Posts

Showing posts with the label turning compost

Compost Bin Fire - Dry Material Burned in Late Winter - February 2024

Image
I was feeling pretty good about my prescribed burning of tiny piles of leaves and some perennial litter from last season.  I posted the details of it yesterday .  Over the weekend, I went out and did a little bit more burning.  I used my small hand rake to pull together a pile of (mostly) oak leaves - creating a little burn break from other leaf litter - and use my small propane torch to light-it-up.   But, I think I got a little too cocky.  Burning and burning and burning.  And feeling good about returning the carbon to the soil via little ash piles.  All the while...cleaning up the beds a bit.  I was puttering around the beds making little piles and burning them.  They light up, then expire on their own when they exhaust all the material.  A little smoldering for a minute or two, then the piles of ash go dark.  And leave behind some white, burned out material.   I found myself back by the compost bins, where I recently filled-them-up with a bunch of ornamental grass cut-downs that I

One Month After Compost Bin Turning - August 2023

Image
A month ago, I posted the details and photos of my process of emptying, re-mixing/re-layering, amending and re-filling my pair of compost bins in our backyard .  I ended that post showing the (then) state of the bins with a heaping mound on top.  What does it look like today?  Four weeks post-turning? See below for the two bins in their current - Late-August - state: At first glance, I would say that the pile has shrunk.  Settled.  Compacted a bit.  But, not A TON. I had to go back and look to compare.  Here, below is a .gif showing the two photos for a tale-of-the tape.  The larger mound (in the further-away photo) is the before.   There's certainly shrinkage.  The top of the mound is down.  The right side of the right bin is just about level with the top of the fence.   But, not nearly enough shrinkage for me to think that I can do anything with my Fall leaves and these bins.  I'm thinking that not a single 2023 Fall leaf will go in these.  There won't be room.  I'm g

Compost Pile Up To Temperature 48 Hours Post Turning - July 2023

Image
It was just a couple of days ago that I posted the details (and photos) of my mid-Summer emptying, turning, re-layering, amending and re-building of our compost bins .  I stuck my compost thermometer in the pile about 2/3rds of the way down and after just about 24 hours, we're already up to temperature.  See below for a look at the current temp showing the pile in the 'active' zone at about 110°.  And climbing.   That gray-shaded "hot" zone is where you want your pile, so I'll be watching to see if I was able to mix the material to the proper ratio and if I supplied enough moisture to get it really cooking.  From what I've read, if you can get your compost pile up to that 160° area, you can have compost as quickly as just five-or-six weeks.  

Compost Bin Summer Update: Turning, Layering, Reloading - July 2023

Image
I had a little bit of time off earlier this week and I opted to do some annual compost program maintenance.   I've done this the past few years and #11 on my list this year was to 'continue on my compost journey'.   Here's what I wrote: 11.  Continue on our composting journey.   That starts with using  our kitchen bin , turning the mixed bin, amending with alfalfa and/or biosolids.  It also means that I need to keep moving through the two bins and tumbler set-up with the goal of a tumbler-full-of-finished compost to be used in the garden every season.   Fall leaves stored in Fall , full, properly mixed bin by end-of-season. Up until now, I felt pretty good about composting this year.  Between the use of Starbucks grounds as an additive to adding kitchen scraps , I've been good about putting more waste in the bins.  I've also made a pretty big mound/pile of material from various projects and all the leaves from my Spring cleanup.  My two bins were pretty full a

Starbucks Grounds For The Garden - Compost Amendment - April 2023

Image
This Winter, we've been adding our kitchen waste to the carbon storage (mostly leaves) compost bin out back and have been sort of hand-turning it in to the top layer.  I add some kitchen waste, then add a thin layer of leaves on top.  And repeat.  I also started to add a little bit of biosolids to that same storage bin, too.   As the weather warms up, I'll get out there and turn the bin, but for now, I'm just thinking about how to add some amendments that might help speed-up the leaf bin a little bit. To that end, I was at the SBUX in Westmont last week and saw the big bag of used grounds on the counter that they were offering.  I grabbed a bag and brought it home.  Below are some photos of this ' Grounds for Your Garden ' package: I dumped the bag of grounds on the top of the bin and stir'd it in.  Below is how the grounds look straight out of the bag. In that photo, you can see some of the ornamental grasses that I cleaned up and put in the top of the bin. 

Amending Compost Storage Bin With Biosolids - March 2023

Image
Over the past few weeks, I've been working with biosolids in various ways - topdressing parts of the lawn and parkway as well as using it in a vertical mulching strategy in our front porch bed .  But, I also wondered....what would happen if I amend our compost storage bin (the non-active, non-mixed storage bin) with some biosolids in an attempt to being to sort-of 'pre-mix' the storage bin.  This bin is MOSTLY last Fall's leaves with a little bit of grass clippings mixed-in...as I used the bagger on my mower to collect and 'chop' the leaves.  This is also the bin where I throw all my garden clean-up waste (like...the recently removed ornamental grasses) and our kitchen scraps.   This past weekend, I took two gallons of biosolids and dumped it on top of this storage bin.  See below for how much I added (not much): I used my spade to sort-of mix in the biosolids with the grass blades and it quickly disappeared from the top of the bin.   What's the goal?  To h

Compost Pile Settling - September 2022

Image
Ten days in the life of a recently turned compost pile is an eternity.  At least, that's how it seems with my compost bins.  Ten or so days ago, I posted the details of how I emptied my compost bins (and tumbler) and refilled them with a proper mix of browns and greens along with some alfalfa cube accelerant .  At that time, the main, properly mixed bin was heaping.  By that, I mean I piled up the compost into a mound that extended well above the top of the fence panels on all sides and was mounded about 30" past the top of the panels in the very center.  Go here to have a look at the pile ten days ago . Thanks to active decomposition and gravity, the 'heaping pile' bin is now well under-control.  See below for an updated photo showing the edges of the bin have all sunk down and are now under the top of the fence panel edges.  And the center mound?  That's dropped by more than half, too.   We're getting close to the start of leaf collection season, so that mean

Turning And Re-Pile'ing Compost - September 2022

Image
Earlier this week I posted a couple of updates on our compost project.  First, I shared photos of the black gold compost that came out of our tumbler .  I spread that material on the front beds as an amendment and a way to try to improve the conditions up there.  Then, I posted some photos of what the pair of bins looked like pre-turning and walked through how I emptied them to get down to the 'most done' material (at the bottom of the mixed bin - under the passive aeration pipes) in an attempt to fill the tumbler and get the balance of the material ready for re-pilin'ing.  At that point, I had two full-to-the-top bins.  The one on the right, properly mixed.  The one on the left...not so much.  It was filled with Fall leaves and whatever I picked up this season including all the thatch from my backyard lawn renovation project. My plan was to open up the front panel of the bins to allow me to empty the bins to allow for proper mixing, then put the front panel back in place

Compost Pile Update and Turning - September 2022

Image
I mentioned a few days ago that I had begun to empty the compost tumbler and spreading the black gold out in the beds out front as a soil amendment .  Having that tumbler empty means that I can begin to tackle the other two bins.  Below is a photo showing the current state (early September) of the two bins.  Of note, you'll see in the bin on the left AND in the wheelbarrow, I have recently added a big batch of grass clippings and thatch that I removed from our backyard.  Both bins are full up to the top. I began to turn these piles by starting to empty the bins.  The bin on the right is a proper mix of greens and browns.  And has passive aeration in it.  The bin on the left was empty up until last Fall when I filled it up with mulched-up leaves.  It was (then) mostly browns.  And now, it is topped with grass - mostly greens.   So, these bins need three things:  first...pulling out of the most-done compost material that I can fill up the tumbler to get a batch of 'finished'

Spreading Compost (Black Gold) on Front Porch Beds - Amending the Soil - September 2022

Image
On my 2022 to-do list were a few items related to compost that I've begun to address in the past week or so since the weather has started to cool down.  If you go back and look at this year's list , you'll see that #13 focused on MAKING compost and using what I have while #19 talked about improving the soil conditions in the front of our house.  This post is about how I've combined those two things by using the compost - or Black Gold - that is in our compost tumbler and applied it to our font porch beds.  First, have a look (below) at the makeup of the compost that is currently in our tumbler.  Do I turn this thing regularly?  No.  Is it in the sun?  No.  Do we still get a pot of black gold compost at the end of the Summer?  Yes.  Here's proof: I wanted to take it a little bit at a time (to start), so I began to fill a couple of five-gallon buckets with the compost.  See below: And, brought it up front to the beds where I'm dealing with a mix of hydrophobic mu

Late Winter Compost Bins - March 2022

Image
The last time that I showed the state of our two compost bins in the far back of our yard was back in early November when I had just topped the bins with their final collection of grass and leaves.  You can see that post here .  Below, you can see the current (this week) state of the bins after a Winter of snow and compaction.   On the left is a browns-only bin.  And on the right is a mixed bin with some passive aeration pipes inserted in a couple of spots. Not a TON of compaction, is there?  The temperatures are really working against any active decomposition during the Winter, so gravity is what is mostly at play.  The bin on the right had some compaction - and was aided by that log on top.  One of the things I'll get to this Spring is doing a full-turn on both bins and working in more of the browns from the right to get a 'cooking' bin set up for success this Summer.   I suppose, I should include in my 2022 to-do list an item on compost.  I think the right goal is to pu

Active Compost Cooking - Over 100 Degrees - September 2021

Image
A week ago, I posted some photos and talked about the new (to me) process of laying in some 'alfalfa cube soup' in my active compost bin as I turned it over and mixed the browns and greens.  That layering of the material that I've collected since last Fall in the one, active bin, came after I had turned over the top of the active bin and removed all the (mostly) black gold from the bottom a week prior .  We're still in the heat of Summer - with air temperatures in the 80's and 90's around here, so it is prime compost decomposition time and 'active' time in our bin.   I have measured the temperature of my bins before - earlier this Summer, I was seeing temperatures of the pile above the air temperature, but only in the 'steady' category .  Somewhere between 80 degrees and 90 degrees.  I posted a photo of my long-stem compost thermometer here back in July showing right around 90 degrees .    Where are we after the alfalfa soup and turning the pile

Compost Bin Layering Using Alfalfa Cubes - Late Summer - 2021

Image
Over the weekend, I posted a couple of photos that showed the latest turn in our two-bin and one tumbler compost setup in our backyard .  Since last Summer, I had one bin (the one on the right as you face it) in 'cooking' mode.  That one has some pvc pipes installed for passive aeration and was (mostly) the right mix of greens and browns.  The second bin (on the left) has been my storage, inactive bin.  I almost everything in there that I had collected since last Fall.  That means, once the bin on the right was full of the final grass and leaves combo from early Fall, I started to put in everything on the left. In the post from a few days ago , I showed how I had emptied out the active bin and took the (mostly) finished compost and moved it to my tumbler for a final few months of cooking.  My plan is use that compost come Spring time and will use the rest of the Summer and Fall to get it finished.  I also took the rest of the (not quite finished) material from the active bin (t

Late Summer Compost Bin Update - August 2021

Image
The last time I posted about our compost bins was back in mid-July when I measured the temperature right at/below the 'cooking' zone .  Since then, we've had the hottest weather of the year and that means that we had some 'action' in our bins.  Below, you can see in the photo what our two-bin setup looks like right now.  On the right, an empty bin.  On the right, a (mostly) full bin.   Compare these with what the same thing looked like in May of this year when both bins were (mostly) full:  This photo above is from May of 2021. Where did all that material go?  Well...the good news is that the bottom of the bin on the right looked like this below: Lovely stuff.  Black gold?  Almost. But, no smell.  No mud.  Just kinda feels great in your hand.   Where did this stuff go?  Into our compost tumbler - to be finished for next Spring.  My plan now is to run a three-bin setup that uses two large storage bins and our tumbler for finishing.   Below, you can see in the photo w