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Avatar for terwey53
Nov 2, 2019 11:41 AM CST
Thread OP
Washington, Utah
Can I just bury my kitchen waste (not meat) directly into my raised garden beds? I don't have an area for a compost site nor do I want to purchase a bin.
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Nov 2, 2019 11:58 AM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
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I have not tried it myself, but I do have a neighbor that does, and she seems to have good results. Her garden is quite beautiful, and productive!

I too will be interested in what others have to say!
Last edited by terrafirma Nov 2, 2019 11:59 AM Icon for preview
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Nov 2, 2019 12:04 PM CST
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

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My mother in law (who lived to be 97 years old) had wonderful vegetable and flower gardens and she'd always take kitchen waste out to her garden, dig a hole and bury it. Just be sure to bury it deep enough that night time critters (raccoons, possums) don't dig it up. Green Grin!
~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Nov 2, 2019 12:07 PM CST
Portland, Oregon (Zone 7b)
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I've done it for years, and cultures all over the world have done it for years. Nothing wrong with doing so.

I have come to leave it composting on the top for the wildlife, but I have tons of space.

I do not recommend the bins. Around here, the bins make a safe haven for rodents. They can eat to their hearts content and not have to worry about predators.

You might want to look into vermiculture. It is my understanding, it requires less space.
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Nov 2, 2019 12:10 PM CST
Name: Daisy I
Reno, Nv (Zone 6b)
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Short answer: No

Decomposition is an aerobic process, it needs oxygen to happen - that's why we continually turn our composts piles. Well preserved fossils were formed in an anaerobic environment - without oxygen, instead of decomposing, they turned into rocks. You won't really have fossils in your garden, you will have a landfill. Although archeologists do get pretty excited when they find an old dump.

If you choose to leave your kitchen waste on the surface of the soil, it will decompose but, the bacteria will be using nitrogen in the process. So, the soil will be low in nitrogen until the decomposing process is completely finished. When the bacteria finish the job and die, the nutrients will be put back into the soil. In the meantime, you will have a messy, rat filled garden.

In the desert, you have to water compost piles almost daily or they sit for years without decomposing. I have never been a fan of the closed bins as they don't allow enough air circulation.
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Nov 2, 2019 3:32 PM CST
Name: Empress of India
Hatfield MA (Zone 5b)
Master Gardener/Western MA
I do this. Well, I was doing it, but the dogs drove me insane so I have stopped for now.

I was using this method and won't know how it works until I plant that bed in May (it will be tomatoes next year):

-Dug a trench 12-18" deep and piled the soil to the right of it.
-started keeping a separate wastebasket for kleenex, paper towels ("browns"). It's actually kind of amazing how much garbage is composed of that stuff....toilet paper rolls and so on.
-go out and dump the kitchen compost bucket & coffee grounds in the trench, throw on some browns, cover with an inch or so of soil
-repeat until the whole mound was about ten inches off the surface of the bed, then dig another trench

This was great for me annd also great for the dogs who were like, 'did someone bury a kleenex somewhere???? IT IS WAITING FOR ME'

And I had to cover the three rows I'd done with chicken wire.

If it weren't for those bozos though I would totally have kept it up. I think the freezing and thawing over the winter would have compressed that to a normal soil level and by the time I transplanted tomatoes into it in late May, it would be unrecognizable.

Unfortunately I was unable to complete my testing on this theory.
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Nov 2, 2019 10:48 PM CST
Name: Dr. Demento Jr.
Minnesota (Zone 3b)
I do it all summer and all winter.
I put some in the compost heap but I never totally turn it , I will on occasion turn the top six inches over, often months to a over a year apart.
I do put mown grass on top of it covering the tip of the pile, to make it look better on occasion in the summer.
When it is full or I do not want to walk out to it because of snow or mud, I just dump it in a hole near the edge and do not cover it till I dig potatoes or in spring when the ground is not frozen.
Right now I have a pile of veggie gunk, muskmelon , coffee grounds and old bread so moldy I would not give it to the bird or squirrel out there.
The compost heap up North is over full, with kitchen gunk, rotting fruit from the garden and some plant vines, rhubarb leaves and such, but it is amazing how fast it sinks even with our cold weather we had.
The one down South is mostly the neighbors mown grass; I would take my hand and pull some back to put stuff in and cover it, but it was so hot I quit doing that.
It was actually full to the top at one point but now it is less than 2/3 full as it quickly reduced.
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Nov 3, 2019 12:03 AM CST
Name: Kat
Magnolia, Tx (Zone 9a)
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Results are different in different soils & depends on your rains. (Depends on your funguses.) In my area, it turns to oils and mush, or harbors the overwintering insects- and ants. It can be a really good thing, or something that causes problems in the soil. Good dirt has aeration, bad dirt can be a rock, or too fine to allow breakdown.
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Nov 4, 2019 12:29 PM CST
Name: stone
near Macon Georgia (USA) (Zone 8a)
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terwey53 said:Can I just bury my kitchen waste (not meat) directly into my raised garden beds? I don't have an area for a compost site nor do I want to purchase a bin.


I've dug trenches down the center of my raised beds and filled them with kitchen scraps... seemed to do fine.

A better plan is to toss those to the chickens, though. Seems like most urban folk are beginning to recognize the value of having a few hens...

when I compost on top of the ground... I pick a spot in the garden that especially needs improvement... just pile stuff there until time to turn that area under... bury whatever right there where I've been piling the compost... best growing spot in the entire garden!

Re bins...
Ditto what Sallymander said... don't bother.
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Nov 4, 2019 12:36 PM CST
Name: Paul
Utah (Zone 5b)
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I don't have a lot of kitchen waste but always bury it randomly where there is a place to dig a little hole. Worms love it.
Paul Smith Pleasant Grove, Utah
Avatar for denaeft
Nov 4, 2019 6:21 PM CST
Baltimore MD
Not healthy. Encourages rats.
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Nov 4, 2019 6:27 PM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
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Make sure that your waste is well chopped!
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Nov 4, 2019 6:33 PM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
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In my natural "soil", which is pretty much nothing but sand, chop kitchen waste in small chunks... I see no reason that it wouldn't work.
As I commented earlier, my neighbor seems to have great success! Just make sure it's well chopped! Thumbs up
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Nov 4, 2019 6:54 PM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
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If I'm not mistaken, @Paul2032 is in your neck of the woods...possibly/probably similar soil structure....
IMHO, go for it!
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Nov 4, 2019 7:18 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
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As they say, Your mileage may vary.. many variables here in climate, waste amounts and type, and size of garden
Plant it and they will come.
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Nov 6, 2019 2:38 AM CST
Name: Lynda Horn
Arkansas (Zone 7b)
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Rather than dig a hole in my garden beds, I sheet compost on the ground in the back yard in an out of the way corner. I lay a tarp on the ground that has ice pick size holes poked in it to allow water to run through it, put down a layer of topsoil, then start layering, alternating green and brown layers, sometimes adding a thin layer of topsoil or old potting soil. I tear up the newspaper in strips and cut up the paper towel and toilet paper center rolls. Most of my kitchen waste is chopped. Recently I have started adding chicken litter from a friends chicken coops. To turn it I just flip the tarp around. I use a sprinkling of 10-10-10 fertilizer after two to three layers. My pile does not smell, and there are lots of good bugs in the pile, in addition to night crawlers. Last spring I used this compost in a half and half combo with topsoil to plant in. Great results. My raised beds are narrow, and packed with plants. Digging holes in them would damage plant roots, so I top dress with compost every two years our so. Closed containers don't heat up enough, are hard to turn, and they stink!
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Nov 6, 2019 4:43 AM CST
Name: Karen
Southeast PA (Zone 6b)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
It will decompose quicker if you mix some brown parts into the green waste and place good loamy soil over it. The brown stuffs help to aerate the green stuffs and the good soil not only contains bacteria that will break down the waste but also allows air and water to get to the waste to speed up the decomposition.
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Nov 6, 2019 8:31 AM CST
Name: Lynda Horn
Arkansas (Zone 7b)
Eat more tomatoes!
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Karen, you are right. I use leaves in the fall. I was under the impression the newspaper and paper towel tubes were considered brown, am I wrong?
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Mother Teresa
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Nov 6, 2019 10:32 AM CST
South (Zone 8b)
We have done that exact thing (burying the kitchen waste) for 10 years. We have red clay soil & see a difference in it.
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Nov 6, 2019 10:59 AM CST
Name: Christie
Central Ohio 43016 (Zone 6a)
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i have never done it in the past, but just watched this video yesterday and now plan to try it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I will say, I did bury a rodent once, not wanting to throw it in the bin and attract maggots. About a year later I dug up that area to plant some flowers and there was no trace left of the rodent - not even any bones.. That area happens to be heavy with earthworms, so I expect they took care of the rodent.
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