Storing compost in condo to take to beach house

[chefmd]

We are soon going to be proud owners of beach house.  Now living in a suburban condo.  I am planning to reconnect with the gardening.  My grandmother and I had quite a garden when I was little.  Fast forward 40+ years and I live in a condo, work crazy hours, and pick up produce from farmers markets.  No more.  Beach house will have a rather nice garden, several fruit trees, and a gorgeous water view. 

 

I would like to save organic material during the week, store it so there is not too much odor, and take it to compost on weekends.  Sometimes it will have to be stored up to five days, sometimes up to ten days.  We do have a large wrap around balcony and don't really use part of it.  Any cheap containers that can be used for storage?  I would prefer not to buy super expensive designer compost collecting bins.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[ElainaA]

Gardeners Supply (on line: gardeners.com) carries kitchen compost bins; the lids have replaceable filters that prevent odors. I have a small one on my kitchen counter (4 qts) but they also make a 5 gallon bucket.

I'm sure there are other suppliers - this is the one I've dealt with.

Happy gardening!

Edited August 22, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[chefmd]

Thank you.  Those look great!

[Martin Fisher]

Bokashi.....

https://www.planetnatural.com/composter-connection/indoor-composting/bokashi-composting/

[gfweb]

That's some beach house! Real trees and all, wow.  New England?

 

If its for temp storage and not for active composting I think that the container's main need is being stink proof. So anything with a tight lid would work...a big cooler...plastic bags.  What volume do you anticipate?

[chefmd]

Thank you gfweb.  It is in Maryland, near Washington DC. 

 

I am looking for storage and not for active composting, you are right.  I think I am going to do low tech hole in the ground or some simple bin above ground composting once I get food scraps to the beach house.  Small volume, two people, mostly eating dinners at home, some breakfasts at home, lunches at work.  A gallon should do it, I think.  I do not plan to compost bones for simplicity sake.  From what I read, it is easier with only fruit/vegetable waste.

 

And of course coffee grounds!

 

DiggingDogFarm, it is a great website.  They not only sell things, but also have great info on composting.

[rotuts]

anything w a tight lid, as mentioned.

 

if you keep animal bits out, there will be very little aroma.

 

it might get 'soupy' which makes the delivery part a bit unpleasant :

 

add some strips of ripped up newspaper, that would help that.

[Edward J]

Stinkproof storage?

Your freezer.

[palo]

^^ I do that with chicken bones as it avoids the stink in the kitchen and more importantly my dog hasn't learned how to open the freezer yet.

p

[cdh]

The compost you really want is mostly rotten leaves and grass clippings.  The stinky kitchen stuff should not be anywhere near the majority of the mass.  The idea of keeping the stuff from your sink strainer does not have much merit.  Most municipalities have compost piles made of the roadside leaves collected... Look into that as your starter compost source... and then build a 3-sided enclosure that you can rake/blow lawn leaves into in the fall as your onsite compost source.  Chucking your stinky sink strainer stuff into that won't hurt it... but also won't be the majority of the stuff composting.

[rotuts]

""  build a 3-sided enclosure that you can rake/blow lawn leaves into in the fall as your onsite compost source  "

 

ive done this in the distant past w wood pallets that in my area are free

 

​i loved doing this.  but, well, if I had a beach house as noted, id pay more attention to the M.R. and the fresh crabs

 

no offense intended in any way.

 

""  The idea of keeping the stuff from your sink strainer does not have much merit. ""

 

true enough in terms of composted Organics.

 

but it provides a decent  "" feel good " that's quite personal and worth that.

 

if you really want to improve your Beach House's soil

 

look into what csh has suggested :

 

does that town have 'compost' that you can pick up ?

 

leaves etc ?

 

consider two things  :   in your compost pile there are two components :

 

'carbon'   those leaves  more or less 'free'

 

and 'nitrogen'  a bit more costly.  and a key item to Complete Compost.

 

green freshly cut grass has nice nitrogen, but Most Swells in Your Area  "" spray "

 

for dandilions etc

 

but do look into your local beach area and the very best thing to do 

 

is  :

 

based on your age :  now is a bit better than 5 years from now.

 

if your do have decent 'free' municipal compost

 

hire a local, a reliable local to puck up a lot of this and till it into the areas you want to use

 

for growing.

 

its well worth the price because :

 

the Clock says Tick-Tock, not Tock-Tick.

 

you can always add Your Own later.

 

start now, with local help.

 

the financials being what they are now

 

and Im just guessing you have stretched your selves a bit

 

get a decent perfect patch to start with

 

Night Now

 

does not have to be a Zillion Acres.

 

but 2 x what you might thing.

 

Tick-Tock

[cdh]

Best advice I could give is to limit your compost contribution to coffee grounds until you get moved in at the beach... get a home depot bucket and lid, dump the coffee grounds in there.  Take to beach, add to pile of leaves and such like. Won't be stinky.  Will add nitrogen. If you're adventurous, you could get a culture of the oyster mushroom spawn that likes to eat coffee grounds and get an edible  mushroom patch going in your bucket, which you could then dump onto the compost heap after you harvest the mushrooms.

Edited August 25, 2015 by cdh (log)

[Martin Fisher]

It's not difficult, really, it's not, I compost nearly everything, including bones. Some exceptions are oils/fat or super salty stuff and the like.

Bokashi is great because it stabilizes the waste (including odors) and primes it for rapid break-down by worms or in an aerobic compost pile, etc. It can even be stored for extended periods of time if desired...I have two 5 gallon pails on the porch from last autumn.

Bokashi is cheap, there's nothing expensive or super special required.

FWIW, up until a few years ago I owned the website bokashicomposting(dot)com. When I owned the site it was very different in that it was geared towards free or low-cost bokashi composting via indigenous beneficial micro-organisms.

My bokashi information is still available online...lifted by pirates years ago... https://newspaperbokashi.wordpress.com/category/newspaper-bokashi/

[dcarch]

The best stuff for your compost are bones, meat and fat. You know, vegetables are not vegetarians.

 

I freeze my bones and use my inexpensive garden shredder to pulverize them into the compost heap. This way animals will not dig up the bones and the bones get composted quicker. 

 

dcarch

 

 

 

[chefmd]

Thanks everybody.

 

Freezer sounds like a great idea.

 

I do want to use my leftovers, scraps in compost instead of throwing them away.  I am sure it will make me feel virtuous while enjoying MR and crabs .

 

Not planning to have major garden production, at least not yet.  Will start with herbs, tomatoes.  It is more for fun, relaxation, and tasty produce.  Although it can be addictive from what I understand after reading about composting/gardening. 

[rotuts]

start something this fall.  spinach ? green onions ? lettuce ?

 

even if the plot is small.

 

beware of local fauna that may stop by to help themselves.

[cdh]

Raised beds and good fencing are the investments to be making now.

[Dave W]

What are the local rules at your beach house for harvesting seaweed that washes up on shore? That's limitless free nitrogen material for your compost pile and garden.