A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Composting questions

After reading all of the posts about composting, I have learned alot. Ya'll are great!

Can it be done in something like an old deep freeze? We have an old upright deep freeze in my shed that doesn't work and I have been trying to get rid of it and no one will take it off my hands. Hubby suggested today that we take the door off and lay it on it's back drill holes in it and use it for compost! I thought it was a wonderful idea, so I started reading up. And all this time I have been burning my leaves and grass clippings and such! BAD VADA!!! I do believe hubby will try this no matter what answers I get here. He is just dying to get outside and start, just too darn hot right now, he needs to wait until later this evening when it cools off. I will let ya'll know how it goes and take pics of our "compost bin".

Is it going to need to get air to it? My mom has always used a round wire bin for her compost. Too bad she doesn't have those anymore, I would have to go steal them while she is working out of state, hehehehe. See I told you I was bad!

Anyways, Have a good day all!!!

if he drills holes in the bottom and sets it up on something so it can drain easily and puts sticks in the bottom to help the air circulate it would be pretty much like mine I think. In fact it would probably be better since your's would be wide rather than tall like mine is. So yours would be much easier to stir. I have to dump mine out and then shovel it back in lol. But you know it would probably make an even nicer pond than a compost bin. If you like the idea of a water feature that is. In the water garden section someone has one made out of a bathtub.

I have enough mosquitoes without adding a breeding ground for them! My neighbor has a nursery next door and is watering all the time so there are lots of HUGE buggers out there. Plus I have 2 small children and one on the way so the thought of a water feature kinda scares me. My mother has a beautiful pond in her back yard (will have to share a pic one day) that makes me paranoid when we go over to visit. Makes mother mad cos my kiddos like to throw the gravel she has around it into the pond thinking they are feeding the fishes. When they get a bit older that might be an option. Thanks for the idea tho!!!

YAY! Vada is jumping on the composting bandwagon!

The only concern I would have about using the old deep freeze is the freon that might be in it - I know nothing about them, really, other than how hard they are to get rid of -- I had one too, for months and couldn't get rid of it. You could try putting it on freecycle.org before disassembling it (if it's not too late!) and may be someone will come take it off your hands. I wasn't that lucky, though I did try, and a local guy hauled it to the dump for me.

Anyway...! That's the only thing I'd worry about (freon) but other than that it'd work with holes drilled through it and sat on some bricks/etc like Tammy suggested.

I agree with the pond idea - but I can see your point about being nervous with the kiddies around. I would be too.

Keep us posted! I get so excited when someone starts composing now

Hi Vada and welcome.

I think that freezer would make a great composter.
But I too would be concerned about the freon.I'll ask Cindy about it.She's a pretty smart cookie.

side note about those mosquitoes,here is a good organic solution for standing water.

http://www.biconet.com/biocontrol/bti.html

An old freezer makes an excellent worm farm. It's insulated and so the temp remains more constant. You can put a hole in the bottom and silastic in a tap to collect the juice and use baskets or similar in tiers inside it to remove the contents.
As a composter, air circ will be your biggest problem. Other than drilling holes,(put them in the sides too) you can stand a piece of poly pipe with holes drilled in it into the centre of the pile. This will allow air into the centre . You can even hook up the vacuum cleaner in reverse and blow air into the pile this way.
What are the inside dimensions of the freezer?