“I think we ought to start composting,” I said to Steve as we got in the car yesterday. We were off to unofficially mark Easter with burritos and a movie – after a weekend of an overabundance of social engagements, I had abandoned my passing thought to actually cook something celebratory of the lamb or ham variety.
Steve chuckled and did not respond further.
“I’m serious,” I said. “I think we should. I just don’t know how to do it. I’m afraid it will smell.”
I know there are plenty of places where I can get information on starting a compost pile. I’ve read information online and in garden books. Last weekend, at a gardening workshop I attended, the speaker lamented the fact that people (like me) are so terrified of making the stuff.
“All you need is a three by three area,” she said. “Put chicken wire or something out to contain it and to keep it up off the ground. Don’t worry too much about the green and brown business.”
There’s no question that I’m starting to feel more and more ridiculous every time I throw out eggshells, strawberry hulls and the baby spinach we didn’t get to before it began composting itself in the plastic bag from the store.
But I’m worried about putting food scraps out in my back yard, whether it’s on chicken wire or not, and ending up with…a pile of mushy food scraps. A smelly pile of mushy food scraps. A smelly pile of mushy food scraps with twelve raccoons rolling around in it, waving to me with their little paws, thanking me for the garbage buffet.
I have looked online at compost containers, drumlike ones that show pathologically happy, smiling gardeners with nary a single raccoon or other varmint in sight. They’re pulling out rich, black compost, and look like they’re having the best time ever. But it seems ridiculous to spend $150 for a drumlike composter when, allegedly, $10 in chicken wire will do the trick.
I’d love to hear from those of you out there who have compost piles going. How did you get started? How long did it take before you had something usable? And how friendly did you get with varmints in the process?
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Just don’t throw meat scrapes and you won’t have varmits. I’ve thrown old fruit (like moldy oranges and mushy apples) in mine hoping that the birds or squirrels would find them and eat them (cut up, of course, to aid the little beasties’ dining pleasure) but they never do. They lay there, days later, shrinking and shriveling intact. It takes a loooong time for orange peels to compost, let me tell you!
Heck, you don’t even need chicken wire. Find a corner somewhere where it won’t be seen (like between the garage and house) and start piling. The “drum thingy” just speeds up the process because you can turn it easily and it hides the mess. And, living in Iowa City, this might not be a bad idea. Up here in rural, small-town Iowa, the neighbors don’t mind seeing my compost pile. Your neighbors might not be so understanding. My advice – go with the drum thingy.
Oh, and there’s no smell to compost.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 7:24 am
I have a Smith & Hawken Biostack–a breakaway, three-tiered thing that I think is now being sold by Miracle Gro. It’s basically just a black plastic box. Being on a small urban lot, it’s keeps things tidy, but I also don’t ever worry about it breaking. I don’t tend it closely, and haven’t had any problems with smells. On the other hand, not tending it closely, I don’t think I get a whole lot of compost out of it, either. I don’t think I keep the mass up enough to generate activity like I should. Still, eventually I sift the finest stuff out and spread it around the yard and garden.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Sally, you’re probably right — I’m not sure how my neighbors would feel about a pile of garbage, pre-compost, in the back yard.
Allen, I might check out that Biostack — sounds interesting, and I like the sound of something that doesn’t require close tending!
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 8:00 am
I have a compost barrel, which I like because it keeps everything contained while it’s cooking, and it filters rainwater to make this potent stuff called compost tea. About twice a year, we take out the compost and make a pile on the ground with the dead leaves or grass clippings. Compost is usually ready for spring or fall planting not too long after that. Compost actually smells good if it’s working right, rich and loamy. I avoid putting in meat, fats and citrus. Everything else goes in, including coffee filters, tea bags, paper towels, grass clippings, what have you. I encourage you to try it–it really cuts down on your garbage.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Shannon, I have not actually used compost tea, but have heard good things about it. I definitely like the idea of a barrel that keeps it all contained. What brand of barrel do you have?
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 8:18 am
I ordered it from Gaiam.com. It is a rotating drum that sits on a platform where the tea is collected.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Excellent, Shannon — I know just which one you’re talking about. I’ve seen it in the catalog before. Thanks!
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I’d love to find something inobtrusive too. The only spot where a compost bin could go is in the direct line of sight of my family room, at an angle, the neighbor’s too. And I’m wondering whether it would even ‘work’ there, since it’s in the complete shade of a pine tree with low-hanging branches.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Definitely try composting. As someone already said, don’t put meat or oily things in it. And if you think you have too much kitchen things and it might smell, shred up and add newspaper, which is considered a “brown” item. I used a plastic trash can and used my Dremel to make small holes down the sides and a few on the bottom. Small holes are good so that the compost doesn’t get too wet and also to prevent animals from getting in it. Remember to turn it on a regular basis, otherwise it takes a long time to cure. I was as proud of my first batch of compost as I was of my first tomato!
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Don’t make it too complicated. Just start a pile, can even be on the ground, but needs to be about 3′ x 3′ to get enough heat build up for making the compost. Add kitchen scraps, weeds, old flowers, any vegetation you have. I’ve never had varmints around mine, maybe a few mice or voles, but they were there first.
I usually harvest compost in the fall out of my three bins. I have a privacy fence around my back yard, so I’m the only one that sees the them, and I don’t mind a bit having them there in a corner of the vegetable garden. I know in those bins, black gold is being made.
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
My compost pile started by accident – at the side of my garage. The side of the neighbour’s garage is about 4 feet away from mine. I started by putting old vegetation there and adding some dirt (via dead houseplants). when I started shovelling this pile, I was pleased to see that I had this lovely compost. Since then, I add my kitchen scraps (no meat, fish, or anything with oil on it), the neighbour’s grass clippings, my dead houseplants and mix it up occasionally. My dog sniffs at it, but doesn’t seem the least bit interested in going near it.
My suggestion is to start small and add regularly to your pile and mix it now and then. Once you see some results, it is quite exciting and you might want to expand your pile. I’ve always preferred just having a pile on the ground in an unobrusive place – the side of my garage seems okay with it too!!
Good luck and I hope you have success with your composting! (I’m intrigued with the idea of getting some worms and using them for composting!)
on Apr 9th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
You can do it. You’re just freaking yourself out.
Here is a simple link that explains it.
http://groovygreen.com/groove/?p=1232
I made a box out of old pallets in my backyard to keep it contained and then piled it up. When I tore it apart this spring I had a pile 4 ft by 4 ft by 1 ft deep. I didn’t even bother to turn it. Just left it there. Don’t put too many grass clippings in it or it will get a little smelly. But otherwise it’s easy. Certainly easier than growing all your tomatoes in containers.
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 5:36 am
Alanna, since temperature is a factor in all this, yeah…I would wonder about a shady spot. Although I think my Dad used to have a compost pile in our shady backyard. Not sure how well it worked, but it was there.
Jeanne, just from a regular trash can? Interesting…that sounds almost too good to be true!
Carol, I’ve heard the 3 x 3 measurement as optimal, but didn’t know why…critical mass for heat makes perfect sense.
Kate, you’re an inadvertent composter!
Matt, thanks for the link — I’ll check that out. As for freaking myself out, that’s no surprise…I do that all the time!
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 11:01 am
You don’t want it to dry out too much, which is why some shade may be preferable to a sunny spot. So it retains some moisture.
I also added soil to the compost in the beginning to help it along – also, along the way, some potting soil left in the bag after planting pots.
Really, don’t get overwhelmed by it – the process happens naturally, you just need to help it along a little.
Apparently, the trash can method is an urban thing – I learned about it from some Brooklyn gardeners – the container and the small quarter inch holes keeps some of the urban wildlife from nesting or feeding in the compost pile.
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I can’t read all your comments…busy. BUT,
We compost and it does not smell badly. We started ours when it was still kind of cool outside and I reccomend that. Once it gets going…it goes pretty fast. You turn it over and it does not really smell at all.
DO NOT PUT ANY ANIMAL PRODUCTS in your pile. It will breed maggots and will SMELL BADLY.
But otherwise…it is sooooooooo great. Our kids love all the worms that have come into our yard. We keep a large tupperware container on our kitchen counter and just dump it as we need to. Honesly, that is the gross part…keeping scraps on your kitchen counter.
Your really do not need a barrel..they are hard to turn over using a shovel/rake thingy inside of it. cramped. We just used chicken wire. We have 2 now and alternate between. We live in the city and we have no rats, fox or other varmits bothering it.
It gives off some crazy heat in th fall /early winter and you will see the snow melt there first!
DODODOODODo IT!
xx
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Jeanne, interesting re: the shade versus the sun. And I love a little city ingenuity…I might just have to try that myself!
Cole, thanks for the advice re: the barrel. I’m thinking, too, that cramped is not a good thing. But worms? Definitely good.
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
My husband was afraid of the compost pile, afraid that it would sit there not really rotting, just staring at him in its shabby ‘I’m garbage’ way, getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So he was really surprised when I pulled back the top four inches of compost to reveal soil all the way down. This was after one year.
It’ll work great!
on Apr 10th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Ottawa Gardener, thanks for the encouragement and the anecdote — this is all starting to make me think I can actually make this work…
on Apr 11th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Composting is not rocket science, anyone can do it. Just as long as you don’t throw meat scraps and other cooked food on the compost heap you’re fine. And make sure that everything is shredded as that will help with composting.
I have 2 compost bins that my hubby made for me last year. I’ll post pictures of that on my blog some day soon.
on Apr 11th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Yolanda Elizabet, definitely let me know when you post your pictures — I’d love to see them! Thanks for that shredding tip, too — very helpful.
on Apr 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
The Wisconsin city I live in sells composting bins to the public once a year. They only cost $40 and they’re just big enough for a small yard. It’s black so it keeps things hot and the covers lock and/or latch to keep critters out. It doesn’t smell at all. Just don’t put fats or meat scraps in as has been pointed out already. :-)
http://www.earthmachine.com/
on Apr 11th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
DTD, yeah, I’m definitely clear on the no-meat/no-fat deal. I would love to locate a $40 compost container…I’ll have to see what I can find, even if I can’t find something here in Iowa City.
on Apr 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
My two cents. I have one of these buckets and I love it. I can let it sit on the counter until it is full, and the lid fits so well that there are no odors.
Lee Valley is also a great source for good tools, garden or otherwise.
on Apr 13th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
[...] people are nothing if not passionate about your compost. I received more comments and advice for my Garbage Buffet post than I’ve ever received before, and I thank [...]
on Apr 13th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Jenn, you swayed me. Thanks for the suggestion and for sending me in the Lee Valley direction!
on Apr 14th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
For what it’s worth, I just read a piece in Newsweek about composting (one might ask why I would even have read such an article and I might answer that my friend is the Inadvertent Gardener) and it says that Starbucks will give away coffee grounds for composting–the program is called Grounds for your Garden. If you don’t have a Starbucks on every corner as we do here, perhaps your local latte shop would save them for you.
Didn’t we experiment with rotting food in college? Somehow I suspect that allowing food to rot in the fridge is different than composting.
Have a good weekend!
on Apr 14th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Jenny, I hadn’t heard about that program — thanks for the heads up! We don’t have a Starbucks on every corner here, but we do have one on one corner…maybe I’ll go in and see what they have to offer. And yeah, I think composting via fridge is probably a bad idea. But I’m thinking this will be a great way to deal with the number of times I buy spinach or lettuce in little bags and don’t eat it in time…instead of throwing that out, I can throw it (minus the plastic) on the compost pile!
on Apr 16th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
I used to save all our little scraps and whatnot, to end up with a few buckets of compost every year. Then I found out I could get leaf compost for $10 a truckload from the landfill… that was my undoing as a composter.
on Apr 16th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Don, yikes, don’t tell me that after I’ve invested in a shiny little pail. :-) What I really need is a pick-up truck…then I’d be able to go get a pick-up truckload of compost. Hmm…
on Apr 19th, 2007 at 10:41 am
[...] mentioned how I was freaking myself out over composting in his comment on my Garbage Buffet post, and I must tell you…I am quite capable of freaking myself out over everything from compost to [...]
on Apr 28th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
[...] 28th, 2007 Iowa City , Gettin’ Dirty , Steve , Overheard There are a few ways to acquire compost. You can buy it, you can borrow it (it’s the giving it back that’s hard) or you can make [...]
on Jul 12th, 2007 at 11:30 am
[...] should stop for a moment and explain that I went from being scared of compost piles to having two. First, I bought a wire box to throw the compost in, and set that up. Then, Steve’s [...]
on Jul 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Just my two cents here at the end of the comments section.
Last fall I put up two 5x5x4 wire bins in the shape of a figure eight so one side was common. It is right next to my garden plot, which I will be doubling this fall. I pre-emptively dealt with neighbor objections by offering to mow up their leaves and lawn last fall. I did it twice, taking about 80% of their leaves. the rest blew in my yard anyway. :-) Their kids also get a kick out of adding leftover salads and peelings to our pile.
A good mowing along with leaves made for a good compost start. I don’t know what the brown-green ration actually was, but it looked really good. Both bins were full to heaping (>6 ft), but quickly reduced down to 5 ft. By mid-winter they were down to 3 ft. I didn’t turn them until spring, when I turned one over, then forked the other bin on top of the first one. The pile was 4 ft tall, but quickly transubstantiated down to 3 ft.
The really neat thing happened when I added a lawn’s worth of clippings to the pile, mixing them all in. (I had noticed that I could still see some leaves, and I wanted to add more green nitrogen.) Keep in mind I added 50% to the volume of the pile. It heated right up and in two weeks, the pile was smaller than when I started.
I’ll till in the goodness this fall to the old and new beds, then cover the beds in 6″ of grass and leaf litter.
There is no trick to compost. Just let nature do its work. It doesn’t stink unless you *pile* in grass clippings. Mixed with ‘brown’ leaf matter, it can handle the green.
Heck, try a small 2′ diameter wire cage circle filled with leaf-grass mix, staked three places. Next spring plant tomoatoes at the stakes.
Godspeed.
on Jul 17th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Brian, planting tomatoes around the compost cage is a really great idea! A little nutrient for them and a built-in stake, all at once. Very efficient. Thanks for your compost info — this is very informative.