new compost bins

About a month ago, my husband made me a pair of new compost bins. They are beautiful!! A big improvement over the 5 little round plastic ones I had before.

The photos show how he made them. Slats are spaced 1 inch. The front panel sits in a slot at the bottom and it then held in place with a removable screw and bolt. In the spring, I will remove the front panels to turn and use the compost. A really nice feature is that he made a step on the side of each so I can get up inside easier if I need to retrieve something or compress the compost.

cleaning the coop

Today I cleaned out my chicken coop for the first time. I've had the 3 girls since nov 20, so that's exactly 2 weeks. I have a remote thermometer in the coop and it's been registering higher humidity every day and was up to 90%, even on a dry day. So I got my flat edgeding shovel, my green garden trug, and sooped out all the poopy wood shavings. It nearly filled up my compost bin. yeah! I am going to have great compost this winter even if I have no eggs.

compost screen

My husband made me a compost screen today. It is a big frame that fits nice on top of a wheelbarrow. The mesh is made from doubled chicken wire. I've seen many ways to make a compost screen. The main thing is that the wire mesh is well supported by a frame and the mesh size is not too small.

Over the years, my compost bins have been accumulating things that don't compost so well (branches, avocado seeds, Christmas trees, oyster shells, plastic plant labels...) Instead of returning them to the bin this year, they went into the trash.

We screened about 10 wheelbarrows full of fresh compost and piled it onto my garden beds. I spread it and turned it under. The beds are ready for planting now.

compost

I added several loads of fresh compost to my garden beds and cold frame last Saturday.

calculating compost

Our community garden is figuring out how to get a nice compost product this year. Our priorities are a screened, delivered, organic product that fits in our budget.

Here's a nice site to calculate compost coverage: SOIL AMENDMENT CALCULATOR

We have about 125 plots averaging about 15 square feet each (my guess). That's about 28,000 square feet total. I'm figuring 2 inches coverage on all plots would be good. The calculator says we need 173 cubic yards of compost. That seems like a lot. At 15 cubic yards per truckload, that's a good 10 deliveries. Maybe only half of the gardeners would actually use it, since many of use make our own compost. So 5 truck loads. I suppose the thing to do is go one truck load at a time and order more when its gone.

While I had the on-line calculator site up, I checked out what I need for my home garden. It has five 9x3 foot beds, and one 8x8 foot cold frame, have a total of about 200 sq feet, so for 2 inch coverage, I need 1.2 cubic yards (30 cubic feet). I will see how much compost I have ready in my bins before buying any.

preparing Mom and Dad's garden

Yesterday I went up to my parents house and enjoyed a day in the dirt. I had ordered a truckload of compost to be delivered. I was expecting a morning delivery, but as my luck had it, it was a 5:30 pm delivery. So I had time to do a lot of raking and prep work, but had to scramble to get the dirt spread and turned before dark.

My parent's garden plot is about 15 by 50 feet, by my guess. It is against the woods with a westerly exposure, so it gets lots of midday and afternoon sun. As the trees to the east grow, my parents have been gradually inching the garden out into the yard to get more sun.

The plot has a few things growing in it now. Perennial rhubarb, and herbs oregano and sage. Also three nice rows of garlic.

I had meant to order enough compost for a 2-3 inch layer, but looks like I was off by a factor of 2. It was pretty intimidating after the truck left to be standing there by an enormous pile - just me and my shovel and the setting sun. I surprised myself and did get it spread. Then I limed (10 lbs) and added a little organic fertilizer (Garden Tone, 5 lbs). And I was able to turn about half of the plot before Skippy insisted it was time to go home.

I ended up with 4-6 inches of compost. This is almost too much, but from what I've read, it should be OK. I will try to go back and double dig the whole plot down to 12 inches. (My Dad may get a friend in with a big rototiller before I get back to it, but I just hate to think what that does to all the worms he has.)

The compost is dark and even and looks great. No mixed in trash, no sticks or rocks. Just very nice and good smelling stuff. I hope it will produce a bumper crop!

Note added: Here's the link for the compost that I added: Agresource Compost. Looks like its already pH adjusted - so I didn't need to add lime. I'm also noticing that the weeds prior to prep seem to be "sweet" soil weeds: dandelions and chickweed. Well, at least tomatoes like the soil sweet, as do peppers and zucchini. The carrots and beets may not appreciate it. We'll see.

using shredded paper for compost

I have a great new toy. A paper shredder! Its wonderful. I got the powerful model. Takes newspaper, cereal boxes, junk mail - almost anything made of paper. I'm tempted to add my bills too. I can't wait to see the beautiful compost this will make.

I'm mixing the paper shreds with my kitchen scraps (at least 2:1) in my big compost tumbler. My first batch was started a couple weeks ago and should be ready soon.

I love having a simple use for paper waste. I'm turning it into a valuable product without using extra energy or resources. I don't need to put it out at the curb to be picked up by a big truck brought to some far away facility and who knows what happens to it then.

I seems like it will be the perfect source of brown material for my compost tumbler.

(BTW: The tumbler was a free gift from World's Best Organic Compost Tumbler.)

saving kitchen scraps for compost

In previous year's I haven't been very good about saving my kitchen scraps for compost. This year I'm collecting it all. My sister gave me a really nice container for my counter. It has a good lid with a carbon insert. And outside the door, I keep a big covered bucket for emptying this container. (The squirrel would rather it didn't have a cover.) When the bucket is full, it goes out to the tumbler.

spreading compost and other winter preparations

A beautiful warm fall day for garden work. We were out cleaning up the yard and gardens - getting ready for winter. My main project was COMPOST.

My old wood compost bins have finally composted themselves. After 10 or 15 years. Two homemade untreated fir bins. I pulled off all the old decayed wood, then carted the compost to my garden beds. My 2010 plan says there will be tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and peppers in these home beds next year, which need a nice rich soil. A couple of the beds were cleared out earlier and already have a layer of spread compost with cover crops growing well. Now the rest of the beds have piles of compost. I'll buy winter rye seed tomorrow (my local hardware store sells it by the pound). Then these beds will be set for winter.

I also have a nice compost barrel this year (new this spring). I'm still getting the hang of how to use this. I piled in some yard waste (old hydrangea blossoms) and gave it some good spins. I'm planning to move this next spring. For now, its near the kitchen door, but next year I'll put it by the garden beds in the sun to help heat it up. I'm also looking for a good buy on a shredder to generate fine brown material to mix with my kitchen scraps.

The other task-of-the-day was putting away pots. Often I leave them out all winter and find them cracked come spring. I'm so ambitious this year. I emptied most of the pots and stacked them in a sheltered spot. I emptied a pretty pink rose from one pot and stuck this in the ground in a sheltered location. Same with my lavender. I removed it from its pot and planted it next to the rose. This is lavender planted from seeds on Feb 21. Its grown nicely and I'm looking forward to some good sized plants next year.

compost tumbler assembly

A couple weeks ago I received a wonderful delivery in the mail - a compost tumbler. I'm reviewing this product for World's Best Organic Tumbler.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the assembly was a family project. Skippy supervised and then took a nap. I took the photos. And hubby and son did all the work. (A good deal for me!)

This project took "us" 1 hour. (I noticed Carol at May Dreams Gardens assembled her's in 30 min - maybe all the extra supervision and photos wasn't all that helpful...) We read and re-read instructions. And some serious muscle power was required. But after it was done, we felt very accomplished (Skippy was well rested).

I now need to read the instructions on how to use the tumbler. In the meantime, I'm just throwing my kitchen scraps into it. I figure I'll use it to make compost from my kitchen scraps and use my open bins (which are falling apart) for my yard waste.

My opinion so far: I think it looks FANTASTIC in my back yard! Very sturdy. I like the way it keeps the squirrels out of my kitchen waste. And its very easy to use. I like the way it opens and closes and tumbles.

I did read that you should fill it up all at once for best results. I'm not doing this because I don't have all my kitchen scraps available all at once. But so far, so good. Once its full, I'll let it sit and its only supposed to take a few weeks to make compost.




my bins and systems for composting compost

ups delivery - two big boxes!

The other day I got an email from Chris at Organic Compost Tumbler. "You may have seen our tumbler reviewed on other blogs, .... so, do you want one?" Wow! Do I ever! How fun to review a garden product.

The boxes arrived. Two big ones. Last weekend we assembled it. I'll post the photos soon.

In the meantime, here's Carol's review of this compost tumbler at May Dreams Gardens.

And here's a quote from the tumbler seller's site "...in Winter you can move it and put it by your back door so you do not have a long trek to recycle your kitchen scraps in your composter, and lets face, it, the easier it is to get the scraps to the composter, the higher likelihood that you'll do it, even on those really cold days." Well, I have this problem even in the summer. And the site says it makes "finished compost in as little as 2 weeks". Wow! I'm looking forward to trying out this tumbler.

My thought is I'll put my kitchen waste in this new tumbler for quick high quality compost and continue to use my big old bins (which are falling apart now) for composting leaves and large garden waste.

my bins and systems for composting compost

lasagna gardening

OK. Time to start thinking about next year's garden. Here's a photo of a plot at the Belmont Victory Gardens where the gardener does "lasagna gardening". (That's a thick layer of horse manure and wood chips on the top.)

I'm starting to feel guilty about tilling my garden and this was a big discussion topic during my Thanksgiving travels.

Here's are highlights from my quick research on the topic.

"Lasagna gardening is method of layering organic materials and compost right in the garden and then planting directly in these layers. Its a time saving organic gardening method developed by gardener and writer, Patricia Lanza, which requires no digging." Lasagna Gardening by Colleen Vanderlinden. At Amazon.com: Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! by Patricia Lanza.

"A Japanese guy named Masanobu Fukuoka started the idea of no-til gardening/farming with his book One Straw Revolution. There was also an American woman called Ruth Stout and an Australian woman named Ester Deans who both promoted the idea in their day." (from a comment Patrick left me)

"To make a lasagna garden: stake out your garden site and begin building beds layer by layer. First layer is something heavy like thick newspaper or flattened cardboard to kill the existing grass. Next layer is 2-3 inches of water absorbent material like peat moss or coir. Next a 4-8 inch layer of compost. Another layer of coir or peat, and then yet another layer of organic material, like grass clippings on top of the coir, and on and on until the beds reach 18-24 inches high. Finally, the tops of the piles may be sprinkled lightly with bone meal and wood ash for added phosphorus and potassium. One of the greatest advantages to lasagna gardening is that you can layer your beds and plant your crops all in the same day. When you're planting a lasagna garden, no digging is required. For transplants, simply pull back the layers of mulch, drop in the plant and pull some mulching materials back over the roots. Sowing seeds is easy, too. Sprinkle a little finished compost over the area you want to plant, sow the seed, and cover it with a little more of the finished compost. Press down on the bed to secure the seeds and water thoroughly." An Introduction to Lasagna Gardening by Ellen Brown

I've always used old-fashioned cover-crop-and-till gardening methods, but was thinking of setting up a lasagna bed for comparison this year. My concerns are:

- Where do you get all that fresh organic material? I'm not going to go out and buy plastic bags full of peat.

- Why compost in my garden? I have a nice compost pile. I collect it all year and it'll be really nice this spring. Plus I have access to composted yard waste from the town.

- Why not grow a cover crop? Growing a legume crop a very efficient way to generate nitrogen. Cover crops require tilling in the spring and aren't compatible with no till methods.

- Why try to save time in the garden? Its only a small plot and some exercise is good.

- What if you don't have enough worms to mix the soil and poke holes in the layers? Layering is a perfect method of preventing water from reaching the lowers levels. Layered soil has the poorest drainage rate.

- And if its important that worms mix the soil, why not help them by turning it myself?

- Newspaper lying around the garden is not very attractive.....

- No-till methods may be important to prevent erosion in large fields, but for a tiny home plot on flat land, erosion is not an issue.

- How can you do a soil test on a lasagna plot? Which layer would you sample?

I seem to be talking myself out of this method here. Maybe I'll stay pro-till another year.





topic: soil

horse manure for the garden

I used horse manure in my garden recently but a fellow gardener suggested it was not so good as a compost or mulch. From what I read on line, it seems that there are several reasons to skip this manure as it contains weeds seeds, deworming drugs, herbicides and high Mg levels.

Ann's Organic Garden: Just say nay to horse manure for mulch, by Ann Lovejoy


topic: soil

horse manure for the garden

Someone leaves manure from their horses once a week at our community garden. All the gardeners scramble to collect this and dump it on their gardens. Today I joined in. I shoveled a wheelbarrow full and brought it to my frozen garden. I spread it out in the center. It needs to compost, but should provide good nutrients in the spring.

Only problem is Skippy. I don't know what is so exciting about horse manure to a dog. Bllaagghhhh. Oh yuck... I may need to skip the horse manure thing next time.

compost surprise

I found these in the compost bins this week. Maybe halloween pumpkins? Thanksgiving butternut squash? Gourds? I'll try to find a sunny spot for these volunteers and transplant them soon.


Pumpkin -- Cucurbitaceae spp.
my bins and systems for composting compost

compost!

These are my compost bins. It was a beautiful day for garden work, so today I opened up the bins and brought fresh compost to my squash bed. I used a pitch fork to shovel the uncomposted material from the top of one bin into the other bin. Then I shoveled the rich compost into a wheel barrow and brought 2 full barrows to my vegetable garden. I then moved all of the uncomposted material from the full bin into the newly emptied bin. At the bottom of this second bin is probably 3 barrows full of beautiful compost that I will use in a couple of weeks on my new tomato area.

My soil test results last year said I did not need any more compost in most of my garden. But it seems to me that squashes and pumpkins always prefer richer soil. Also, I will be starting a new tomato area next to the house where I have never amended the soil. I'm sure it will benefit from the rich compost.

My compost is mostly made from garden waste and leaves. I collect a very small amount of household vegetable waste occasionally that I add to the bins. Of course, there's the annual Halloween pumpkins that end up in the bins. Even with all this beautiful compost (all that my garden needs), still more than half of my garden waste goes to the local waste pick up.

topic: soil
my bins and systems for composting compost

Compost bins

These are my compost bins. The resident carpenter built them for me many years ago. Two side-by-side units with removable fronts. Each year I empty one two-year aged bin-full of compost into the garden. I turn the one-year-old contents of the other bin over into the empty bin so the half-done compost gets mixed and turned over. They work great. This year some potatoes I threw into the front bin are growing a garden of their own. I wonder if I will get new potatoes from them?

Solanum tuberosum
my bins and systems for composting compost