I had to redo my compost pile this year. My original layout had been sufficient at first, but with 3 gardens going now, I needed more compost, of a more consistent quality. So, the great rebuild of the compost pile was started. My budget was exactly 0$, the end result had to meet the standards of the land lady, and it had to handle my full time gardening habit.
I know, most of you would much rather shoot things, but this really is important stuff here. When it becomes too expensive to ship soil amendments around the world, you are going to need to be able to keep your soil healthy.
YOUR HEALTH DEPENDS ON IT.
YOUR FAMILY’S HEALTH DEPENDS ON IT!
If you are depending on your garden for supplemental nutrition (or for mainstay nutrition) those veggies had better have some nutrition. Every carrot is NOT created equal. If that carrot has to struggle to find enough beta-carotene in the soil, it will be a sub-par carrot. If your tomatoes have to struggle to absorb the calcium from the soil, they will develop blossom end rot. I mentioned last week about putting your garden to bed every year. Compost is a big part of that chore. There are also several garden staple crops that appreciate a side dressing of well rotted compost. Compost adds valuable organic matter into the soil, that helps the soil retain moisture; a key trait to have if weather patterns continue to be erratic. Compost is a rich source of various micro and macro organisms. These usually beneficial critters help keep things in balance naturally. (That means less work for you!)
Learning to manage the easy waste streams (vegetable matter) now, makes it more likely that you’ll have a handle on the harder waste streams if the utilities ever shut off. Composting human waste is a bit more tricky than composting moldy tomatoes. Practice with the tomatoes first.
So, on to the DIY part of this post. Naturally, the Y part stands for Yourself. I don’t know what you have on hand, some adaptation to your materials and space will naturally be needed.
I had a post, left in the ground from a fence that we took out. It is a large 4×4 post, sunk 2 or 3 feet down with concrete for good measure. I had a chunk of that aforementioned fence, about 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. I put the word out that I needed a couple of pallets, and a friend dropped off these little half sized pallets.
I grabbed my trusty electric drill, and found some screws and an appropriate bit. (I’m a big fan of star headed wood screws.)
I attached the chunk of fence to the upright post with a few screws. Using the edge of the house as a guide, I ran it straight out. I used a handy garden stake pounded into the ground to help support the far end of the fence chunk. Then I stood the pallets up on end, and using BOTH the wood support stake, and the wood of the fence chunk, I screwed the far corner solidly together. Then I put the second pallet roughly in the middle of the space between the house and the first pallet. It got screwed to the fence chunk as well. I used 4-6 screws per joining.
Total tools used:
- Rubber Mallet (hammer would do)
- Electric drill (hand powered would do, if you know what you’re doing.)
- a dozen wood screws, 3-6″ long
- Scrap wood/fencing/etc.
I think it looks pretty good! I may get really creative in the spring and give it a jazzy coat of food safe paint. (It is technically in the front lawn.) We’ll see. It’s enough for now to have the situation sorted before winter. My end of the year lawn clean up has a place to go, and in the spring I can start a second pile and let the first pile compost all year. By separating the actively composting pile from the actively growing pile, I can more closely control the temperature and outcome of the compost.
My favorite book for composting questions and answers: Rodale Book of Composting. Check it out, it’s massive, but I love it.
Happy composting! Anybody else finishing up DIY projects? Do share!
- Calamity Jane
Composting, a wonderful recycling process that is so useful, so much around to compost at that, even in the cities…. I keep three bin’s going, one for good stuff and only organic’s go in, leaves, grasses, clippings, veggie food scrap’s, then one for twig’s and woodier thing’s, small stuff about the size of a thumb and smaller, more for topping mulch then compost but it eventually makes it make to the dirt stage, and a third for long stage composting, newspaper, cardboard box’s, use it all in different application’s, waste nothing, all is recyclable…….
I really really need to set up a compost pile. Next spring I’ll do it!
Let’s see – I just took my tipi down for the winter and got my camper winterized. I suppose those count as DIY projects.
We are compost, why throw something away when it can be used? When we worked in restaurants we would bring scraps home and we had a huge amount. Our garden was so much better for it. DIY projectsright now consist of cleaning and organizing. Oh and collecting walnuts, pecans, and chestnuts.
I have recently started to compost and since have found that I have a lot more stuff to compost than I originally thought, so I am having to build multiple U shaped bins. Calamity, is that a picture of your setup? If so how long do you let a pile that big break down before you add it to your garden?
Yea, those are actually the wonderful bins I built. Purdy aren’t they?
That pile is only that big because I’d dumped a tarp full of leaves on it, minutes before taking the picture. Most of that pile is still air. After the winter has a chance to beat it into submission, it will be roughly half that size. I’ll let it cook all summer, with one or two turnings. It might be ready by the end of summer, if I keep conditions optimal. It might take until end of fall. I’m not 100% sure, as I’ve not done this method of composting before. I know what the books say I should expect, and I know what I’ve seen with my various less-than-optimal approaches. :-D But, it’s a bit of a learning experience for this first year of proper bins.
And really, there are schools of gardening thought that say half completed compost is great for your garden. Because it finishes the decomp “in situ,” the valuable nutrients and microorganisms stay in the garden, instead of leaching out to the soil under the compost pile.
Basically I go by smell and feel. It should be black, crumbly, with a soil smell, not a rotting smell. Any big stalks/sticks that aren’t broken down should be tossed into a burn pile or chucked into the other pile to cook down another year or two.
Good luck!
You can make pretty good compost bins out of wooden pallets.
I found what looks to be a really nice lidded wooden box at a thrift store the other day, I’m in the process of stripping off the 8 or nine layers of paint that are currently on it. I’ll sand it down and put some stain and Polyurethane on it and have a really nice box for storing some of my home canned preps. I already own everything I need so I’m only into it for the $5 I paid for the box.
Composting is great. I’ve been composting, in one form or another for years. Nice set-up.
DIY projects…well, getting a couple garden beds ready for next spring, planting clover to turn under (green manure crop), and getting the cold frames ready for the spring now while I still have the energy.
The big box DIY store has low cost materials to get you started.
Purchase some 1×6 furring strips (around $2 each). Have them cut 4 8′ pieces into 4 equal pieces (23 13/16″).
Purchase 4 2×2 furring strips (around $2 ea.) and cut same length.
Buy screws and Monster Glue.
Evenly space the 1×6′s on the 1×2′s, glue and screw.
When glue is dry, paint with LATEX outdoor paint, two coats (oil base not good for organisms).
Buy 2′x 2′ (or thereabouts so you don’t have to cut much) galv. wire mesh. U-nail the mesh to the inside of each panel.
Almost done! Use two or three eye-hooks for each corner.
Now you have a compost bin that can easily be moved.
The benefits of a 2×2 bin are greater air circulation hence, better breakdown of organic matter. Mine has been in the northeast elements for three years and still looks new.