http://www.care2.com/greenliving/building-a-compost-heap.html
Build a Compost Heap
Adapted from Four-Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman
So often, the obvious solution is right at our fingertips, but
it looks so simple that we fail to notice. Generations of
gardeners have consistently come up with the same chain of
logic: A fertile soil is the key to growing garden vegetables;
compost is the key to a fertile soil. The first step in the
four-season harvest is learning to make good compost. It’s
not difficult. Compost wants to happen.
Pick a site near the garden so the finished compost will be
close at hand. Whenever possible, place the heap under the
branches of a deciduous tree so there will be shade in hot
weather and sunlight to thaw the heap in spring. A site
near the kitchen makes it convenient to add kitchen scraps.
Access to a hose is handy for those times when the heap
needs extra moisture. If the site is uphill from the garden,
the heavy work of wheelbarrowing loads of compost will have
gravity on its side.
Build the compost heap by alternating layers of brown
ingredients (such as dried grass stems, old cornstalks, dried
pea and bean vines, reeds, and old hay) with mostly green ones
(young, moist, and fresh materials such as kitchen wastes,
grass clippings, fresh pea vines). Begin with a layer of straw
about 3 inches deep, then add 1 to 6 inches of green ingredients,
another 3 inches of straw, and then more green ingredients.
The thickness of the green layer depends on the nature of the
materials. Loose, open material such as green bean vines or
tomato stems can be applied in a thicker (6-inch) layer,
while denser material that might mat together, such as kitchen
scraps or grass clippings, should be layered thinly (1 to 2
inches). These thicknesses are a place for you to start, but
you will learn to modify them as conditions require.
Sprinkle a thin coverage of soil on top of each green layer.
Make the soil 1/2 inch deep or so depending on what type of
green material is available. If you have just added a layer
of weeds with soil on their roots, you can skip the soil to the
compost heap has both a physical and a microbiological effect:
physical because certain soil constituents (clay particles and
minerals) have been shown to enhance the decomposition of organic
matter; microbiological because soil contains millions of
microorganisms, which are needed to break down the organic
material in the heap. These bacteria, fungi, and other organisms
multiply in the warm, moist conditions as decomposition is
initiated. If your garden is very sandy or gravely, you might
want to find some clay to add to the heap as the soil layer.
As an additional benefit, the clay will improve the balance of
soil particle sizes in your garden.
Go to the Source
Four-Season Harvest
Eliot Coleman shows how North american gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyad cold frames and plastic-covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat.buy nowrelated stories
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87 comments
add your comment »excellent idea for those who can have a compost heap.
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me again...sorry for the grammar mistakes in my English..
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I habe been doing the compost for a long time.It is a very interesting process to watch and also a metaphor of LIFE: everything continually changes ,nothing disappears,only silently and slowly transforms...
You don't need much effert,nature does all the work-makes you PATIENT.
Great.
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I compost in 2 ways. I have a worm bin in the laundry room. By being careful what I put in it, mostly coffe grounds and organic green tea bags, there is no odor. I also built a compost bin with a lid, to also use as a bench on patio. I have very close neighbors so an open pile is really not an option. To avoid any odor or maggots, I do not add any animal products to either bin. I mulch when I mow so I do use newspaper when I think I have added too much green material. I stir it every weekend.
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Any advice on composting in buckets? I typically add my kitchen scraps, sometimes an equal layer of yard waste, and a thin layer of soil if I feel it is needed. However, although the smell isn't putrid, it isn't exactly sweet either, so I'm worried that I may not be going about it in the right way. I seal it with an airtight lid until I add more material at the end of the week, in which case I usually stir it. Should I change anything??
Also, how long should I let the compost break down before I add it to my garden? How harmful is it to add some in around my established plants if the compost isn't broken down enough? (I've heard it can burn the plants if it's too hot) ANY advice is greatly appreciated; I'm new at this, and I'm anxious to eat vegetables from only my garden as soon as possible!
Pradnyaa-Thanks for the advice about the maggots!! I covered them with soil and haven't seen hide nor slither since!!
Thanks in advance!
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I compost anything that's natural/organic, including old cotton/wool/silk/linen clothes/sheets/towels that are past going to the charity shops - just cut them up and mix them in!
I love digging the compost out and seeing what's still in there and that rich, damp, sweet smell is divine.
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Ive been composting for about six months now and although the underneath is a bit sludgy im fascinated by all the insects and creepy crawlies each time i check it. great for my kitchen scraps and garden clippings.
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We are very lucky in that our small city has a composting plan - just like our garbage they pick all our compost up at the door. Instead of garbage pickup every week they pick up garbage one week, compost the next. It is truly shocking how much perfectly good compostable material our one household has been dumping into the landfill needlessly all these years. We have two bags of compost every 2 weeks and now only one bag of garbage. We just put all of our organic scraps - including paper towels, garden waste, tree branches, can labels and even meat and dairy into special compost bags. The city has a huge compost pile and uses the compost for all city landscape projects - which saves a lot on the city budget. Next year they will have enough so that they will start selling the compost to individual gardeners and all the local garden centers. Great way to save the environment my recycling all this waste and also a great way to create employment.
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1. Hi Gloria, Coffi grounds are Very Good for plants. U can add it to compost or enen give it to plants directly after drying on a sheet of paper. Too much of good thing is bad though.
2. Tiffany, I too found maggots in my compost bin few weeks back. I covered them with a very thick layer of dry soil and it worked. As for stirring the compost, I read somewhere that once in a couple of weeks is good time.
Cheers!
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Is it okay to compost coffee grounds or will the residual caffeine jazz my plants?
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