Having
an ample supply of good rich compost is the gardener's dream. It
has many uses, and all of those uses will result in nicer plants.
However, composting can be time consuming and hard work. I place
a reasonable value on my time, so spending hours and hours turning
compost piles doesn't qualify as a worthwhile exercise, at least
in my book. Nonetheless, I do compost, but I do so on my terms.
I built two composting bins. Each bin is five feet wide, five
feet deep, and four feet high. I built the bins by sinking 4'
by 4' posts in the ground for the corners, and then nailed 2 by
4's and 1 by 4's, alternating on the sides. I left 2' gaps between
the boards for air circulation. The 2 by 4's are rigid enough
to keep the sides from bowing out, and in between each 2 by 4
I used 1 by 4's to save a little money. The bins are only 3 sided,
I left the front of the bins open so they can be filled and emptied
easily.
I started by filling just one of the bins. I put grass clippings,
dried leaves, and shrub clippings in the bins. I try not to put
more than 6' of each material on a layer. You don't want 24' of
grass clippings in the bin, you should alternate layers of green
and brown material. If necessary, keep a few bags of dry leaves
around so you can alternate layers of brown waste and green waste.
When we root cuttings we use coarse sand in the flats, so when
it's time to pull the rooted cuttings out of the flats, the old
sand goes on the compost pile. In or little backyard nursery we
also have some plants in containers that do not survive. Rather
than pulling the dead plant and the weeds out of the container,
and then dumping the potting soil back on the soil pile, we just
dump the whole container in the compost bin, this adds more brown
material to the mix, and is a lot easier than separating the soil
and the weeds.
Once the bin is full, the rules of composting say that you should
turn the material in the bin every few weeks. There is no way
that I have time to do that, so this is what I do. I pack as much
material in the bin as I can, before I start filling the second
bin. I pile the material as high as I possibly can, and even let
it spill out in front of the bin. Then I cover all the fresh material
with mulch or potting soil, whatever brown material I can find.
Then when I'm out working in the garden I set a small sprinkler
on top of the pile and turn it on very low, so a small spray of
water runs on the material. Since I have a good water well, this
doesn't cost me anything, so I let it run for at least two hours
as often as I can. This keeps the material damp, and the moisture
will cause the pile to heat up, which is what makes the composting
action take place.
Once I have the first bin completely full, I start using the second
bin. As the material in the first bin starts to break down, it
will settle, and the bin is no longer heaped up, so I just keep
shoveling the material that I piled in front of the bin, up on
top of the pile, until all the material is either in the bin,
or piled on top of the heap. Then I just leave it alone, except
to water it once in a while. The watering isn't necessary, it
just speeds the process.
Because I don't turn the pile, I can't expect all of the material
to rot completely. The material in the center is going to break
down more than the material on the edges, but most of it does
breakdown quite well.
The next step works great for me because I've got a small nursery,
so I keep a pile of potting soil on hand at all times. But you
can really do the same thing by just buying two or three yards
of shredded mulch to get started, and piling it up near your compost
bins. If you do this, you will always have a supply of good compost
to work with.
Shredded bark, left in a pile will eventually breakdown and become
great compost. The potting soil that I use is about 80% rotted
bark. I make potting soil by purchasing fine textured, and dark
hardwood bark mulch, and I just put it in a pile and let it rot.
The secret is to keep the pile low and flat, so that it does not
shed the rain water away, you want the mulch to stay as wet as
possible, this will cause it to breakdown fairly quick.
So I keep a pile of rotted bark mulch near my compost bins. When
both bins are completely full, I empty the bin containing the
oldest material by piling it on top of my rotted bark mulch. I
make sure the pile of rotted mulch is wide and flat on top so
that when I put the material from the compost bin on top of the
pile, the compost material is only 5 to 10 inches thick. My mulch
pile might be 12' wide, but it may only be 24 to 30 inches high.
Once I have all the compost on top of the pile, then I go around
the edge of the pile with a shovel, and take some of the material
from the edges of the pile and toss it up on top of the pile,
covering the compost with at least 6' of rotted bark. This will
cause the compost material to decompose the rest of the way.
Once you get this system started, you never want to use all of
the material in the pile. Always keep at least 2 to 3 cubic yards
on hand so you've got something to mix with your compost. If you
use a lot of compost material like I do, then you should buy more
material and add to your pile in the late summer or fall, once
you are done using it for the season. Around here many of the
supply companies sell a compost material that is already broken
down quite well. This is what I buy to add to my stock pile. But
I try to make sure that I have at least 3 yards of old material
on hand, then I'll add another 3 yards of fresh material to that.
Then in the spring I'll empty one of the compost bins and add
the compost to the top of the pile.
The pile of usable compost will be layers of material, some more
composted than others. Kind of like a sandwich. So what I do is
chip off a section of the pile from the edge, spread it out on
the ground so it's only about 8' deep, then run over it with my
small rototiller. This mixes it together perfectly, and I shovel
it onto the potting bench.
Having a pile of rotted compost near your compost bins is great
because if you have a lot of leaves or grass clippings, you can
throw some rotted compost in the bin in order to maintain that
layered effect that is necessary in order for the composting process
to work well.
Sure this process is a little work, but it sure is nice to have
a place to get rid of organic waste anytime I like. Then down
the road when I have beautiful compost to add to my potting soil,
I am grateful to have done the right thing earlier, and I know
that I have wasted nothing.
If you
have questions for Mike McGroarty visit his website, http://www.freeplants.com
and post them on the message board where you can learn lots of gardening
tips and communicate with other gardeners. While at his website you
can learn how to start your own profitable backyard nursery. If you
would like a copy of Mike's booklet, "The Secret of Growing Landscape
Plants from Scratch", send $4.00 to: Garden Secrets, P.O. Box 338,
Perry, Ohio 44081
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