heathrawr's Profile

We've got a tiny patio, but I really wanted to cut down on waste, without spending a ton of money on a NatureMill or utilizing all of our patio space with a commercial compost barrel (also pricey). I decided to be adventurous and try to DIY it: I bought a dark blue 18 gallon Rubbermaid storage container, drilled holes in the sides and the bottom, and made to sure to start off my compost with a fair amount of dry material (rocks at the bottom for drainage, then some newspaper, dead leaves I found while walking the dogs, and some organic potting soil). I use a small shovel to turn the compost every 2-3 days, and make sure to bury my scraps when I add them to the bin each week -- it's been working out great. It smells like dirt and citrus -- because of citrus scraps, and also because I spray it with orange oil/water to help keep the flies away. If I feel like I'm adding too many scraps to the pile, I'll stick them in a blender prior to putting them into the compost. In the meantime, I freeze scraps in a ziploc bag until I'm ready to toss them in. Your compost really shouldn't smell or attract many pests if the ratio of wet to dry matter is balanced (fruit flies are another story, but the bottle with apple cider vinegar is a great trap); if it's attracting roaches or rodents, then the balance is off or there's something in it that shouldn't be there.

I've also seen someone DIY a 5 gallon paint bucket in a similar manner, but since we generate more food scraps, I went with the Rubbermaid instead; still, that's always another cheap and compact balcony/fire-escape/patio option.

While we do have potted plants on the patio, we generate more compost than we need. I am lucky enough to have some friends with potted plants or gardens, but there are also a few plants at work that I'll bring in some baggies of compost "food" for. If those aren't options for you, or if you don't want to deal with rationing out piles of dirt, try listing it for free on Craigslist or Freecycle, doing a web search for community gardens that might be interested, or even doing a guerrilla-style fertilization of sidewalk trees/flowers.