T – Page 238 – Crazy About Compost

“Can I Compost This?” Series #2: Grass clippings

Hey Tyler, can I compost grass clippings? Of course. But there's a right way and a less right way. I recommend spending the least amount of time and energy by cutting the grass and letting it sit there. The fancy term for this is "grasscycling", but really it's just "not cleaning up your mess after mowing the lawncycling". This method is obviously "natural" and helps reduce evaporation a good deal. If you really have to clean the stuff up, you're gonna have to spend some time making sure you don't ruin your compost heap. Ensure the grass clippings are dry, as wet clippings just clump up and prevent air from circulating through the pile. Second, add them in small amounts (thin layers) mixed with other materials such as dry leaves…

Vermicompost tea…or is it leachate?

Recognize this stuff? That's the bin under the worm bin... yummy worm leachate. Notice I didn't say worm tea... worm tea is a bit of a process to create, while leachate is just a fancy word for drainage. As with compost leachate, this stuff smells disgusting until you aerate the heck out of it. Here's a great article linking to compost tea/compost leachate by my man Bentley Christie over at Red Worm Composting...check it out: http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/using-worm-bin-leachate/

“Can I Compost This?” Series #1: Juices and Drinks

I've decided to start a new short and sweet series dealing with the question "Can I compost ___?" So here we go: "Hey Tyler, can I compost coffee/fruit juices/tea?" Yep. All of the above are great candidates. I'd say I dump more coffee waste than anything, and it's also the best of the above to add. High in nitrogen and also friendly due to its ground-up size, it degrades quickly (for the worms, they're all about the coffee grinds as well. Juices...not as much. Tea/tea bags, absolutely). As for tea, it is preferable to empty the contents out of the teabag...unless the tea markets itself as having a compostable teabag. Apparently, most are polyester (not the ones I drink!). There's an interesting article about that found HERE. Lastly, juices. I'd…