Spring Clean-Up Beginnings - Ornamental Grasses In Our Compost Bin - March 2025

The last time I checked in our compost bins was late last Fall when I was filling the left bin (holding bin) with the last of the Fall leaves that dropped in our yard.  At that time, the 3rd bin (the fully-mixed bin) was overloaded - above the top of the bin.  That's because compaction occurs and that material will settle as it continues to decompose.  The 'middle bin' was only half-way full and the last bin - on the left - which is the 'holding bin' was piled to the top of leaves.  

Over the past few months, some of that compaction occurred and the level of the leaves in the 'holding bin' dropped enough to allow for the addition of garden (and kitchen) waste.  

The past few days, I posted some photos of how we've begun to cleanup the backyard by taking down/clipping some grasses - Muhly Grasses, Karl Foerster Grasses and the little colony of Hellebores - where I took off last year's foliage.  For each of those clean-ups, I brought the material back to the compost bin and used my pruners to chop the blades, shoots and stems up into smaller pieces.  

Here's a post from late February 2024 that shows I had cleaned up even more grasses (than I have thus far this season) and topped all of the bins.  

I've learned over the years that the grasses can cause problems in the bins.  That's only if you leave them whole - in large scale - and create an exclusively-unique layer of ornamental grasses.  

That's why I've started to cut the blades down into smaller pieces.  And, mixing in some kitchen waste - and other items like those Hellebores stems. 

Here, below, is the current state of the 'holding bin' - showing the grasses and other material from the very early stages of Spring clean-up:

Last Spring, I amended the bins with some biosolids - which with all the talk about PFAS in biosolids, I'm rethinking (just a little bit).  

There is MUCH more clean-up garden waste that is remaining to be collected, so I fully expect to fill both the middle (mixed) and left (holding) bins in the coming weeks - as soon as the ground becomes less saturated.