Composting Precautions To Consider

There are living creatures that you want in your compost bin such as microbes and red earthworms, and then there are the creatures you want to stay away like raccoons, rodents, and bears.  A compost bin can be very appealing to an animal who smells easy access to food.  As a rule, you should never put animal products into compost (left over meat and bones, or dairy). Not only do they not make for good composting they will be a magnet to wild animals.  Following are a few more tips to help keep your compost bin free from pests of all sizes.

Compost Bin with Lid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An odor-free compost bin is less likely to attract bears or any other unwanted animal pests.  You can achieve this by rotating or turning the compost pile at least once per week, and making sure you have a good mixture of green and brown materials.  Another precaution that should be taken is to have a bin with a cover, whether it is commercially made or one you make yourself.

Another thing you can do is to put brown food such as leaves or lawn clippings on top of the green food (food scraps and other kitchen waste).  You can also purchase lime at your local nursery or hardware store to sprinkle on the top of your composting materials to increase the rate at which everything decomposes.

The location of your compost heap should not be near the edge of your property - especially if you live near a forest or park area.  This makes it very easy for animals to help themselves without being exposed by walking through your backyard.

If bears or raccoons are a big concern in your community you may want to look into a neighborhood compost pile.  In addition to making composting more accessible to a larger group of people, you can invest in an electric or barbed wire fence to ensure no unwanted animals come looking for a free lunch.

Materials You Need to Start Composting

Now that you have decided that you want to compost, there are a few items that you will need to get started.  Most of these items are available in your own yard and require a small amount of planning ahead of time.

After you pick a location for your compost bin or pile (ensure it is in an easily accessible location) you may want to start with approximately four inches of leaves as a base.  If you are able to chip the leaves prior it will make things progress and breakdown faster but it is not a requirement.  The quantity of leaves you will need to make a four-inch deep base will vary depending on the size of the bin you have chosen.

Yard waste composting bin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Your next layer should be about one inch of high-quality soil.  If you cannot find this in your own garden a small bag of organic soil purchased from your local nursery will work fine. 

Then start layering the food for the microbes to eat.  There are two categories of food you are going to need brown (yard waste or dry items such as straw) and green (food scraps, grass clippings, and other organic waste).  A common ratio is two parts brown for every part of green, but it doesn't have to be terribly exact.

You are going to need a spade or heavy-duty pitch fork to turn or rotate the compost at least once per week.  If there is a dry spell you will need a means of adding water (a hose) to keep the pile moist.

With such simple materials and start-up instructions, anyone can start their own compost pile in under a day.  If you choose to not use a bin, consider buying some wire mesh to contain the pile, it can be wrapped around the base of the pile in a circular shape. You may also create a square or rectangular bin by stacking logs or pieces of wood or bamboo to create the sides - or build a bin from wood planks if you want something more durable and enclosed.

Your compost can be ready to use anywhere from four months up to one year, depending on the climate and weather conditions.

Compost: A Gardener's Delight

Isn't it amazing that all that waste food that we can't or don't want in the kitchen is such a good food source for the plants in our garden? What makes it even better is the fact that we can grow vegetables in our gardens, cook and eat them, and whatever we don't use goes back into the garden to make the next lot of vegetables grow better and healthier than ever! It's a perfect demonstration of the life cycle, and also a great teaching opportunity for your kids.

A closed plastic compost for garden waste. Suomi: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Compost not only helps to feed your plants by improving the quality of the soil but it can also control diseases in the garden, as plants that are well nourished with all of the nutrients they need are less susceptible to all kinds of disease.

You can create compost simply by throwing all your waste on a pile and waiting for it to rot, however this can take quite a long time if the compost pile is quite large. The rotting process is aided by keeping the heap moist and this might require watering in hot climates. Having the compost in an enclosed container can help to retain the heat and moisture, which will speed up the process.

It is possible to buy specific containers that are made for fast composting and apart from the fact that they will keep your yard looking a lot tidier, you will get the benefits of using the compost sooner and there will be less 'bad smells' in your garden.

Contained composts are also a lot better at keeping vermin out which can sometimes become a problem with uncovered waste on your property.

Many containers will spin or "tumble" to help with keeping the contents aerated and uniformly moist. Some of the premium compost containers have separate bins which can be rotated, thereby giving you access to the compost at the bottom of the container, which is ready for use without having to dig through the fresh waste at the top.

This convenience will ensure you have quality compost that you can use as soon as it is ready rather than waiting months for the contents to rot.

Good Compost Bins & Tumblers:
   

Video - Hot Composting Step-By-Step

Here is a video with step-by-step instructions for making a hot compost. If you don't have a lot of space, you can use a series of compost bins or tumblers as shown - these are smaller but easier to turn and don't take up as much room - in fact, you could easily fit several of these on a small patio. (Some examples of composting tumblers are shown below the video.)  (Note: If video does not appear below, click the link to view.)

How To Hot Compost
Hot Compost. Composting is nature's way of recycling and hot composting is a method of accelerating the process by regularly digging through, or turning, the decaying matter.


Composting Bins & Tumblers:
   

How to Choose a Composting Container

Well, summer is coming, and with it (in most areas) prime composting season! If you're not familiar with composting, browse our previous posts for some great instructions and tips, and stay tuned, as we post article on composting here fairly frequently.

Image via WikipediaOne of the first things to consider when building your compost is how you will contain it. There are many sizes, shapes, and styles of composting bins to choose from.  You can buy one fairly affordably, make one yourself, or opt for not using one at all and create a compost pile or heap.

A compost tumbler is a cylindrical shape much like a drum laid on its side.  It can be turned on a base that is supported on the flat ends.  By turning the drum you are rotating and aerating the materials at the same time.  It is an easy and effective way to rotate your compost. (This is the one I use - I've had it for 3 years, and am overall very happy with it: Envirocycle Compost Tumbler. It is easy to fill, easy to turn, and it has a collector at the bottom for "compost tea" - you WON'T want to drink it, but your plants will!)

A bio-orb container is shaped like a round ball and comes in various sizes.  The benefits of this type of container are the ease of getting it around (you can roll it over to your yard waste and roll it back to its base), and the act of rolling it also aerates and rotates the contents.  There are many small round holes in the container to let air in too.

Image via WikipediaA wooden box composter with slats or a wooden framed box with mesh sides can be purchased or easily made at home.  If you can find four wooden pallets, you can nail them together to create a compost bin very inexpensively or you can find a roll of wire mesh at your local hardware store.  Both of these options allow air to circulate as long as the contents are not too compacted. (We will post some more detailed instructions and possibly a video on this later this week, so be sure to check back for that.)

If you do not want to use a bin, start with a pile of glass clippings or leaves and start to layer your food scraps on top.  As time goes by and your pile continues to grow make sure you rotate and “stir” it frequently.  Be warned though, it is not as easy to turn a pile that is not contained.  They tend to grow in circumference over time as the pile spreads out after rotating.

Check back on Thursday for some tips on building your own composting container!


Some Examples of Good Composters: