Composting

Composting Without Buying Anything. 

Recycle what you have and layer in variety. Compost builds healthy soil. Compost saves money on fertilizer, watering and reduces landfill piles. 

So here’s the step by step easy peasy tips and tricks to compost:

 CAGE

Make a cage to hold the compost pile vertical to allow air exposure, and easy to slip off and use the bottom soil.
Any farmer or junk collector has mesh gage wire in a junk pile that they can't give away. If you don't happen to hoard this go post on Craigslist or Freecycle and surely several souls will happily allow you to pick it up. Remember to bring gloves. I never seem to get them on my hands before I start although there's a pair in the back of the truck, in the mud room and garage.

This is best a 4 foot tall, or 5 if you are tall enough to handle it with a width of about three feet diameter. This should be easy for you to move on your own. I'm tiny but strong. Use your judgement as to maximum size. A compost heap taller than four feet and wider than five feet takes longer to cook and then you may need a back hoe... On the opposite scale if it is too low (needs height of three feet) it won't warm up. Natural heat burns the weed seeds and sterilizes the end product.

A fat column of compost that can be easily lifted or moved is my goal. I like a round one. Tie it with wire or ribbon or grocery store wire vegetable ties.Tie it with whatever you have in those craft bins in the garage or toolbox.

I'm speaking of  about the size of a narrow trash bin that your mother could lift. You can add a center empty column of mesh as a stovepipe chimney to allow air inside.

Welded wire used wire used fencing with posts and clamps that came from a rusty heap is great.

Picket fencing with wire inside will work, as will wooden stakes wire or tied together.
I've used sign posts and the wooden pickets from political signs after elections.
If you desire, it can be a pretty wattle fence but I prefer lightweight that I can handle.

LOCATION

Wattle is easy to weave and is attractive looking if you decide to put a bin close to your kitchen.

Why close to the kitchen? Because you bring vegetable scraps and coffee grounds out to add to the bin. Make it easy. If it's not simple you're going to give up. Not to worry much, if you go on vacation or get too busy the pile may cool and dry or become soggy in the rain. Begin again and think opposite of the problem is the fix. A bin should not lean up against house structure to attract bad critters inside.

I have chickens so mine allows them to snoop but not topple it over.

I have 3 compost bins, as I have acreage. One is small near the kitchen for coffee grounds, tea that steeped (without bag or string or staple) green vegetable peels and paper towels. Every month or so I move this to layer into the larger bins down on the meadow.

START

Ready to build the bin:

Clear an area of ground. Dig the soil loose about six inches. Lay some old logs that will fit inside the hoop. Place wire hoop on the soil around the logs. Put a center chimney of wire for air vent. Fill the donut ring with layers of different materials. Think lasagna. Cover the top to keep water in and my chickens who will be snooping out of the bin. Later I allow them to stir the mix about once a month I lift the wire, allow them to dig and stack it back. In the summer in three months the bottom will now be all dark rich soil and the pieces mostly unrecognizable.

Old wood logs form the base to hold moisture and make a footing frame for the compost then layers of leaves, grass and weed clippings, chicken manure, clippings of clover, egg shells, occasional un-printed paper goods torn up, small amounts of wood fire ash that has cooled  (a cup a week or less),

You can use any green or brown dry waste you have in balanced amounts- one part green and three of brown. Green is peels of cucumbers, slimy lettuce, old fruit, not citrus, grass, coffee or tea grounds. Brown is leaves shredded, weeds broken up, shredded paper that’s not color printed, dryer lint, and even wood chips (chips like all solid or larger pieces are slower to break down).

Waste from chickens, bunnies, herbivores such as hamsters, cattle, and less extent horses can be used to add nitrogen. These need a minimum of 190 days aging in the pile in warm weather.

In the meadow I have two compost bins- one I include weeds and the other is no weeds. I move the bins after each three/four month period. Below is rich soil with worms ready for planting.

WARNINGS

If compost smells like ammonia add a little soil and more brown or dry material.

Don’t shock the cooking pile with a huge quantity of one thing.

Keep damp not soggy.

In an urban area: you may ask neighborhood coffee shop to save the grinds, a Nektar store to save green peels, be creative. You are offering to pick up their trash and reduce the cost of dumping.

Raccoons and mice may be attracted to the smells. Because my chickens free range the mice fear the birds during the day. Also, my girls clean up the grubs a raccoon desires. Raccoons tear the whole thing apart looking for that one peach inside. I don’t use traps or poisons, just clean up the mess and thank them for stirring for me. Keep it organic.

Even though the center of my compost might be a hot 140 degrees I disturb it by allowing my chickens to rip through it for bugs. They eat the weed seeds, ants and bugs I don’t want. They also eat some of the worms and I guess I could modify this procedure but it gives them a wild party - joy that makes me laugh.

If someone sells you a plastic bin that has an electric spinner and the packs of clean straw and starter magic please refrain and send good money to the Salvation Army. I saw and advertisement on a Gardening website today that composting is a science, but not rocket science. Composting is easy.
If your pile is too dry, it will be slow, but no worries, it can be boosted by adding a layer of green. 1 part green 4 parts brown dry. Put a shovel of your regular soil, ground dirt on top and water the top to be like a sponge. Excess water runoff - use in a watering can as a fertilizer and pest control for existing plants. This is called compost tea.  too wet because you forgot to cover it in the rain? Add more dry brown leaves... 

Have fun composting

Caroline Gerardo copyright September 20 2017