cheshirekat
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

Straw very good

I have been adding straw to my compost a few handfuls at a time - each time I add my kitchen/garden scraps. Although the compost seemed to be doing fine, I found the compost difficult to turn. (I may just be a weakling!) Adding less water helped. It was breaking down and I saw a lot of worms and it didn't smell bad. I was worried it might become malodorous and bother the neighbors since the pile is near the fence. I thought I'd see their dog sniffing along the fence as a sure sign that things were going very wrong. But the dog never went near the fence at all.

I mentioned a couple times that it's a compost <b>pile</b> not a fancy bin or anything like that. It's in a partially shaded location because I didn't have a sunny location for it that wouldn't be in the way. I cover it with a ragged old piece of blue plastic. I'm building my compost pile for next year, so I'm not taking any out for this year. I want a big pile for next year so I have time to make sure I get it right.

Less than two weeks ago, I added the usual garden waste and coffee grounds and a few handfuls of straw and turned, mostly the top and sides really good. Then the kitchen scraps I added were very smelly because the hubby cleaned out stuff we didn't recognize from the fridge and it sat a couple days before I took it to the compost. I dumped it all in the middle of the compost pile because I didn't want to smell it any more than necessary. I barely pushed a few handfuls of straw to sink the scraps down in the middle. The compost pile is about five feet by five feet and three feet deep. Then I added a few inches of straw on the top and let it fall all down the sides. It looked like a huge pile of straw because none of the compost was visible. I covered the pile with the plastic, added weight of 2x4's, a broken plastic gate, and old tires as usual.

I didn't touch the pile at all since topping it with the straw. Until today. I had more than a weeks worth of coffee grounds and egg shells for the pile that was beginning to mold all the way to the top. When I uncovered the compost, the straw looked slightly moist although I hadn't watered the top. I pulled some back from the middle and saw black gold. The pile was a deep rich black and smelled very earthy. I carefully pulled all the straw off and pushed my compost fork in the middle to scoop some out. It crumbled so nicely. I dug into the sides and all around to turn it and it crumbled everywhere - much easier to turn. No stink. The worms were plentiful. No recognizable pieces of garbage and I was looking carefully for the coffee filters and banana peels I didn't chop up last time. I also didn't recognize the handfuls of straw as I usually do. I guess I've finally made real compost.

So I now have my perfect formula. The equal green and brown didn't work for me. Adding a little more brown than green didn't work. One part green to almost four parts brown is what works. And I cut way back on the amount of water I was adding at the beginning of Spring. If I increase the amount of greens I add through the summer, to about double, plus the end of the season waste in the fall, I'm hoping to turn a good pile of compost this year. I'm also growing some comfrey to add along with the clover growing in the front yard. I have four bales of straw to add to the compost through the summer and hope to get at least four more to top off the whole pile for the winter and keep it from deep freezing so I can use it early next spring.

I'll start the compost in a different location next year so I can grow the comfrey all around it. The spot has plastic over it now to kill off grass. I also want to make a compost pit next year, with some straw bales as the sides of my pit. I have an area that is a bit more than twelve feet wide by seven feet. I can make two pits of five by five, with one for finished compost.

petalfuzz
Green Thumb
Posts: 632
Joined: Sat May 31, 2008 3:37 pm

Thanks for the info. I've already hatched a sinister plot of nabbing people's "decorative" hay bales when they throw them out after Halloween. He, he! :twisted:

cheshirekat
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

That's a very good sinister plan.

I got a tip from the lady who owns the feed store where I pick up my bales of straw. Some people don't use a lot of straw but straw is my primary brown. If you only use a little, than most small feed stores will let you come "clean" the area they keep the straw bales to sell. (If they don't have critters there.) When you clean, you just scoop up the piles of straw on the ground and keep the straw you scoop. At the place I go to, that would equal about two bales of straw for free.

The local gardening club has several people who decorate with straw for Halloween and will give leftover straw away when they get rid of the decor. This would be great for topping off the compost pile at the end of the season. You could probably ask your neighbors to put their straw aside for you so someone else won't get it, or so it won't end up at the bottom of the dumpster.

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CharlieK
Senior Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 4:32 am
Location: Covington, LA USA

Will a square bale of hay be alright if left outside by the compost pile with a light cover? I wouldn't mind buying a bale if it would last awhile.

cheshirekat
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

Straw won't break down as fast if covered and not sitting directly on the ground. I had a bale of straw sitting on the ground for less than a month. When I turned it to move, there were a bunch of worms already starting to break it down. You can use old wooden palettes to elevate them. Or you can use a stack of bricks or something.

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CharlieK
Senior Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 4:32 am
Location: Covington, LA USA

I can do that! Thank you.

buddy110
Senior Member
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:13 pm

I have been doing low tech composting too. Kitchen scraps, grass clippings and sawdust. I let the clippings dry out for a couple days before mixing it in. I turn it with a front end loader a couple times a week. It gets pretty hot. It smells a little when I turn it but not too bad. I just add some browns. I never water it either. There has been plenty of rain so far this year and all my piles (new and completed) are moist.
What is the pupose of covering it?

cheshirekat
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

I cover mine to keep the critters out, to keep it from drying out too quickly, to keep the wind from spreading compost material around the yard, to keep the wind and birds from spreading weed seeds into my compost, and to keep the heat in my pile because it is in a partially shaded location.

And the hubby hated the compost pile when he could see it all the time and complained endlessly about it until I covered it up.



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