Do I have to have a bin

Ya'll have answered all my questions, but I seem to always have another.

I don't have my compost in a bin. When I first started one in January, I went out back, dug a big hole and started it. It seems to be doing fine. I turned it yesterday, but I was worried if all the good stuff would just leach into the ground around it. However, I guess even the bins are sitting on dirt with no bottom, right?

Also, there was a iron bathtub, you know like they have in really old houses. Anyway, the legs are gone, but I started a pile in it. There of course is a drain, so the compost isn't sitting in water. Is this ok.

I don't know if it is okay because i'm just a beginner, but I love the idea of planting flowers in the tub next spring. How cool! Make sure it is where you want it before you fill it because i'll bet it weighs a ton filled up.

It weighs a ton empty, so it would probably take an army to move it.

It's sitting in the woods right behind the house in a little clearing, so I'm going to use it there. I'll probably be the only one seeing it, but that's ok.

What would you plant in it? I guess I'll need something that will hang over it as well as stuff in the middle


I also have an old rusted wheel barrow so I want to plant that too.. Only problem
is that the wheels are gone, but I still love it. So, I'm making compost in it too.

With a lot of materials, I just put it about 12" under my garden soil, and it is decomposed in 4-6 months. I turn it with a shovel, and it mixes with the soil and creates a beautiful loam.. I started doing this, because I live in a hazardous wildfire area, and compost piles have started fires around here.

Very interesting Tig, about the compost starting fires. I guess they sure could do that. You have come up with a good idea that seems to work well. I have been told that a person can compost in just about any sort of container, or hole in the ground.

Ruby

Hi Ruby,
Yeah, I plant the veggies on top, then the dried grasses have decomposed by harvest time. And in my hot and dry climate the dried grasses at the bottom serve as a coolant because they hold some water. And I do throw eggshells and such in asmall three-sided concrete structure was existing on the property.
There have been fires started by the metal of a horses shoe skimming a rock. This year we had a fire started by a spent shot-gun shell.

Next year, a kid with a magnifying glass.... geez. Scary stuff, hope you're safe.

Funny you should say that Pagancat, yesterday we had a wildfire 1/4 mile east of the house. a small plane crashed, and the dried grasses caught fire.

I'm sure you're doing the whole oasis planting and everything.... are you comfortable being there? Frankly, I'm becoming nervous *for* you!

Hi PC,
No oasis planting; just keeping it dirt and the natural bushes short around the house. Though I have a veg. garden. And pines, oaks, cottonwoods and willows in the natural landscape, which I maintain for a firesafe zone.
I would be nervous in other areas around here, but this spot is easy for the fire crews to get at. The county FD got to the crash fire first, and though it was national forest land, they worked on the fire and got it under control before the forestry FD arrived shortly afterward. I have a river next to me, and the heliport close by, so its convienient for the chopper to load and dump water around here.
Last week at the garden a plane overhead backfired twice, and I thought, "that doesn't sound good; I would be afraid if I was in a plane that did that; hope no planes crash into the house".

Well, I'm glad you are in a very accessible spot. I wish you all the best!

Thank you

http://www.tagari.com/item.php?itemid=3

On this page is a diagram for fire control planting.



This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 8:41 AM

back to the question of the bin, there was an old member of DG who used to wisely say, "Compost happens, no matter what you do." So I say, the bin is up to you. this year I have a pile of garden gleanings sitting on an old pallet. I've turned it once, and might again if we get some wetter weather later, but even if I just leave it, by next year it will be pretty much done.


The wildfires must be so scary. We have an occasional grass fire here, but they seldom get out of hand, and it is usually wet enough that there isn't muc fuel. The island planting and keeping the area within a dirt "moat" is interesting to say the least.