Happiness is a composter

Photo by Sarah Phelan

I'm excited to announce the installation of a brand new composter in our yard this winter. Today, we added a lot of green material that we chopped with a machete to speed decomposition. In our haste to get started, we may not have completely separated out the following for haul away: plants with powdery mildew, other diseases or aphids; bermuda grass, oxalis and anything that grows with ground runners or bulbs; and weedy plants that have gone to seed. But in future we'll put them in the green bin.

When we had three-four inches of green material in the bin, we covered it with a layer of dried leaves. We repeated the process, as if we were preparing a giant green and brown lasagne. At intervals, we watered our concoction with the garden hose (decomposition doesn’t start until compost material is moist).

We also added discarded food scraps. But we only used plant material. Brussel sprout leaves, apple cores, green pepper stalks, banana skins and satsuma peels made the cut. As did well-crushed eggshells. But we avoided all animal meats and oils.

We covered the whole pile with straw to deter rodents and insects. We placed one thermometer in the center of bin and another thermometer outside the bin. We understand that the temperature inside the bin may rise to 140 degrees or above when the compost really gets cooking. And that any time the temperature drops to below 100 degrees, it means the pile needs to be turned so it will heat up again. This is best done at least weekly, until the compost doesn’t heat up any further, which means it is ready for use.

Today we installed our thermometers just in time to determine that the outside temperature was 50 degrees at 5:15 p.m.(17 minutes after sunset) and the inner temperature was 65 degrees. And we will be keeping a log to record daily temperature differences inside and outside the pile.

Our plan is to use the compost from this bin in our yard next year. We will place a wire mesh screen or plastic milk crate over a wheelbarrow or container to screen out unwanted sticks, bark, rocks or stones from the compost. We will transfer the unwanted rubble into a mulch pile. And give thanks for the black gold that last summer's dried leaves and stems and our stream of coffee grounds and tea leaves keeps yielding.