I don’t know why I’m afraid of composting. It’s not necessarily the act of composting itself, I think it is more of the thought of composting and what that entails.
Separating my food waste from my other trash is a no brainer. I know there are so many benefits to composting, so I don’t need to be sold on the idea. I have space. A whole backyard, in fact. So that’s not an issue. I really have no excuse NOT to. It is more that the thought of compost leads me to the thought of gardening and growing things, which is really the underlying cause of my fear.
I guess you could say I have a bit of a ‘brown thumb’. I have about a 50-50 houseplant success rate – half of the plants, including cacti, that I have brought into my house have lived (only one at the demise of the cats, I have myself to thank for killing off the rest.) I tried growing some herbs and tomatoes one summer in pots outside. That didn’t work.
But hey, why should I let that stop me? As the saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. I just need to get over my silly fear of gardening failure and get to learning about backyard composting. With anything else, practice makes perfect, right? I better get to it.
Beyond the Blue Bin 
If it’s of any help, I’m a rubbish gardener and pretty pants at composting too, even though I’ve been doing it for the last 15 years and grew up regularly feeding the compost heap at my grandparent’s house. However, my compost has never let me down. I am always in awe how it degrades down and even if it is a bit sludgy, it still disappears into the soil with a quick dig around with no problem. Week 5 will include more advice on composting, so hopefully that will help too. 😉
Yes, keep trying! My sowing to fruiting/harvest rate started off abysmally low but each year it gets better. My garden is teaching me patience as well as providing me with food.
I encourage people to compost even if they’re not going to do it themselves – give it to someone who does garden/grow or heck, just tip it (once composted) into woodland or on a grassy verge — anything to stop all that lovely brown goodness being hidden & wasted in landfill.
I compost cos I dont my biodegradable waste to go to landfill. My compost bin seems to be quite happy eating stuff and I havn’t had to empty it yet. Maybe when it gets full, I will just get another. Or I could just chuck the compost under the bushes at the back of the yard. Whatever. But dont let those gardeners suck you in. Before you know it you will be making chutney.
Pingback: My backyard compost options | Beyond the Blue Bin
Pingback: Week 5 – The Rubbish Diet | Beyond the Blue Bin