a lot better since I got an indoor fountain. During the winter when the heat is on, my house gets pretty dry. And as my house plants have shown me in the past, they don't like it when it's dry.

I've tried using a squirt bottle to mist the plants and was even doing it more that once a day but having a little fountain is a lot easier.

Another benefit is the soothing nature of the fountain. My living room now has a zen like atmosphere that you'd pay big money for a luxury spa. Especially when my kids plug up the spout with gum and water starts shooting all over the house. Now that's relaxing.

In this video, Bentley “The Compost Guy” Christie is being interviewed by GreenerBusiness about compost. I recently discovered his blog and have been glued to his Bokashi updates. I've been meaning to try Bokashi for a while now but couldn't really find any good instructions until I found The Compost Guy blog.

In the video he discusses starting compost, worm composting and Bokashi. If you're like me and starved for any form of gardening and sick of the cold weather and snow, then it's definitely worth a view.

This is a Growing Challenge update to report that I have nothing to report. It's still too soon for me to start any seeds so I'm just sitting tight and waiting. I'll probably start some peas this week but they aren't one of my Growing Challenge seeds so that doesn't count.

I did manage to clean out and re-organize my laundry room though. In previous years, I would start all of my seeds in the basement. But as of November, my basement is now a finished space with carpeting that we turned into a playroom for the kids. So it's no longer a great place for little containers filled with dirt.

That means that I had to move my operation into the laundry room. And so I had to box up and move stuff into the attic in order to fit the shelves in there.

I usually start all of my seeds in March, so I'll have a real update coming soon.

Have you ever seen those shelves that come with grow lights that the high end gardening catalogs sell for like five hundred dollars? What a rip off!

Here's where I'm going to start all of my indoor seeds this year. Just a regular wire rack shelf that I got for about $40 at Target or Lowes or somewhere like that. Those expensive versions have pulley systems so that you can raise and lower the lights. I just hang my lights from small chains and a hook. Some of those upscale growing shelves have a built in power strip to plug in lights or heating mats. I ran an extension cord across my laundry room.

No starting seeds doesn't have to be an expensive hobby. The only amazing thing about my seed rack is the fact that I was able to clean my laundry room enough to fit it in there.

Here's a cool composting project that my wife would never let me try in a million years.

What's that honey? You ran out of hot water in the shower? Okay, let me go throw some coffee grinds on the compost pile and that'll get it cooking again.

Ideas like this are still way too raw to actually benefit anyone. But hopefully some enterprising inventor will stumble across this and come up with a way to build a compost bin that can be used to heat water and make it look nice enough that home owners associations won't come knocking on your door once you start using it.

Just think about all of the problems that a home composting system that could also heat hot water would solve.

• Less waste - Most of your garbage would be composted


• Free compost - No more buying fertilizer and the garden will look great


• Free hot water


• Free heat

I think people are starting to catch on that compost has a lot of potential and not just for gardeners.

I don't think it's spring yet.