Why I Oughta...

In October, I turned my compost over.   That meant pulling out the 'black gold' in the tumbler (that's where I finish the compost each year) and then re-filling the tumbler with more-finished (than the rest) of the compost from the right bin.  Then using a compost fork to pull out and move the stuff from the 'middle bin' to the 'right bin' - where it was properly mixed.  And finally...taking the storage bin - the 'left bin' which is mostly leaves and kitchen scraps and mixing it in the middle bin.  That left the 'storage bin' on the left empty. For like 10 days.   Here's what it looks like today - below.  The left bin (with the 'feed me' sign) is filling up with leaves that have come off our lawn and out of our gardens: There is A LOT of air in this bin, so these leaves will compact/compress to about 1/2 of the bin height.  I'm going to give it a pause for a week-or-so, then come back and fill it back up with even more leaves...

It was just 12 days ago that I posted a Fall 2024 update on our compost bins.  In that post, I showed the decomposition and compaction that had occurred over this season with all three bins just about leveling-out.  The 'finished bin' was spilling material out and the 'hold' bin was (surprisingly) decomposing despite not being properly mixed. #14 on my 2024 to-do list was to 'keep going on compost' .  And, over the past few months, we'd *mostly* done that.  We were certainly ADDING to the bins, but when I did my September check-in on my list, I marked this one as 'incomplete' because I had NOT (yet) turned the bins over for the season .  That changed this past weekend, when I went to work on all three bins plus our tumbler.   I started by looking at the tumbler - where I found BLACK GOLD.  I've emptied this tumbler each year after getting that lovely loam-y black gold.  This year is no different.  Below are a few photos showing the outp...

The leaves are falling from our trees, which means I have to start thinking about what to do with them.  My thoughts naturally turn to our compost bins.  We have a three-bin setup plus a tumbler to finish that I've used over the years.  In normal years, I turn the compost once per year and move it along in the process.   The three-bin setup is (from left-to-right) a storage bin (mostly leaves), a semi-mixed bin and a mixed bin.  I normally move the finished compost out of the tumbler and re-fill it with the material from the right mixed bin.  This year...I didn't do any of that.   What is normally pretty 'lazy compost' was even more lazy this year.  How did it work out?   What do they say?  "Nature finds a way."  And that's the case with our compost bins.  We've seen compression and decomposition in all three bins.  And, a full load of BLACK GOLD in our tumbler.   Below is the current state of the ...

I haven't gotten around to turning our compost bins this Summer.  But, that hasn't slowed down the natural decomposition that is taking place back there.  The last time that I looked at the bins was in Spring - March 2024 - when they were full from Fall and Winter scraps and weeds .  Since then, I piled on A LOT of things - Spring cleanup, cuttings from grasses, a bunch of turf/soil from various excavations/edgings.  And, lots of weeds - including a HUGE pile of tall Pokeweed.   The heat of Summer, combined with time has yielded some natural compression and decomposition.  Have a look (below) at the current state of the three bins.    Do I need to turn these over?  Yes.  Will I get to it before Fall?  I'm not sure.   But, as of now, I don't have room for Fall leaves.  So, that...will end up being the forcing factor. 

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 recen...

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 202...

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.  

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 ...

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 to...

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 ...

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 collect...

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 fro...

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 fi...

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 dealin...