Planet Veggie Garden

That’s what my newbie gardening friend exclaimed when she asked to look in my compost bin. Yes, rolly pollies, sow bugs, slugs, worms and bugs you can’t see they are so small.

Composting or decomposition is nature’s way of recycling – one way or another all living things revert back to the earth to nourish the living – ‘tis the circle of life.

That circle plays itself out in the far corner of our garden to help feed the veggies and fruit trees that then feed us. What we don’t eat (trimmings) gets fed back into the compost bin – nothing is wasted. Cool…a circle that feeds a circle that feeds a…well you get the drift.

But how did I get that compost bin steaming away doing it’s composting thing? Well, after much research I discovered there are a million ways to compost! Luckily there are a few basic principles to composting. First you must mix ‘green’ material with ‘brown’ material.

Green equals high nitrogen -so fresh manure, green garden clippings, grass clippings, weeds and kitchen scraps.

Brown equals carbon – so dried leaves, wood chips, wood shavings, straw, shredded paper, coffee grounds, etc

In our compost bin, I started with a base layer of brown – I used about six inches of straw. Then I added some used rabbit bedding (from RabbitEars) mixed up with our kitchen scraps – about 6 inches. I intended to put in a bit less but I kind of got going and realized I should add the next brown layer.

If this green layer were to be just kitchen scraps I would have used less – maybe 2 or 3 inches. Generally, if the green material you’re using has a high potential to turn into smelly slime, make the layer thinner.

I sprinkled in some finished compost from the previous batch to help things get going. Then I sprayed some water onto the pile – you just want the material to be moist (like a wrung out sponge) not sopping wet.

Then I alternated brown with green ending with brown on top. This is an important step – always ending with a brown layer to keep down the fruit fly population and to keep in the heat.

Oh, half way through I remembered that I had some ‘Compost Activator’ in the shed so I sprinkled some in about half way into my layering. Later I found that compost activator is super high nitrogen which feeds the composting microorganisms and simply speeds them up – kind of like a strong cup of coffee.

We’ll be starting another bin… but slowly by only layering with our daily kitchen scraps. As one gardener said – never dump and run – always cover the scraps with a handful or two of something brown.

That’s it. Pretty simple. I let the full bin sit and magically overnight it became quite steamy. The heat (it can get up to 160F) is a key indicator that the bugs (that is the micro ones) are hard at work – sweating away – decomposing all that material you layered into the bin. The heat is also important for killing pathogens that cause plant diseases and those pesky weed seeds.

I started this bin two days ago and it has settled about four inches already. I’ll leave it be and try to turn it this weekend.

Turning is just scooping out the contents of the bin into another. The advantage is that I will loosen up the settling material, prevent compaction and aerate the material so it will finish decomposing faster – those microbes like their oxygen too. I can always leave it as is and wait about 6 – 8 months – it will finish all by itself – naturally. But I can speed things up by turning it regularly – once a week if I am especially ambitious. How speedy? Not sure but I will keep track so I can fine-tune my method and mix of green and brown.

With all this compost – not only will our garden grow – so will my biceps

How do you compost?

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