New York Renovator

From time to time, I like to feature a guest post when someone has something informative to offer and when I’m too lazy busy to write anything. This guest post about compost bins is brought to you by the cool dudes at NatureMill Compost Bins.

Making Energy Efficient NatureMill Compost Bins A Priority In Your Home

Despite all our best go green efforts in this country, food recycling still needs a healthy boost into our collective consciousness. Even though food represents one of the easiest recyclable resources, nearly half of all solid trash collecting in our landfills is in the form of food waste. To some, the process of composting seems labor intensive and it’s thought this is why food recycling isn’t more of a priority. Other homes admit being deterred by the apparent contradiction of utilizing electric compost bins and draining the earth’s natural resources in an effort to repurpose food waste.

Green Model Compost Bins: An Eco-Friendly Must Have

Fortunately, simplifying the composting process with an electric compost bin and preserving our world’s precious natural resources can work together side by side. Choosing an energy efficient compost bin from NatureMill minimizes the compost bin’s environmental impact with designs that run on fewer than 5 watts of power every day. The compost bin ensures the most efficient composting process for your home. With a typical expense of less than $.50 each month, it’s easy to see how a NatureMill compost bin can revamp the way your family views composting.

This is the final post in my How to Start a Compost series. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 to get up to speed. I’ve already covered the essential compost general guidelines, some sage compost advice, and instructed you ow to build a simple Wire Bin. Now, I’m going to throw some lists at you.

What to Do When Your Compost is Ready:
• Your compost should be ready in 12-14 months. This can really vary a lot, depending on what you put in there, how often you turned it, how wet the weather has been, etc. But 1 year is a general estimate.
• I always start a new compost pile in the spring, so that when I am ready to start next year’s garden, the compost is ready. You can add the compost to your garden beds either at spring tilling time, or fall tilling time. (I don’t do fall tilling, by the way).
• Prepare your garden beds: pull out the weeds, the rocks, etc.
• Grab your shovel and wheelbarrow and shovel out the compost from the bin. The humus should be loamy and rich-looking.
• Dump the compost into the garden. Spread evenly. Roto-til or hand turn the garden soil. Water lightly.
• That’s it! Plant your garden when you’re ready.

The composted compost (called humus) is dark, rich, and loamy.

What to Add to a Compost Pile:
• Any household vegetable food waste, such as: carrot tops, discarded vegetable peels, wasted vegetables that the kids refused to eat, etc etc
• Eggshells
• Coffee grounds, leftover tea, or coffee
• Dryer lint
• Hair. Yes, hair! Spread it out well so it won’t clump in the pile. You can even add your fingernail clippings… if you want…
• Grass clippings. Make sure the grass is not loaded with pesticides or chemicals.
• Leaves, they are full of nitrogen.
• Earthworms. Have the kids dig them up and plop them in. Earthworms love coffee, by the way. They are wonderful critters!

What NOT to Add to a Compost Pile:
• Meat waste
• Newspapers (some ink has chemicals may disrupt the happy bacteria revelry)
• Dog and cat food (contains meat and preservatives)
• Corn cobs (they take FOREVER to compost!!)
• Peach pits (see corn cobs)
• Weeds! (They will germinate in the rich soil and you will wind up planting them in your garden next year)
• Milk products– no cheese, yogurt, milk, nothing.
• Oils (vegetable, grease, etc)
• Bones
• Silverware (can you believe that we actually find forks and spoons in the compost pile?! All the kids say they have NO IDEA how silverware gets in there! :S hmm)

So there you have it! Composting can be pretty fun. Sure, you’re getting your hands dirty, and it’s not like you’re digging for wholesale diamonds. But just think of how happy you are making the worms, the bacteria, the garden plants! And think of happy you will be when you sink your teeth into those luscious tomatoes that thrived in such rich soil.

Humus is tilled in to the bed, bed is weeded and raked, and ready for seeds.

Thanks for reading! Happy composting.

Starting a new garden? Got a limpid garden? Do you have weak, impoverished soil? Boy oh boy, do I have news for you! It’s time to play in the dirt! Compost is fun, folks! In case you missed the riveting Part 1 in this series, go ahead and read it.

This post is going to be How to Make a Wire Bin, and will be filled with tips and stories of what’s worked for me these years. First, you’ve gotta getta bin.

The Wire Bin
WHAT YOU NEED
Hammer
Shovel
Heavy-duty gloves
Tin snips or cable cutters
Four metal garden stakes or 2 x 4 posts**
Chicken wire, about 15 feet length or so
Twine or heavy-duty garden twisty ties for stakes, or metal staples for posts

Your Wire Bin will probably look a lot neater.

Of course, you can go much fancier, but don’t you really want to get a compost going right now? Sure, you do. Throw together a quick bin and get the compost going. Then you can start constructing your St. Peter’s Basilica of Compost Bins later, and take your time at it. Compost takes about a year to get ready, so time is of the essence.

1. Stake out an area in your yard that receives sun for at least half the day. Hammer the four stakes in the shape of a square. If you have a large yard with a lot of leaves and grass clippings to add, each side of the square should be approximately 4 to 5 feet, with a stake at each corner.

2. Starting at one stake, take the twisty tie and secure the chicken wire to the stake. Or, if you are using wooden posts, tack the wire onto the post using the staples. Go all the way around the square.

3. Now, you can leave the front part of the square open, as I do, or you can loosely secure the wire to the front for easy access later. Just keep in mind that in a year, you need to get all the stuff OUT of the bin.

4. Dump in your waste. Experts say it’s best to try to layer the stuff: leaves, then grass clippings, then food waste. etc. I do not layer. I just dump *whatever* in. It’s been working so far. This is nature we’re talking about– it’s well able to what it needs to do without much pampering from a human.

5. You can add stuff like compost starter to the mix, if you want. But a shovelful of garden soil or cow manure will do. The purpose for this is to give the compost a little kick-start with that wonderful aerobic bacteria that will be making your waste into humus (prepared compost). I have never added anything, and have done fine. The garden soil is a good idea, and I’ll be trying that this year.

**Do not use pressure-treated wood. PTW is coated with chemicals (such as arsenic) that will leach into the soil and into your vegetables.

Tips for a Really Good Compost Pile:
• Add earthworms to your pile. Earthworms are marvelous for compost. They help aerate the mix and their, uh, poop, is a great addition to any compost pile!
• During dry spells, water the compost pile. Just a little.
• Every month or so, turn the mix over, or stir it up best you can. I actually NEVER do this, because the pile is so heavy. My compost turns out OK. But turning may help make the compost decompose quicker. Use a shovel or pitchfork to mix the waste. Watch out for innocent earthworm bystanders.
• Add only vegetable matter to the mix, never meats, fats, or grease. This will disrupt the bacteria revelry going on. And meats and grease may attract skunks, raccoons, and rats.

Gardens love compost!

In the next and final installment is this series, I’ll talk about what to add to your compost bin, and what NOT to add, and what to do when you finally have your compost ready for adding to the garden. Thanks for reading!

If you have a garden, a compost is important. If you are a tightwad like me, and don’t like buying expensive fertilizers, bagged compost, and peat moss every year, a compost pile is REALLY important.

Compost is just a fancy word for decomposed waste. Or, as Wikipedia says, “a combination of decomposed plant and animal materials and other organic materials that are being decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition into a rich black soil.” Right. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

My garden at planting time, last year.

My garden thrives after amending with compost.

I have “maintained” a compost pile for a few years now. I say “maintained” in quotes because it’s been largely trial and error for me. Everybody makes it look SOOO easy– and indeed it is, kinda– but you have to do it right, or it won’t work. Me– I don’t like babysitting the compost pile; I have so much to do that turning the blasted 200-pound pile over every week never gets done. So I’ll tell you about my woes and wins, and throw a few tips in, as well. Here goes:

• You do not need to buy ANYTHING. Nothing. Don’t believe anyone who says otherwise! You do NOT need that fancy $500 hand-cranking bin, nor the $50 compost starter mix, nor the nice $100 pitchfork. You may buy things if you want. A compost can be a hole in the ground, if you want. Most people like things a little neater (including me) but don’t think that you need to spend a fortune even for that. Keep reading…
• The compost will not smell bad if you are doing it right. Compost is decaying organic matter, and it needs a few things to decay properly. I call it the Big Three: oxygen, moisture, and friendly compost-making bacteria similar to those septic tank cleaner bacteria critters. If you have too much moisture, or not enough oxygen, it will smell. Believe me, it will smell.
• The compost bin should be in a sunny area of the yard, in a convenient area near the garden.
• You can keep your compost going all year ’round, or only in the warm months. I do it only in the warm months, because my son dislikes hauling the compost bucket from the kitchen to the backyard in 3 feet of snow every night. Sheesh. lol.
• You need a healthy assortment of waste: “green” waste like grass clippings; “brown” waste like leaves and topsoil; “food” waste from the house.
• Compost ONLY vegetable matter. Do not compost bones, meat, fat, grease, etc. These will disrupt that friendly bacteria that you will soon covet– they are vegetarians, ok?
• You will learn to love earthworms, and get to know their favorite foods.

OK! Let’s get started! First, you need a compost bin, or a place to dump your loot. I have used the “dump” method as well as a variety of bins. In the next post, I’ll show you how to build a quick and easy bin. Here’s a rundown of the various compost bin styles:

• The Hole:
  Very ugly. Tends to get quite soggy. Not recommended, but in a compost emergency, it’ll do.
• The Pile:
  Like The Hole, it’s ugly and messy. But effective. I have The Pile in the back– it’s full of weeds, discarded garden waste, small twigs, etc. It takes a long, long time to decompose. I’m still waiting, actually. The bigger the waste, the longer the wait. There’s a family of rabbits living in there right now. You can create a Pile if you don’t want to use a bin. The Pile works well if you include the Big Three. The main problem (besides ugliness) with The Pile is that the food waste may attract unfriendlys, like rats, raccoons, and other unsavory critters. I only throw large garden waste in The Pile, no food waste.
• The Wooden Bin:
  I have a wooden bin. I threw it together. It once had a lid, but that decayed after a few winters, and I never replaced it. The bin can be constructed of pallets or plain old 2 x 4s. The Wooden Bin is nice because it keeps critters away (if the slats are narrow enough) and allows for enough oxygen to pass through the mix. It’s very tough to turn over, though. Ugh. Note: do not use pressure-treated lumber for your compost bin. More on that later.
• The Plastic Bin:
  I use this mostly, right now. It’s not the greatest. I have one large plastic garbage can and two 35-gallon Rubbermaid totes. I drilled holes in the sides and top, but even then, there really isn’t enough oxygen. I sprayed water in them, and the water wouldn’t seep out, so they got waterlogged. The bins are very convenient– compost is easy to turn, and the bins have lids, but the lack of oxygen and the water retention problem makes it a bummer. You can buy one of those expensive plastic bins designed specifically for composts, if you want. I have not tried them. I assume, like Little Tykes toys, that they would fade over time and look awful. But they may work.
• The Wire Bin:
  In my opinion, this is THE BEST choice. All I did was plug a few metal garden posts into the ground and wrap chicken wire around them. There’s plenty of oxygen, and there’s as much moisture as the surrounding area– and when there’s too much, the extra seeps out through the wire– and it’s relatively easy to turn over.

The Wire Bin works best for me.

I have heard lots of opinions on when your compost should be garden-ready. There’s some “instant compost” flukes out there that I have heard about. I don’t know about them. It generally takes a year for me. I start this year’s compost for use next year. I always spread the compost before spring tilling time. I have a huge yard, with loads of leaves, grass clippings, and kids who eat a lot of veggies. So your mileage may vary. All I know is that a compost is usually ready in 12-14 months. So you’d better get going!

Compost soil, also known as humus, is rich, black, and loamy. It should smell earthy, not like sewage or mildew.

The rich humus of compost contrasting with the brown topsoil.

So this ends the Part 1 of How to Start a Compost. In the next articles, I’ll show you how to construct a Wire Bin, give some tips, and show you what to do with your composted humus when you have it.

Well, we’ve raked the yard twice so far, and most of the leaves are still on the trees yet. We have a half-acre of yard boasting 10+ deciduous trees (plus, there’s a 100 year-old oak next door whose leaves we usually get)… that’s a LOT of raking. I can’t believe I used to do most of it myself when we first moved here! Thank God for teenagers!

Since burning leaves is forbidden in our township, the town comes through twice a month with their industrial-sized vacuum, and slurps up all the leaves that residents have piled by the curb. We get so many leaves that we do take advantage of this service, but for the other half of the leaves, I compost them for the gardens. It’s an easy, VERY cheap way to fortify your garden soil with all sorts of yummy nutrients!

Composting leaves doesn’t take a fancy bin, either. All you need to do is drive four metal stakes into the ground, [...]

What a lousy year for gardening. It seems I’m not alone– a lot of you gardening bloggers are also bemoaning the soggy spring, cold summer, and lackluster crops. I managed to pull out a big turnip and a few snowpeas, but so far NO eggplant, just ONE pepper, ONE zucchini, and ONE tomato (out of two plants)! Awful! Terrible! My local weatherman recently said out of the past 30 days, it’s rained for 20 of them!

ANYWAY, I’m still gardening. We’re turning our attentions away from our miserable vegetable gardens (hey, at least we have lots of lettuce!) to the flower gardens, “hard -scapes” (like concrete walkways) and improving our garden fencing and the compost area. My compost area is torublesome– it always has been. I have TOO much stuff to compost! Grass clippings, loads and loads of leaves and weeds, plus all our waste vegetable matter. I am going out tomorrow to look for a larger, more suitable bin to hold the waste. I’m also doing a little online shopping for some “compost starter.” My compost piles just don’t seem to do very well. I’m not sure if it is because the backyard is so shady, or I’m just not doing it right. But I’m getting some starter. I saw some great stuff at Buy.com, and it’s very affordable: Woodstream Compost Starter. It’s filled with all sorts of bacteria and stuff that compost piles find absolutely yummy yummy! Mmmmm. Well, I know we need it, because our pile STINKS like all get out, and I may have the neighbors with ther pitchforks coming after me if I don’t fix it! (It is said that a stinky compost pile means that it is not decaying properly).

Buy.com has all sorts of helpful stuff for gardening– even some good garden books, too (I found this book, “How To Cook Compost” very intriguing). I really recommend that you check out Buy.com’s sale website page that they update every week. Most of those items are electronics and gadgets– hey, those come in handy, too! You can find garden tools, power tools, small and large appliances, and a ton of all sorts of stuff. If you have not checked them out, you really should! And happy gardening!