Composting

I am going to build a lean-to in order to get my tractor out of my garage, but the line to my well runs through there, so I can't sink post holes. Somehow, it's gonna be surface mounted.

 

The overhang that is basically an extension of the roof (with no sides) is what I have in mind:



I'm going to put one at the back of my garage, and the roof of it is gonna start below the roof line of my garage (it won't be as tall.)

There are other stand-alone designs as well. Some are open, some have sides:






Pretty generic (unspecific) term, huh?

This is more of what I was thinking, with the raised end of the roof line (and that side) butting against the back of my garage so as to provide a shield from the wind...sort of an unattached wall:

 

Now, what I could use are some big boxes to go on the sides, so I guess I'll have to start ordering stuff from Amazon.

 

We had a frost last night. Fortunately, the tomatoes were picked beforehand and the green ones that were left will ripen indoors. The plants, meanwhile, will make for a good compost starter. This time around, I am going to try to keep meat scraps out of the compost. Although they will compost just fine, the raccoons make a mess out of things. There may be less of that if I keep the meat out of it.

 

Your meat comment made me go look at the compost info I've kept. I always thought "they" said to keep it out of the heap because of what it breaks down into. But as you said, it composts fine:

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I knew that sufficient pile heat would kill seeds and other reproductive plant parts (so when you use the compost you're not introducing those plants everywhere the compost is applied), but didn't remember that pile heat would cause meat to sufficiently decay.

I'm surprised the meat in your pile has not brought in bear. Perhaps they hibernate more deeply in your part of the country.

 

A layer of mostly rotted wood, a layer of greens, a partial layer of boxes filled with compostables, and another layer of greens. The leaves are starting to fall here so there will be plenty of them to cushion the pile with before the winter comes, and for it to get large enough for compost worms to survive in the center. During the winter, my compost pile gets some greens from table scraps and stuff that has gone bad in the refrigerator, but it mostly consists of shredded paper, paper towels, and cardboard. When things work right, there's a little bit of composting going on throughout the winter but the pile mostly just gets higher and higher, much of it being accumulated snow and ice, which melts in the spring.

 

I put my old compost pile to bed for the winter. Hopefully, I'll be able to get rid of that one by the end of next summer.

 

Yes, I started a lingonberry patch along one side of my yard, but extended garden areas along both sides, taking up two or three feet from the fence on both sides. I added compost, soil, and peat moss to the area where the new lingonberry plants are and to an extended area, giving them space to expand, but I have shoveled the compost from my last pile into the rest of it, some of which wasn't fully composted, because I don't have immediate plans for it. So, I still have room for more compost there. Plus, I have decided that I am going to terrace the space beween my backyard and the railroad tracks. Nothing fancy, just laying down some logs and filling the space in between with compost and soil. Otherwise, the steep drop-off from the railroad bed washes everything to the center. That's probably what I'll use the compost from my oldest pile for. After that, I can still use compost to build up the soil in my yard. So yeah, I'll be using it. There are plenty of worms in both of my compost piles, as well as in the beds that I laid out along the sides of the yard, and I'll have a new crop of them in the spring.

This is the first time I have tried covering my compost pile during the winter. I have covered it for a week at a time, or for a couple of weeks, and it seems to help moving things along. Covered for the winter, I am thinking that there will be more actual composting going on throughout the winter, as the temperatures won't be as cold.

 

There's plenty of leaves available right now. There are several boxes of compostibles buried within the leaves.