I've struck gold, compost gold!

The compost bin was genius!  I started it last year and can't for the life of me, figure out why I didn't put it together sooner.  There is one catch though.

No matter how many times you fill it, it basically shrinks down to nothing.  Yes, that's what it's supposed to do.  But I had dreams of using tons of compost in my garden, which is huge.  Nope!  This year I had basically enough to start my seedlings indoors, if I mixed in regular dirt as well.  Visions of grandeur.

For a small household you have to look at everything that once was trash, just a little differently.  If I remove the plastic from this envelope, can it go it?  Can I use paper from the shredder?  How well does a watermelon rind break down?  Then there is the matter of re-training the rest of the household.  I use small rubber maid containers for my indoor compost.  That way I can wash them and I won't have any smells or flying critters hanging around.  At the end of the day, or when I go outside, I bring out my little stash and drop it in the compost near the garden.  I keep the container by the back door as a reminder.

Sometimes I forget that when doing yard work, I can drop in my leaves.  The one problem with leaves, is they tend to fly away with a gust of wind.  So I drop a scoop of dirt on top to hold them down.

I can tell you, the compost itself is simply gold!  I had started pepper plants indoors this winter.  After they grew to 2" I took 1/2 of them, and transplanted them into a pot of compost.  Within a week, the compost peppers had doubled in size. Incredible!  I am now an advocate of the compost bin.