Compost is a dark, crumbly, organic product that you can make yourself by using organic material you have around your house or can obtain from the outside. Compost is similar to the organic matter found in high quality soil and improves the quality of your soil when it is added. If you have sandy soil, it allows the soil to hold more moisture and supplies missing nutrients. If your soil is clay, it makes it more workable.

Hands holding finished compost

Making compost is not difficult. There are many different methods, such as compost bins, compost crocks, compost tumblers , and the pile in the corner of your garden. There are also many accessories you can buy to insure the success of your compost, as well as books on how to compost.  But a pile, the right mixture of ingredients, and a pitchfork are all you really need.

Compost bins, and compost tumblers can be made out of chicken wire, wood stakes, wooden pallets, food grade drums, wire mesh, black plastic sacks, and other materials.   You can also buy kitchen composters, such as a compost crock or pail made out of ceramic or stoneware,  that you keep in your kitchen until you can add it to your compost. If you are handy, there are patterns and instructions you can use to make your own compost bins or compost tumblers. You can even have a wormery (worm compost bin) and let earthworms do all the work!

Your method of compost making depends on several choices you must make.

1. Do you like working in your garden regularly and get a wonderful feeling when you turn the compost pile with your pitch fork and see it working?
2. Do you live in an urban area with limted space and your compost is important to conceal? Would a back porch compost tumbler be better for you?
3. Do you only get out to your compost pile infrequently and need something in your home to stockpile the raw materials?  Maybe a kitchen compost crock?
4. Do you get satisfaction from building things and would like to tackle building a compost bin or compost tumbler?
5. How much raw material do you generate each day?
6. What’s the weather like where you live? Will the earth freeze in the winter and your compost-in-the-making be covered with snow?
7. Do you want to get a jump start on your compost over the winter and have a good stock pile for Spring when you start your garden?

You need to analyze your particular situation and then do some research on your chosen method.

The next thing to pay attention to is the composition of the materials you put into your compost pile, whatever system you use. Here is a list of allowable things:

• Coffee grounds and organic coffee filters
• Tea bags
• Egg shells, but wash them first
• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Herbacide free grass clippings
• Hay
• Shredded leaves
• Manure (not dog or cat)
• Peanut shells, but they are slow to decompose
• Pine needles – very acid
• Wood shavings, sawdust – slow to decompose
• Stable bedding – better than pure manure
• Weeds – cut them up first, very slow to decompose
• Wheat or oat straw – slow to decompose
• Wood ash – Don’t use a lot and don’t use ashes from charcoal fires or from wood that was painted

Here is a list of things you shouldn’t put in your compost:

• Anything fatty, such as butter, cheese, lard, vegetable oil, mayonnaise, sour cream, salad dressing, peanut butter, milk
• Chicken or any kind of meat
• Dog and Cat Manure
• Fish – too smelly
• Disposable diapers
• Diseased organic materials

To make successful compost, you need to make sure you have a good mix of several things, such as the good organic materials mentioned above, oxygen, moisture, micro-organisms, and heat.

Aerobic (with oxygen) compost making is what you strive for. This means your pile must be aerated regularly and not allowed to become compacted. Then it’s considered anaerobic (without oxygen) and can cause problems with odor. An anaerobic pile will still compost, and is very little work, but the process takes a long time.

When making compost with a pile or bin, you aerate the material with a pitchfork, or something similar, to turn the pile. With compost tumblers, you turn a crank or handle, which rotates your ingredients, or roll a ball filled with your material around your yard.

If you chose to have a compost pile, size is also important. If your pile is too small, it won’t heat up enough. If it is too large, it will heat up, but be difficult to manage. A good rule of thumb for a “pile” compost heap is about 3′ x 3′ x 3′. The best pile temperature is between 110 degrees F and 150 degrees F. You can purchase a compost thermometer to measure the heat in your pile.

When the heat in your compost pile, by whichever method you have chosen, has returned to normal, your finished organic garden compost should be clean-smelling, dark,  crumbly,  and ready for your garden.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Compost Guide is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

What Are They and How Do They Work?

The theory behind compost tumblers is to tumble the compost so it stays aerated and decomposes faster.  You put all of your refuse with a little organic compost material into the ball or drum and tumble it in one of several ways.  It doesn’t take a lot of energy or time to produce good quality organic compost for your garden.  In your compost making efforts, you might find this is the best way to go, especially if your time and/or energy  are  limited.

The Ball Compost Tumbler. . .

The most basic of the compost tumblers is simply a ball or drum that you fill with compost making materials and roll around the yard from time to time.

This would be a good project for your children, if you have any!  These balls aren’t set upon a base, like some of the other compost tumblers.  One advantage is that you can roll them wherever you need them.

The Drum Compost Tumbler. . .

One of the rolling styles that has a base is simply a drum or barrel set on a base that either has or doesn’t have rollers to facilitate the rolling process. Sometimes they will have a place for your feet so you can sit there and rotate the drum with your feet.  Later when the compost is ready, you can put it on the ground and roll it to your garden location.

A little more sophisticated are the drums that sit above the ground and have a pole that runs in the center.  They can either be mounted horizintally or vertically, with the horizontal mounted ones being easier to rotate than the vertical ones, as they tend to become very heavy when full.

The Hand-Cranked Gear-Driven Compost Tumbler. .

The most sophisiticated styles are the compost tumblers that are operated with a crank.  These tumblers sit on an above-ground frame, normally with rollers, and they are driven by a hand-cranked gear-driven system.

The main benefit of these compost tumblers is their ease of use.  Some have internal baffles to mix the compost materials better and, since they sit higher on the ground, they are easy to unload into your wheel barrow or whatever.

Kitchen Composting. . .Compost Crocks and Compost Pails

Hand-in-hand with the compost tumblers are the kitchen composters, such as  compost crocks and pails.  The crocks are really nice and look like a cute cookie jar sitting on your counter.

You can stash your daily organic material in these kitchen compost containers until you can make a trip to the compost bin, tumbler, etc., of your choice.  Look for the ones that  come with replacable filters to control odor.

The compost pails hold 3 quarts of kitchen refuse and are very attractive stoneware or stainless steel.  They come with dual charcoal filters that last from 2 – 6 months depending upon the amount of your kitchen scraps. Also, they are dishwasher safe, which is handy.

It’s not hard to learn how to compost, whatever method you use.  Which one do you prefer?

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

Compost Tumblers – A Brief Overview is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

This fermented product is then either buried in the garden or mixed into your normal composting making system, such as compost tumblers, compost bins, or a compost pile, where the decomposition process finishes, thus improving the microbial diversity of the finished compost and the soils and plants in which it is used.

What does “Bokashi” Mean?

Bokashi is a Japanese term that means “fermented organic matter.” It is a byproduct of EM and is used as a compost accelerator. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter.

Kitchen scraps fermented in this manner will be ready to bury in your garden within two weeks. When you use the bokashi method, your kitchen scraps do not decompose as in traditional composting methods.They ferment, like pickles or wine. Therefore, the finished product does not resemble compost, but, like finished pickles, it looks about the same as when you started, just pickled.

When the fermenting process is finished, the next step is to bury the resulting product in your garden, about a foot deep,  or mix it into your regular compost making system and let it finish breaking down into compost.

How to Use the Liquid from Bokashi

The liquid that results from the bokashi method is very beneficial to your plants, but should be diluted 100 parts water to 1 part of the bokashi liquid.  If you have a septic system, you can pour the liquid down the drain and it will keep your septic system healthy.  Other drains in your home that are blocked and sluggish will also be “cleaned out” by the addition of this liquid.

How to Use the Bokashi System

To use the bokashi system in your kitchen for kitchen waste, you will initially need a supply of the bokashi EM mix, which consists of bran, molasses and the microorganisms, and two buckets with tight fitting lids, as the bokashi system is anerobic (without oxygen).

You would add a layer of shredded newspapers on the bottom of the bucket with a layer of the bran mixture. Then start adding layers of refuse, about 2 inches thick, each sprinkled with a handful of the bran mixture.

Keep the layers compacted so there are no pockets of air. Keep layering until the bucket is full, being careful to keep the air-tight lid on the bucket at all times except when you are adding your kitchen refuse.

When the first bucket is full, set it aside and start with the second bucket.

The first bucket should continue to process for about two weeks and can then be buried in your garden or put into your regular compost making system. By this time, the second bucket should be full so you can set it aside and start over with the first bucket.

The Advantages

The advantages of the bokashi system are many:

• ALL kitchen refuse can be put into the bokashi system, even fish, meat, cheese, and bones.
• There is no odor as there is no oxygen to react with the scraps and the lid on the bucket is air-tight.
• Since you are not putting the raw kitchen refuse into a compost making system outdoors, you don’t have to worry about bugs, or animals digging up the refuse.  The finished product that you ultimately put into your garden or compost mixture is already pickled so it doesn’t attract bugs or animals.
• The bokashi method is much faster.  The resulting product is ready within two weeks of when you finish filling the bucket.
• The liquid resulting from the process is excellent for your plants when mixed with water in a 100:1 ratio.
• You reduce the amount of refuse you put in the local landfills.  This not only helps the landfills, but it can save you money.
• As with a wormery, you can use the bokashi mix to ferment dog feces, but you must first mix the feces with other organic matter.  Do this separately from the bokashi you will be using for your vegetable garden. After it has fermented, bury it under about 8 inches of soil in your ornamental garden.
• If you have a cat litter box, the addition of a little of the bokashi  mixture to the cat litter each week will reduce the odors and is not harmful to the cats.  The resulting litter can be processed the same way as dog feces and, after it is fermented, it can be buried in your ornamental garden.
• Your bokashi mixture will last for many years if kept in a dry place out of direct sunlight.

An Earth Saving Revolution

Use the Bokashi System to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season

• Continue putting your kitchen refuse into the first of your two bokashi compost buckets, sprinkling them with the wheat bran medium inoculated with the microorganisms developed by Professor Higa.
• When the 1st bucket is full, set it aside for 10 days to 2 weeks to finish the ‘pickling’ process and start putting your kitchen waste into the 2nd bucket.

STEP 2:

• When the contents of the first bucket are finished pickling, put them into a back porch compost tumbler.
• These compact compost tumblers weigh just 40 pounds, stand 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, and sit on 6″ wheels which makes them really easy to move around.
• Make sure your compost tumbler already has a small amount of compost inside, composed of green and brown organic materials and a little soil.  This gives the kitchen scrapes what they need to interact with to finish the compost making process.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Compost Using the Bokashi Method is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

The Simplest Method:

Compost tea is simply liquid compost. It can be made very elaborately, with different types of equipment, or you can just take solid organic compost, either purchased or homemade compost, and soak it in water. After the mixture has steeped for a long time, you have compost tea. You then strain the liquid and apply it to your garden by spraying it on the leaves or applying it to the soil.

This easy steeping procedure produces compost tea anaerobically, meaning without the introduction of oxygen into the process. It will produce a tea that benefits your plants, but it is the least preferred of the different methods.

A Step Up:

The next step up is to use an aquarium pump to aerate the mixture in a five gallon bucket. You will need an aquarium pump, a gang valve, 3 or more feet of aquarium hose, and a couple of tablespoons of unsulfured molasses. Attach three 12″ pieces of hose to the gang valve and place it on the bucket. Look into the bucket to make sure the hoses reach the bottom.

Add one gallon of organic compost and about four gallons of water, to within six inches of the top of the bucket.  Add the molasses.  Turn on the pump and let the tea “brew” for two to three days, stirring occasionally. When it is finished, strain it into another bucket and return the solid matter to your compost pile.

Use immediately, as the microorganisms you want to benefit your garden will not last long after the air supply has been removed.

It should smell good, like fresh earth.  If, for some reason, it smells bad, return it to your compost heap and start over!

Where to find more information:

Your local nursery should have information and a good selection of mixes and equipment to aid you in making your own compost tea at home. Whatever method you chose, it’s well worth the time and effort.

Why would you use compost tea?

Compost Making

photo credit: Ajay Tallam

Your plants will benefit because compost tea is a very mild, organic liquid fertilizer that will not burn your plants.  It will improve your soil by providing beneficial living organisms wherever you use it.

If, for example, the healthy organisms in your soil have been destroyed by overuse of pesticides or a long, cold winter, the organisms can be restored by the use of compost tea. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and other active organisms found in compost tea will help your plants get the most nutrition from your soil.

Other places to find compost tea:

You can also get a form of compost tea from the liquid that drains out of the bottom of your wormery. This is especially nice to use on houseplants.

In addition, many compost tumblers come with a container attached to the bottom that catches the liquid that drains out as the compost making process goes on. You can empty this out from time to time and use it on your plants.

Give it a try!

Look into using compost tea in your compost making efforts and you will see marked improvement in your garden.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

What is Compost Tea? is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

Just because the weather has turned cold, doesn’t mean you have to stop your compost making efforts. Your kitchen refuse is still going to pile up so you need a system to extend your compost season as long as possible.

Here are a couple of ways on how to compost during the colder months:

Compost Tumbler System:

Keep a compost container, such as a compost crock or compost pail, in your kitchen and collect your kitchen refuse every day like normal.  when the compost crock or compost pail becomes full, transfer the refuse to a Back Porch Compost Tumbler, similar to the one pictured below.

These compost tumblers are small in size, measuring just 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, weigh just 40 pounds, and sit on 6″ wheels, which makes them easy to move around.  You can easily keep it on your back porch, patio, balcony, or laundry room.

In one of these locations, it shouldn’t freeze and will continue to convert your garbage into useful organic compost.  If, for some reason, your compost doesn’t get hot enough, you can always add a compost activator to get things perking along.

The Bokashi System:

Another alternative is to use the Bokashi system in your kitchen, such as the ones made by All Seasons Indoor Composters.  With this system, you alternate your kitchen refuse – all of it – in an air-tight bucket with layers of a medium, such as wheat bran, which has been inoculated with effective microorganisms. This mixture basically “pickles” your garbage in 10 days to two weeks. It’s usually good to have two buckets and alternate them.  When one is full, you switch to the next.  By the time the contents on the first bucket have ‘pickled’, the second bucket is full.
When the contents are ready, you can put them in your back porch compost tumbler with the rest of your compost and proceed as normal.  If it’s still possible, you can alternately bury the pickled mixture directly in your yard and it will be ready for your garden by Spring.

A Word of Caution

Before you begin putting the contents of your compost crock, pail, or bokashi bucket into your back yard compost tumbler, the tumbler must already have a small amount of “normal” compost to interact with the refuse from your kitchen containers. A good mixture would be green and brown organic matter and a little dirt, just like you would use when you are starting a normal compost pile in your back yard.

Whichever system you chose, compost crocks or pails, or the Bokashi system, used with your Back Porch Compost Tumbler, you can effectively extend your compost making system throughout the colder months.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

Something to Read When It’s Cold Outside. . .

Work in the compost arena has slowed down a bit during these colder months.  There are a few things you can do, but it’s really too cold to do much outdoors. So here’s an alternative. . .

For my birthday in 2002, my husband gave me a copy of a book that I cherish to this day.  And what I really want to do is encourage YOU to do a little reading yourself.  I think you will enjoy it.  The name of the book is “A Sand County Almanac: And Other Essays on Conservation from Round River” by Aldo Leopold.

Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) worked for the US Forest Service for many years.  He became the Associate Director of the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin in 1924.  In 1933 the University of Wisconsin created a chair of Game Management in his name.

His writing has been compared to the nature writing of Thoreau.  He loved the land and had an unparalleled understanding of the ways of nature.  The main premise of the book is his observations, on a monthly basis, of the changes of the countryside in Wisconsin.  The book also has a section of informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere.  In the last section,  Leopold addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation.

And besides all the data about the environment,  what I found especially beautiful about the book is his prose, his way of observing and describing nature, and the things he saw around him.  It’s an incredible book and I think anyone who loves nature as much as Leopold did will enjoy reading it.

Let me know what you think.

• Buy a load of mushroom compost and leave it in your yard to cure over the winter months.  Mushroom compost has a lot of soluble salts and this will allow them to leach out, thereby protecting your young plants in the spring.
• If you know where your garden is going to be, and your soil is not frozen, and you’re using the Bokashi System for your kitchen waste, you can bury your waste every two weeks directly into the future garden area when it is “pickled.”
• If you are using a back porch compost tumbler during the cold season, keep tabs on the temperature of the compost.  Make sure it reaches the required temperature to decompose.  You can buy a simple compost thermometer for this purpose.  If it needs a boost, put in a little organic compost activator.
• When the weather is nice enough, tidy up your yard.  Stack branches or other big items in one place so you can shred them or chop them up with pruning shears in the spring.
• Tidy up the tools in your storage area or garage.  Make sure nothing is rusting.  Clean and oil everything.  Buy a nice tool box or wooden crate to keep everything in so it’s easy to tote when you can begin compost making again.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting