Is it possible to make compost in a hole or bucket?

Question

im interested in making my own compost for my garden, but i do not want to buy a special compost bin. Can you get the same effect with a hole in the ground or a pot with a lid? any tips besides buying the compost bin?

Answer 1

Sure, just pick a place in your garden or yard and start piling the stuff up. You don't need a hole or container. Use yard waste like grass clippings, weeds, etc., and old veggies, fruit, peels, coffee grounds and filters--any waste from the kitchen that doesn't contain grease or meat or bones, but you can use shrimp shells, shredded newspaper and junk mail, leaves. You can cover it with a cheap tarp and hold it down with fire wood or cinder block or other heavy object. Make sure you water it once a week or after you add stuff and turn it a couple times a month with a pitch fork or some such tool.

Answer 2

You could use a trash can but it has to be somewhat insulated because a "compost heap" has to be at least one cubic yard to insulate itself. Remember, it is actually a bacteria farm, aerobic bacteria, meaning it needs water and air. If you put kitchen scraps into it, that's the moisture. But how about the air? Drill holes all over it, including the bottom. If you just keep adding stuff, and occasionally dump it out, turn it over with a pitchfork, put it back in (or into a 2nd bin) that should work. If you have a 3 or 4 can system (talking plastic trash cans here, 40 gallons or more each) you could get a good operation going without breaking the rules. Just remember, if you have too much nitrogen (green stuff) that excess nitrogen will turn to ammonia and smell like urine. You also need carbon, which is the brown stuff, like dry leaves, wood chips, sawdust.

I have learned that making veggie only compost is problematic, If you could add some horse or cow manure, that really really helps. Balances out the whole system and eliminates excess nitrogen (piss) smell by providing already digested (brown stuff).

Answer 3

I just answered one like this yesterday or today.

Get two crates that milk is shipped in to retailers, put them on cinder blocks, perhaps a shallow pit under, and begin filling with food waste especially, as well as yard waste, though leaves don't decompose very rapidly. The structure of the crates allows areation, allows for you to hose it occassionally keeping it active, and allows that material will sift through as it breaks down. Turn the soil under it on occassion and be patient.

Steven Wolf

Answer 4

Yes. But you wont make very much is all. You will have to toss it like a salad every so often.

Answer 5

yes