Bonnefide Garden Store
Stove Top
Composting
Guest Writer and Master Gardener, Barbara Wallace
Composting is a HUGE subject.
I'll try here to highlght the basics and get more in-depth in later articles.
You can do it on a very large scale like a business or in your backyard as a “hobby”.
I call this process “stove top composting” mainly because while I’m cooking supper, I’m collecting items to be composted, or fed to my chickens.
Items that can be composted are - coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea leaves and their bags, eggshells, cooked or uncooked vegetables, fruit peelings, apple cores, bread[no butter], basically anything that does not contain grease. (gravy, milk or milk by-products, cottage cheese or yogurt, fat, or bones).
I feed all of this to my chickens. My husband and I clean out the chicken coop once every six months, whether it needs it or not and this will make great compost after it has “cooked” for at least 6 months.
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a container for compost, but there are some people who prefer to use one. Some people do it on such a large scale that they may need one.
If I were to use a “container”, I’d use three of them. The first one would be the beginning of a compost pile. This is where you put just about anything except the kitchen sink. Remember, no grease! If you are a “compost purist”, you will want to adhere to a “recipe”.
My recipe is easy: Browns + Greens = Compost.
Browns include: leaves, straw, woody materials.
Greens include: grass, food scraps, horse, cow, or chicken manure or a combination of those Never use dog, cat or human manure in your compost.
Composting Containers
The kind of material that you use for your composting container is basically up to you. Some people, like me, would prefer to use “pallets” used in all sorts of commercial endeavors they’re made out of wood and are tough and last a long time.. Why buy something when you can sometimes “recycle” what you already have on hand.
I do not recommend that you use treated lumber to make a compost bin. There are some processes used to treat the lumber that use arsenic, and this can leach into the compost causing problems with your plants later.
I once used a 25 gallon garbage can [plastic], that had holes drilled into the sides for drainage. I would secure the lid and once a week, I’d roll it across the backyard. This is how I turned it once a week.
The second of my 3 containers would hold the second stage of the compost process.
The last container would hold the finished product, sometimes referred to as “Black Gold”.