Composting made easy in 1,007 pages or less

[boggybranch]

I am a "nut" about composting....just something about taking raw material and turning it into "soil" that fasicinates me.
But when I started seeking info about it....I was dumb-strucked and confused...UNTIL..I got a copy of "The Complete Book of Composting" put out by Rodale. (got my copy off eBay, it is OOP)
It cotains 1.007 pages (incl, the index) and answers ANY and ALL questions, imaginable, about the subject.

 

[digitS']

I don't find composting all that complex. I can make it so, if'n people are bored. And, they can take it right into chemical analysis and leave me scratching my head, too.

I deal with compost in 3 ways - all of them cold, cold, cold. No way am I going to move more weight at the end of a stick (turning with a pitch fork) than is necessary. Besides, if it takes me a year or 2 to make compost, I've always been around to make use of it then. Why hurry? It's money in the bank.

I won't call this composting, so it doesn't count as 1 of the 3 ways: But, the simplest way that I deal with compostable material is to dig a hole (oops, there's that moving weight at the end of a stick ) and bury it in the garden. I just dug a hole (thru mud and a 2" layer of ice) and buried the contents of 2, 5-gallon buckets of kitchen scraps. It just happened that we had a week-long thaw that made this possible - thankfully.

#1 - In October, I pulled plant material out of some of the garden beds, dug out a bed or 2, and buried that "stuff" - nothing high-tech there . I like to use the material from a couple of beds for each bed dug to a depth of 8-10 inches. That allows me to prepare those 8-10 inches of soil for planting next year. Usually, I fertilize and put plant starts in that ground and the plants can grow for months without sending their roots into the composting material beneath them.

#2 - A somewhat more "conventional" composting method is to drag a lot of plant material to that trench. I will pile it 6 feet high, with added organic or synthetic fertilizer, and capped with the soil that was previously dug. This amounts to a long, narrow compost pile. The soil is layered in with the fertilizer.

This pile will sit in the garden for 1 season, untouched. The following year, I like to plant something that likes this sort of thing, like sunflowers or winter squash in that soil on top. The 3rd year, it's back to being a fertile garden bed.

#3 - My 3rd composting method is a fairly conventional, bin method. I've got a concrete block bin about 6 feet by 12 feet, divided into 2 piles. Most of the material in that bin is piled in there in October. I mix in cow manure as it is piled.

This year, I used the pile from 2007. The side with 2008 material just sat there. Sometimes I plant basil on it .

For all sorts of things, I like the gardening information Purdue University provides us. Here's a 5 page pdf.

Steve :tools

ETA: for all future difficult composting questions, expect us to turn to you for answers, Boggy!

 

[boggybranch]

Yep...it surely can be made complicated....once read that you can make composting as easy or hard to make, as you want.
While I prefer to make "hot" piles, right now I have a large "cold" compost pile going.
"Hot" piles are just a challenge and I really like to see the material breakdown quickly....like I said, it's just fascinating to me....course, I've been told that it doesn't take much to amuse me. LOL

 

[SandRun]

I finally finished my compost bins in early November. It took quite awhile, but that was mainly because I decided to use materials that basically cost me nothing. My posts were from dead Black Locust trees, and I used fallen limbs and a few other dead tree limbs and trees as my walls. My only real cost was screws and beer for my Dad's help. It's a 3 bin "system" with fresh materials in the first bin, half finished in the middle bin and finished compost in the third bin. The first bin has a gate on the front that i built with scrap pine boards and willow shoots from around my pond.

They bins are 6ft wide (so I can get my tractor's front loader in to turn the piles), 5ft from front to back, and about 40" inches tall. As I get more fallen limbs I'll add more to the first bin's wall height. Tell me what you think...

 

[digitS']

. . . mechanized handling is NO FAIR!

Steve's digits

Welcome to TEG, SandRun !

Steve

 

[boggybranch]

Sure looks like a great set up to me. The pic looks like you built it on "a slope"......good idea for dainage............Oh yea....and what digitS said. LOL

 

[obsessed]

I like your bins! but I agree that the mechanized machines are no fair... I only have a dull pitch fork....

 

[SandRun]

Had enough of the pitchfork, diesel is the only way to go in my opinion. Much faster and thorough. Thanks for the positive comments. I didn't have much of a choice when it came to the slope of the land since my entire 7 acres slopes in one direction or another