In this world of going green, composting always comes up as an important contribution for us homeowners.   For Christmas my highly aware “green” teenage kids gave my husband and me a small composter electrically run.  My son saw it on the Discovery Channel. It was back ordered by a month because the small company was flooded with orders.  We waited anxiously.

We removed some low lying shelving in our kitchen and proudly installed it near our sink.  It was a clean little unit made of recyclable products.  We plugged it in, and started tossing in our banana peels and salad leftovers.  The honey moon was soon over because of the high humming noise it made and the heat and smells it gave off.  I asked the kids to move it to the nearby kitty cat room/tool room off the kitchen. There we put it to full use.

Am I proud to be recycling?  Oh yes. Is it gross-oh yes…especially since my kids and husband invariably leave it to me  to actually scrape the compost into the machine. Beet juice, 2 week old pea salad, French fries with catsup, take out Chinese, avocado peels, coffee grounds and egg shells…Yum.  Even the cats clear out when I enter the room with my wooden spoon and compost bin.  It was when maggots developed inside the machine because I had over filled the bin and not closed the top properly –that I figured there had to be a better way of fulfilling my “green” responsibilities.

My suggestion is this.  Use the green and the brown method. Mix your leaf clippings (green ) with your leaves (brown)  and some topsoil or old potting soil and  turn them every time you add something about once a week.  Every few months put it around a needy plant or bed.  It’s nice to romanticize the whole process but the reality stinks and can be really gross.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.