You may have heard of the great benefits of composting. You may have tried a few methods and had some success. Many people want to do it but many don’t know where to start. There are tons of composting methods out there, and we have tried several. Here are the 5 simple steps that we recommend to have a compost system that works.
1. Chose a site for your compost
Keep it close
Ideally, a compost would be situated near your home so that it’s easy to dump your leftovers without excuses! As we use a substantial amount of produce and empty it multiple times a day, we recommend not placing your compost so far away that it’s a pain to take out!
Afternoon Shade
Don’t put it right against the house, since there is a potential for bugs, decay, and some smell. Be assured, that if you are doing this correctly the smell is of minor concern! If it’s done right, it will have a sweet earthy smell that some describe as reminiscent of apple blossoms. Choose a place that provides some afternoon shade to prevent the pile from drying out too quickly.
Near the chicken coop
Next to the chicken coop is also a good idea, because you would be visiting it often. Chicken manure is too “strong” to apply directly to your garden without composting it first. Every time you clean out the coop or pens you wouldn’t have far to haul the stuff! Some people I know even decorate their compost bins to match the “theme” of the chicken coop and make it “pretty.” The important point though is to have it in easy reach and ideally a straight shot from your back door. Other than that anywhere should work.
2. Set up a COMPOST system
There are an innumerable styles of compost systems out there. You can use a single bin and flip the pile right in place, or use multiple bins and just move the pile from one to the other. Find a system that works for YOU!
Single bin systems
A single bin works great if you are generating a small amount of compost. Depending on where you live, cities may offer upcycled municipal waste collection bins for free or a small deposit. Some conveniently elevated models have a crankshaft for turning and can fit a wheelbarrow underneath.
Multiple bin system
If you are like us and end up with an enormous pile of compost seasonally you may consider a multiple bin system. One stall is for the currently-working compost, the second for mostly-finished compost, and the third stall contains compost that has been sifted and ready to use, or is empty. Once a stall is empty it becomes the receptacle for the turned stuff from another stall.
The ideal sized compost pile for optimum breakdown is 3’H x 3’W x 3’D. In our case we used salvaged pallets for this. You can find them for free or low-cost if you ask local shopping locations, distribution centers, businesses, or plant nurseries (where we got ours). No pallets? Simple wood construction works just as well. There is no shortage of DIY compost system tutorials out there!
Building your compost system with pallets
Our system is composed of seven pallets of similar size with narrow gaps between boards. Each pallet is cut down to the desired height and the base boards removed. After several years of use we have had to reinforce the bottom portion of a few of the pallets with plywood. A few tree guy poles driven into the ground in strategic locations provide the vertical supports and everything is then screwed together with a box of deck screws. This provides three “stalls” open in the front.
If you want to get started right away and don’t want the hassle of setting up bins or stalls you can simply use piles and shift from one pile to the next. Just move it over and keep it moist. When our drip system is not hooked up to it, we have a hose with a valve operated spray nozzle on the end and just spray each layer between each toss with a hay-fork. This exercise provides an excellent upper body workout!
3. Know what you can and cannot put in your compost
The basic idea is to put mostly PLANT material in your compost, and DIVERSITY is good. This includes vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, potato skins, leaves, small yard trimmings, grass, weeds, manures, and so on.
Balance the greens and browns
There is a vast amount of scientific information out there about the perfect balance of carbon (browns) and nitrogen (greens), but that frankly overwhelms most people. Having composted for years I suggest not making it so difficult for yourself. Layer about half “greens” and half “browns” for a good mix that should break down fairly quickly.
For clarification, anything still juicy or with pliable cells, such as kitchen peelings, could be considered a “green”. Anything dehydrated and crispy, such as dried leaves or straw, may be considered a “brown.” Citrus leaves have some tough cellulose so I consider them mostly a brown.
Composting weeds
I highly recommend composting weeds BEFORE they go to seed. If your compost is hot enough (we will cover “hot composting” below) there will be no problem and the weed seeds will break down, but rarely do they all. So compost your weeds early, and the really seedy ones just feed to the chickens, put in the trash, or dump in the burn pile.
Egg shells
Although they are not plants, eggshells are great for adding nutrients and minerals to your compost soil, but I recommend processing them first. To use eggshells in your garden it is best to first let them dry somewhere (on the counter, in the shed, etc.).
Once they are fully dried then you can powder them in an old food processor (keep one in the garden shed?). The resulting powder can then be mixed with dusting sulfur to speed the breakdown process once it is added to your compost or soil.
You can amend your garden beds directly with eggshell fertilizer prior to planting! Not only do worms love it, but it is a great source of calcium, which is essential to prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes, peppers, and squash. Be aware, because eggshells take a long time to break down, it is best to add this consistently over multiple seasons, thereby building up the available calcium in your soil.
What NOT to put in your compost
Now that you are clear on what is safe to put in your compost, here is what you should NOT be adding! Avoid proteins, fats, oils, and grease. In addition to favoring the wrong kinds of bacteria, these items may also attract the undesirable insects and critters. There are separate systems for these items such as vermicomposting, anaerobic digesters, and black soldier fly hatcheries. If you are interested in more information about these, feel free to leave a note in the comments below and we would be happy to share more info or possibly a future post.
Worms
Do not put worms directly in your compost system. If your compost system is working properly the heat will kill the worms. I do however, throw every fat juicy beetle grub (Japanese beetles, June beetles, etc) that I find into the compost. I don’t necessarily like them munching on plant roots in my garden, but they do a fantastic job at speeding up the breakdown process of cellulose. If I find them in my sifted finished product they go to the chickens. The advantages of redirecting nature’s energies to fulfill multiple functions is marvelous!
Don’t forget the labels!
Be sure to remove the plastic store-bought produce labels from your fruits and veggies. It is rather annoying to find and remove them from the compost pile or garden beds after the fact. It took us a few rounds of finding old fruit labels in our garden soil and reminding the family before they were no longer showing up!
4. Keep it moist
Why does moisture matter?
Moisture is essential for your compost system to quickly break down organic material. As we live in a hot, dry desert climate, this may be an issue. If your pile is not maintaining sufficient moisture it will “petrify” and become hydrophobic, thereby becoming very difficult to re-wet and need an extra watering of each layer, as well as the addition of some liquid form of nitrogen (fish emulsion works) to restart the breakdown process. Additionally, if the pile stays too dry ants, cockroaches and other critters may decide to move in and call it home.
If your pile is too wet, it will “putrefy” and become gross and stinky. This problem seems to exist much less commonly here in the desert. For many years we had our drip system hooked up to the back of our compost stalls that wet it down every time the trees got watered. It certainly made the moisture levels more consistent and that has become my recommended way to go. We simply mounted drip lines on the outside of the back wall and attached a misting emitter to each line. Whatever method you choose, the idea is to maintain moisture. As you turn it you may find dry layers. This is when an additional spray between layers is needed.
5. Turn it often
Speed up the break down
A 3′ x 3′ x 3′ compost pile that has the perfect mixture of greens and browns and the perfect moisture content, but is not turned will take about a year to break down on its own. Each time you turn it you provide oxygen to the microbes and cut the break down time in about half. If your system is running smoothly and being turned every 2 or 3 days, you can ultimately get finished compost in as little as three weeks. Here in our hot, dry summer months it will likely be more like six weeks depending upon the pile’s moisture levels.
Microbes
If the microbes in your compost system are busy doing work for you and they have an ideal environment, it is not uncommon for the pile to heat up to about 160°, and the center of the pile will likely be hotter. If the pile is sufficiently hot weed seeds and unwanted pathogens will cook. The result will be sweet, earthy compost, full of life-giving nutrients!
Sifting your compost
The last step before having compost ready for your garden is to sift. In some cases, especially where the ideally-sized brown material had been used, this will likely be unnecessary, but in our case we are using yard clippings, sticks and all, in our compost.
A 1/2 wire mesh or expanded sheet metal screen attached to a wooden frame and mounted above a wheelbarrow is all you need. The compost is then shoveled on, agitated, and the remaining bulky material is then thrown back into the compost pile to break down further.
If you are really lucky, you may have a spinning compost trommel mounted at an angle that does the work for you. Rough compost loaded into one end is spun and sifted, and compost will drop below into a wheelbarrow or a tarp while the bulky material travels down the tube to a collection at the other end.
Final Thoughts
Schedule time
Plan on spending about 15 minutes 2-3 days a week turning and watering your compost. These steps should lead to a great system that can produce compost in 3-8 weeks. The multi bin system will offer you a pile of compost ready at any time to use in your garden.
Let it rest
One final step! After your compost has completely broken down and added to your garden, let the bed rest for a week or two before planting. This will allow the beneficial microbes and fungi to populate your soil and invite good garden critters back in such as worms. As long as you feed your soil, your soil will feed your plants and you will be a gardening success!
So what is your favorite compost system and how has it worked for you? We would love to hear how your garden is growing! And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Happy growing!
