Do you have a small balcony or a patio behind your apartment? It really doesn't take much space, and it doesn't smell if done right. But if you can't, you can't. You can safely put coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, banana peels, horse manure--basically anything that won't attract varmints. I tried crab innards one time, and the raccoons tore up everything getting to the crab stuff.

Most of my roses are in pots. I toss kitchen scraps into the pots no problem. I'd suggest that you only toss in fruits and veg. I've had tomato & pepper seeds germinate, so keep an eye on "seedy" things.

A little goes a long way. Wait until the previous item has broken down beyond recognition befor tossing something else in.

I admire you for balcony gardening.

What might be a good idea for you is to buy a blender solely to be used for "quick-composting". Any food waste you'd rather went into the garden (fruit/veggie peels, coffee grounds, etc.) than into the trash can be blended with just enough water to make a sort of "smoothie" for your potted plants. Breaking up the particle size of the kitchen scraps will make for faster decomposition. Just don't do any meat or dairy (eggshells are ok, though).

:-)

~Christopher

Thank ya'll so much for your help!! Between ya'll and the fruit/veggie forum, my first hear of gardening has been a blast and a great learning experience! I'm thinking a mix of used coffee grounds, eggs and banana peels for now to see how they like it. And the blender will be no problem, I've got basically 3, and one perfect for your idea Christopher!

Sereniti

Good luck, Sereniti. You will love the results. Because I don't hot compost, I had dozens of squash, cucumber, canteloupe seedlings, etc. pop up in the flower bed when I spread out the compost, but they were easily pulled.

Put a little much on top and just pull it back when you want to add the scraps and then cover it up again.