Ah compost, the original reduce-reuse-recycle undertaking. All that dragging the garden trimmings and young weeds around the yard, on a tarp, in a wheelbarrow, in a huge garden tote. How ever. We’re recycling solar energy into our garden, just add time and water and bingo: brown gold. Well, almost.
Actively deciding to make compost has been so much better for us and our garden than the olde days when we used to dutifully take all the garden debris to the landfill. We didn’t resign ourselves to it, if you want results, you have to actively decide, and put the energy into the circuit somewhere.
We put our energy in at the beginning, getting the piles set up right, so that they can more or less perk along on their own, with only the occasional input from us. We are not folks who view compost as an avocation. We don’t turn.
Finished compost takes from one month to two seasons, depending upon when it’s started. Still, pretty good for a found materials compost bin… We make a lot of use of cardboard in the pile, to help maintain moisture (because we have lots of cardboard, mostly).
We generally get 12 to 24 cubic feet of sifted, finished compost suitable for seedlings per pile. More if you count the chunky stuff that’s suitable as a mulch for perennials and trees.
In the olde days, we kept the kitchen and garden piles completely separate–and nothing ever completed the cycle! Now, we add a bucket of kitchen compost about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the yard pile. And conversely, we add 3 to 6 inches of dry grasses on top of each bucketful of kitchen trimmings put into the lidded compost bins.
This keeps the smell down, and makes sure that the yard compost is not too high in carbon, and that the kitchen compost is not too high in nitrogen. If they’re out of balance, they won’t progress toward finished, usable compost.
Notes:
- We alternate two 2-gallon buckets with lids for collecting kitchen trimmings, coffee grounds, etc.
- We do keep the kitchen and garden compost separate, as we like to secure the kitchen trimmings against raccoons and such. But, we do use some of each in the other. For instance, some kitchen compost in the garden pile to increase N and add decomposer critters–and vice versa, some garden compost in the kitchen bin to control odor, add C and provide some insulation.
- No seeds unless you really like those grasses/plants.
- Generally you want a C:N ratio of about 3-5 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Don’t sweat it, ballpark is fine.
- C (carbon) also known as “browns”, but not all brown is C. Our poultry bedding while brown is quite high in N.
- N (nitrogen) also known as “greens”, but not all N is green.
- Why should you care about all this C & N crap? Too much nitrogen and your pile will be less likely to progress and more likely to smell. Too much C and your pile will just sit there.
- Water helps, but balancing C:N is key. We use landscape fabric to help maintain pile moisture while still allowing water to percolate in, should it rain.
- Tarps are great, but they don’t allow water to get in to the pile, meaning you’ll have to use your time to add water to the pile.
Grow Your Bliss 