Composting

I just saw this thread and have not read any of it, so here is my [literally] ignorant post.

I set up a composting area when I first moved in here (3 open bins with chicken wire on 3 sides and an open front) and discovered that if I were to maintain the proper ratio of materials, I was gonna have to find some huge source of "nitrogen." I got no critters, and there is but so much lawn clippings (and that would be a lot of raking.) Everything else is in plentiful supply, but there's no way I could find enough nitrogen to build a pile of any real size.

I still have those bins set up, under 10 years of overgrowth.

 

There's nothing ignorant about that, @John Brunner. A large compost bin is not for everyone. As I mentioned somewhere in this thread, if I were just looking for compost to use in gardening, I'd probably just buy it. I end up buying some, anyhow. Mostly I compost as I do for two reasons: 1) to build up the level of the soil in my lawn, since it sits on coal ash; and 2) to reduce the number of trips that I have to make to the trash transfer station. Although I don't exactly hate the environment, I'm not particularly concerned about reducing the bulk that eventually finds it way to a landfill, but it does that too, I suppose.

 

I'm learning as I go along. As I mentioned, removing plastic packing tape before placing the boxes in the compost will be a big help. Since I still place full boxes of compostables into the compost pile, I have been replacing the plastic tape with paper masking tape, which will itself compost. Another thing I found is that a lot of handi-wipes and dryer sheets found their way into my compost, and that's a bad idea because I have to pick them out at the other end, and it is a lot easier not to put them in there, to begin with.

Also, the metal posts and fencing idea doesn't work long-term. The weight of the compost bent some of the posts, and one of them broke off at the base. Next time around, after I extend the slab, hopefully, this summer, I think I'll use thicker posts and I'll use rope or a thick string rather than the metal fencing.

A couple of experiments that I tried with the pile that I am currently harvesting were a failure, but not critical. I tried placing a full book onto the compost pile to see how much of it would compost. I suppose it all would eventually, but not as quickly as everything around it. So I tore the remaining pages out and placed them on top of the active pile. The other involved a bale of newspapers. My wife and I used to publish a statewide newspaper (All Maine Matters) and we have a lot of leftover bales of newspapers so I placed one of them onto the pile. Most of it composted from all sides of the bale, but it left a lot of it undone, so that went onto the active pile too.

 

So do you worry about "ratios" of material?

What do you use for sufficient nitrogen so the stuff breaks down? As I said, all I had was lawn clippings, and the effort-to-volume ratio just isn't there. Or don't you worry about it and just let whatever happens happen?

I'd compost to get a veggie garden going.

 

I compost everything compostable. Since I'm not using it for food gardens, and I don't have a strict time frame on the amount of time that it takes, I compost pretty much everything that will compost, except for stuff that is likely to be particularly smelly. The bulk of it is leaves, woodchips, shredded paper and cardboard, and food scraps. I use mostly compostable cat litter and that goes in there too. For that matter, since I'm using it for bulk, clay litter doesn't hurt either, as long as it's spread around. The only thing that I would change if I were using it for gardening is that I either wouldn't include the cat litter or I'd give it an extra year to compost, probably the former.

I don't know how much of this you read through, but there are several trees on my property, even without the ones that I cut down this year, so there are plenty of leaves. Plus, any weeds that I pull from around the yard go in the compost. Nitrogen isn't a problem here. Maybe a little bit in the winter, but leftover veggies go in the pile. The composting process would go quicker if I were to turn it over but that's way more work than I want to do. Placing cardboard boxes of compostables in the compost pile goes a way toward serving that purpose, as it introduces air to the center of the pile since the intact boxes compost more slowly than the loose stuff around it. I do turn some of the stuff over with a pitchfork once in a while, but mostly I let it do its thing. If I quit adding new stuff to the pile after a year, I guess it would take about two years to complete the composting process, but they are big piles.

 

Interesting.

Thanks for all that. I'll have to read your entire thread.
Leave it to me to stop putting things out to decay because I can't do it "right."

Maybe I'll clear that area out and try again. My grass (7 cleared acres) has got kind tall, so this might be a good time since I'll have some green stuff available.

 

I also use worms (vermicomposting), which I have discussed in a separate thread. All of the worms went out into the outdoor compost piles this spring and I'll start a new batch this fall. I probably won't buy any, but will start with a few from the compost pile.

 

As you can see, picking the pieces of tape and other non-compostable crap out of my compost pile is a chore, but it's one that shouldn't be as much of a problem in later compost piles. Otherwise, everything has composted nicely. There are also some uncomposted sticks and stuff from tree trimmings that I had added to the pile, and I am now cutting them down to much smaller pieces so that they will compost more quickly, as well. For my purposes, small pieces of wood are not a problem. This compost pile sits on a concrete slab. Once I finish cleaning it out, I am going to add another slab adjacent and connected to it, making it larger.

 

Yeh, sticks do not decay rapidly, but as you know, they provide air pockets. That's likely by design. Funny how it all fits together.

My stack (when I had it) is next to the woods, so was always intruded upon by vines and the encroaching tree line. I'd probably need my metal detector to find it.

 

That's why I put down a slab of concrete for this one. Still, I have some roots from nearby trees extending into it over the top of the concrete.

 

Okay, I finished harvesting the compost from my compost pile. Some of it, particularly where I tried composting entire books and bales of newspapers, wasn't done composting but I moved it to the gardens along the side fence, where it can finish on its own time.



The metal posts were a bad idea because two of them didn't survive and a third is barely standing, and won't be any good for anything. I haven't decided how I am going to deal with that in my new effort. Probably, I'll use wood posts sunk into the ground just outside the slab. Rather than making another, separate, compost pile, I think I'll just extend the slab for this one.

I want a woodchipper. Although it's not something I would use non-stop or anything, the cost of renting one for a day is half the cost of buying one, so I'm thinking of buying one. On the negative side, it might end up being like my snowblower, which I bought new, used for one winter, then haven't been able to get it to start since.

 

Okay, I'm ready to start composting again. When I got to the bottom of my last pile, I found that the first layer of boxes hadn't fully composted. Filled with shredded paper and cardboard, food scraps, paper towels, and other compostable stuff, I think the first layer may have compressed too much, against the concrete, depriving it of air. This time I am going to start with a layer of rotting wood, although perhaps I should call it composting wood because that sounds nicer. The layer of wood should allow the stuff above it to get enough air. I have a pile of old wood I need to get rid of, anyhow. Of course, I'll probably have field mice camping out in there for the winter, but they've got to live somewhere.



I put a couple of layers of old logs and wood on the bottom, drilling holes in most of them to accelerate their decomposition.

 

If I recall what I've read, rotting wood and twigs and branches do provide airflow throughout the pile.

And as you point out, it likely creates critter condos until the pile gets turned. Snakes will help serve the eviction notices.

 

I'm a little embarrassed about the wood frame. I had intended to use only string between the four posts but I didn't want to sink the posts into the ground, so I needed some wood to keep the whole thing from collapsing. Before the first snow, I hope to lay another slab right next to this one so that, once my other compost pile if completed, I can rotate between the two.