Commercial Composting

Compost

Organic fertilizer for the garden

A complete guide to hassle-free composting. It's good for the environment and it's good for your garden.

Youve heard about composting. Its making a big pile of yard and kitchen waste in a big, smelly, unsightly compost heap out in the yard, and then turning it over to get the composted soil from the bottom, and then mixing that compost in to your garden. Sure, you know that the compost is really, really good for conditioning your garden soil and adding organic material and nutrients. And its really good for the environment, because otherwise all that stuff ends up trucked to a landfill. Composting is a sustainablepractice that reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers so you dont need to worry about gradually poisoning your soil with chemical residue. But, listen, you and I both know that a sprawling compost heap is really ugly in your yard, smells bad, and can get all moldy. The heat generated by the decomposing material can attract snakes. Kitchen scraps attract skunks and all manner of vermin in the night, and, last but not least, its a whole lot of work. So, all in all, a good idea, but composting is just not worth the aggravation. Right? Well, what if I told you that we could eliminate every single one of those objections and preserve all the benefits? The good news is thats exactly what Im telling you. Let me show you how.

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Controlling Odors and Mold

Keeping the Yard Pretty While Composting

Compost Tumblers

Nobody wants a big pile of decomposing plant material in their yard. This is another reason to use a compost tumbler. A compost tumbler is a barrel or other canister-shaped container that can be spun about its axis to aerate and mix the composting materials. It also keeps the composting materials out of site. In my opinion, compost tumblers are the easiest, lowest maintenance, most effective, and most attractive option available. I use compost tumblers in my own yard. I recommend using two. When one compost tumbler gets near full, stop adding new material and switch to the other one. Give the first tumbler another 3-4 weeks and then pour out the finished compost and spread it into your garden. Tumblers can reduce the time it takes to make finished compost from a full season to just a few short weeks! Here are some pictures of compost tumblers (scrollabout halfway down the page).

Compost Bins

In addition to compost tumblers, there are a number of other bins designed to accelerate decomposition and help keep your compost materials tidy and out of sight. Some of these bin-type composters contain individual sliding drawers so that you drop your fresh materials in the top and pull your finished compost out of the bottom drawer when its ready. Others have slide-out slats in side to allow you to get in and shovel finished compost from the bottom of the contained pile. There are a variety of shapes and colors. Depending on the model you may need to provide some manual aeration by using a shovel or pitchfork to turn over the composting material from time to time. When using the larger open-bin models, you should take care to turn fresh materials so there is always a layer of older materials on top. My personal preference is for tumbler style composters, but for larger capacity operations, using one or more larger bins may be a more cost effective option than adding more tumblers.

Keeping Animals Away

Any of the above ground composters (whether bin and drawer or tumbler type) will keep snakes from being attracted by the heat of decomposing material. For some of the on ground bin types, this might still be an issue. The key to keeping other vermin from being attracted to your compost pile, is to make sure that you dont put things in it that will attract them. Never put any meat scraps or oils into the compost heap. These things are very high in energy for their volume so they make very efficient foods for most animals. As a result, they will go to great lengths to find and get at them. Theses items will also cause strong odors in your compost which acts as a long-distance calling card for animals. Keeping the right mixture of nitrogen rich and carbon rich materials keeps the odors away and helps keep the animals away as well. As I mentioned earlier, if the composting material starts to smell, just make sure it is properly aerated and mix in some more carbon-rich material such as shredded paper, sawdust, or dried leaves. Using tumblers or bins that make it physically impossible (or nearly so) for animals to get into the compost is another benefit of these types.

Too Much Work?

So, bottom line, composting sounds like a good idea, and Ive told you how to avoid the typical issues that can come up to make it a less pleasant experience, but youre afraid that this is one of those things that you try and after a few weeks you just dont keep up with it and you stop because you just dont have the time or energy to put in the work. I really cant stress enough how easy this is. If you use a compost tumbler, you just spin it every couple of days, and dump the finished compost out and spread it into your garden as infrequently as once or twice a year (or more often at your discretion, depending upon how much compost you need). Its much easier than those Six Minute Abs you paid for a few years ago! From start to finish it works something like this:

As you're preparing dinner in the kitchen, you toss compostable things like potato peels, apple cores, wilted lettuce (without salad dressing), even egg-shells, into a separate little bucket reserved for that purpose. This can be any bucket or container you have on hand or one of the specially designed, and attractive kitchen buckets shown at the bottom of this page. Then once a week or whenever youre heading out to the garden, you take the bucket with you and empty it into the composter. A quick rinse with the garden hose, and just let it dry while you do your other gardening before bringing it back keeps everything neat and clean. When you mow the lawn or rake the leaves in the fall, the clippings or leaves go into the composter, easier than bagging and hauling to the dump by a long shot. When you weed the garden or thin out your spring plantings, drop them into the composter. Give the tumbler a couple of quick spins every couple of days to keep it aerated and to mix the old and new materials. When the tumbler starts to get full or when you're preparing your garden for planting (or cleaning out the garden in the fall) just slide a tarp under the tumbler, remove the cover, and tip it over to let the compost fall onto the tarp. Drag the tarp to your garden and spread the rich dark compost onto your garden. In the spring or before you plant, just turn it into the soil to mix it up. And thats all there is to it. If you use compost regularly, you dont need to drive down to the local garden shop to buy, and then apply commercial fertilizers for your garden. Compost will turn poor unproductive soil into rich, fertile garden loam over time. Each year your garden will get better and better and produce higher yields. Although, you can still, as I do, use a liquid fertilizer that sprays on with your garden hose, if you like, as many plants will benefit by absorbing the nutrients directly through their leaves.

How to Avoid Screwing it All Up

So, whats the short list of things I shouldnt do if I want to compost?

1) Never add any meat products or oils to the compost bin.

2) Dont let the compost stay too wet for very long.

3) Dont forget to add both nitrogen-rich materials (like lawn clippings, weeds, and kitchen scraps) and carbon-rich materials (like autumn leaves, saw dust, or shredded paper).

4) Dont spend too much time fussing with the composter unless theres an obvious problem.

How do I Know Anythings Going on in There?

So, you think youve done everything right, but how do you know if all the stuff youve put into your composter is actually turning into usable compost? Well, the action of decomposition creates heat. So, if the process is working, the composting material should be significantly warmer than the air temperature. In fact, the composting materialshould reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit or more, depending upon the speed with which the decomposition process is occurring. If your compost is not warmer than the ambient temperature about 24 hours after its last tumble (or other aeration), then its probably not decomposing properly. If the outdoor temperature is very cold, this can slow or stop the decomposition process (like keeping fresh food in the refrigerator or freezer). So, in really cold weather, dont worry about it. If the weather is warm and you still dont have a temperature increase in the compost, then you probably need to do something. Lack of proper decomposition can be caused by lack of aeration. Make sure you are spinning your compost tumbler, turning over your on-ground bin contents, or properly following the directions on your drawer type composting bin. Second, too much carbon (or too little nitrogen, depending upon your point of view) can slow or stop the process as well. Try mixing in more grass clippings, kitchen vegetable waste, weeds, or other similar nitrogen-rich material to your compost. Thirdly, you may have added something that isnt compatible with composting. If you have used plant materials with pesticides, or have added heavy fertilizer content, too much lime, salt, or anything that might inhibit microbial growth, this could be the problem. As a last resort, empty and rinse the composter and start again.

I Have More Free Time than Money, How do I Build my own Compost Tumbler?

This is fairly easy, things youll need: Some stout scrap wood (4 x 4 works best) including at least two pieces about 4 feet long, depending upon the size of the barrel you have roughly 16-20 feet altogether. A plastic barrel that you can drill holes through and a fitted cover preferably one that screws on as it will need to hold the weight of the contents inside when you spin the barrel. A length of strong metal rod or pipe that will support the weight of the barrel nearly filled with dirt without bending ideally threaded at both ends so you can add nuts to stop it from sliding off the frame. Large nails, screws, or bolts to hold the wooden support assembly together. The bottom supports in the picture below are too short. They're roughly 30 inches long, and the composter tends to fall over when it spins since the centrifugal force displaces the center of gravity well beyond the outside of these supports. I recommend going no less than 4 feet long with these bottom pieces (depending upon the size of your barrel). Our barrel is roughly 35-40 gallons. Here are the pictures, don't shortcut ANY of the supports. A half full barrel of compost is a fairly large dynamic load when it's tumbling. Scrimping on wood or effort means it will be likley to fall apart and could be dangerous. All diagonal supports are at 45 degree angles.

Which brings us to the disclaimers. This isheavy weight that moves and can fall over even if built correctly and correctly placed on a level surface. Stand to the side when tumbling. Be prepared forthe compost tumblerto fall over. It shouldhappen very rarely, or never, if built with long enough supports, but be ready, just in case. Most of the pieces shown here are 4 x 4 lumber. Don't use anything less strong. If you make the diagonal supports longer, it will be more stable. You should stain or use a wood preservative coating on the wooden pieces of your compost tumbler every year or two as needed. Replace any wood that becomes weak or rotten. Make sure the cover on your compost barrel is FIRMLY attached before tumbling. Screw-on covers work best.

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