Compost is not rocket science

[hendi_alex]

and it doesn't have to make it all the way to black crumbly organic matter to be ready for use. In the fall, I collect most of the oak leaves and other leaves in my yard and place them in three wooden bins a little over 4' x 4' x 5' H. A light sprinkling of compost, manure, and used potting soil is placed between layers of about one foot. The next spring the contents of two bins are turned and used as a mix of partially decomposed leaf mold and compost. The remaining bin's material is used sparingly but most is retained to layer between the next season's leaves, grass clippings, table scraps, plants weeded from the garden, etc.

My system is easy and effective at providing a large amount of partially decomposed organic matter with minimal effort. I would caution against putting vegetable plants such as spent tomato plants in the compost as a cycle of disease can be promoted that way. On the other hand, spent lettuce, kale, sweet peas, and some other vegetable plant remains do go in the pile. No meat and very little fatty material makes it into the compost bins.

This is not a fancy high energy input method and it doesn't make the blackest/prettiest compost (unless you turn the pile more often and/or let it work on through the first half of the summer), but the garden seems to love the result.

[petalfuzz]

Do you shred the leaves first? Cause it sounds like if they are whole they might just get all clumpy and sit there. Do you let your pile sit the whole year? And how do you use it when it's partially broken down? Do you till it into the soil or spread it like mulch?

Thanks.

[hendi_alex]

No, I don't shred the leaves, but doing that with a mulch mower would improve the process. In some areas of the pile, leaves stay fairly unchanged over the winter season. Other areas the leaves clump like you suggest. Most however break down fairly completely or at least to the leaf mold stage. In the spring the mixture gets turned and mixed as I begin to take out the most thoroughly composted material. Then with the warm weather and the turning of the pile, the decomposition accelerates with the leaves turning into leaf mold and compost much more quickly. By the time I'm ready to use the last of the material, it is a nice mix of compost, leaf mold, and partially decayed matter.

For the most part I mix my compost about 50-50 with commercial potting soil and use that to ammend planting holes, sometimes it is used as a whole bed ammendment (turned under), or is used as a mulch that is lightly raked in at the surface.

My yard is almost pure, dry sand. Ammending the soil with compos, leaf mold, and commercial potting mix is essential for growing most plants.

Alex

[petalfuzz]

Cool beans! I'll have to nab other people's fall leaves though, cause we don't have any trees in our yard.

[CharlieK]

I wish you lived close enough to nab some of mine! I wish anyone would nab some of mine!

[mbaker410]

I have decided to start a compost bin but I am very limited on space. Can I use any type of vessel? Can I use a plastic "rubbermaid" like container? Does it need to have vents for air?

Thanks

[hendi_alex]

As has been discussed by many folks on this forum, at its most basic level, compost needs three things: organic material, air, water. (Really four but the first three guarantee the presence of the 4th, friendly bacteria and decomposers.) Also as discussed, to generate optimum compost requires a more scientific approach to regulating the ratio of brown to green ingredients, introduction of manure, addition of earthworms, watering to control moisture content, and regular turning to increase the available oxygen, and likely other things as well. I'm not a very scientific or efficient composter so really don't worry about any of those things except adding organic matter and turning about every four to six months. With enough mass the pile always retains a good bit of moisture in my location. I did introduce earthworms about 20 years ago, and they are still there doing their work for me, and have spread throughout the yard wherever compost has been applied and where ever sufficient organic matter is in the sand.

So to answer your question. You can use most any container to make compost or you can use no container at all, just pile on the ground. Any container has to satisfy the three basic needs, so yes holes for air circulation would be necessary. Also a very small container will not generate much core heat which helps break things down. Not a tremendous problem but will draw the composting process out much longer if the temperature is generally too cool. You may want to investigate one of the tumbler types of compost bins. They are neat, require just a small space, eliminate scavanger problems, and perhaps acclerate the composting time by a bit. There are many variations available on line.