YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Composting gets cool.
Posted on April 15th, 2009 – 9:46 AMBy Connie Nelson
When I was a kid, my older brother started a compost pile in the backyard. Nobody knew what it was. The neighbors referred to it as “that trash heap.” My brother didn’t get much sympathy when he tried to explain that he was turning yard and garden waste into natural fertilizer. The neighbors continued to bag their grass clippings and toss them in the garbage. He continued to spread completed compost on the garden. My mom’s vegetable garden continued to produce an awesome amount of tomatoes, peppers, beans, onions The compost pile continued to be a sore spot with the neighbors.
But something happened on the way to the future: Composting became cool. I’ve had composters in my tiny backyard for at least a decade. Once upon a time, the neighbors used to ask me what that black bin was. (No one complained.) Now most of my neighbors now have compost bins of their own. At neighborhood gatherings, we regularly talk about what we compost (coffee filters?) and what we don’t (eggshells), who needs extra compost for what and, of course, how are gardens are performing with all that natural fertilizer.
Tell us your cool composting story. Did you just start or have you been doing it since compost piles were considered trash heaps? Does your workplace or apartment compost? How do you use your compost? And what one thing have you learned NOT to compost?
31 Responses to "Composting gets cool."
Way back when we first bought our house we made a compost bin using the city of Minneapolis plans so we knew it would meet their criteria and not attract vermin. I had been putting in layers of garden waste and old leaves alternately when one day the city inspector came past, got out of his car in the alley and sauntered over to the pile and took out his pad of paper. uh oh! I zipped outside and asked if I could help him ( he was after all on my yard). He had a report from a concerned citizen that I had a garbage pile that was attracting vermin! I gave him a tour of the pile, pointing out the layers, the hardware cloth skin sides, the lid. I asked whether he was familiar with the plans for compost bins issued by the city. No, he was not. He also could not find the vermin or any evidence that there were ever any. He slapped shut his little book and told me to keep the top on the pile. I figured that the neighbor that goes into a chemical frenzy every spring and fall called them. This is the same guy who told me tomatoes were poisonous ( maybe with all the chemicals his were).
I now have the pile as well as a compost tumbler. Can anyone ever have too much compost?
Great story, Debw! Thanks for sharing. No, you can’t have too much compost! I have one of those pre-fab bins as well as homemade tumbler. They’re both full all the time it seems. Those tumblers sure work fast . . .
When we bought the house the garden was on the south side of the back yard. I can see why the previous owners gave up on the garden; the ground was pure clay and the pooor little tomatoes they planted never expanded the roots beyond the little round hole they were stuck in ( they were maybe six inches tall, very sad) I have been adding compost to the yard, the flower beds, the garden, any holes that materialized in the yard, everywhere since then. Now the ground is able to sustain life and the brickbat that I used to have for a yard is a thing of the past.
I do compost the egg shells but have kept the wood chips out as they NEVER seem to break down and clog up the works, my husband decided one day when I was at work to woodchip the paths in the garden. What a disaster, it took at least five years for the mouldy mess to disappear.
You can compost eggshells.
No woodchips, eh? I’ve learned not to compost corn cobs. Even if I break them in two, they seem to never compost. I do compost pits from peaches. They don’t compost either, but somehow, I don’t get grossed out when I’m gardening and come across one . . .
Avocado pits seem to last forever in my pile. I do throw in coffee filters, tea bags & eggshells. I tossed in a pineapple top the other day that will probably last for a while. I try to chop with a spade when I turn the pile, which seems to help by breaking up the larger pieces.
As far as I can tell, the jury is still out on eggshells. Some University sites say they’re fine, others maintain they shouldn’t be composted because many home piles don’t reach a high enough temperature to kill salmonella. I err on the side of caution and keep ‘em out.
What does anyone else say?
I’ve composted with eggshells for nigh on twenty years and never had salmonella. The only thing I don’t like about them is they take a long time to break down, and so I have white spots in the beds when I spread my compost.
Do you crush them before you use them?
I know birders who feed chicken eggshells to the birds, but they cook them and crush them before putting them out. Guess birds need calcium.
My husband and I started a compost pile last summer after moving in to our new house. We add the usual ingredients (grass, leaves, fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds w/ filter and tea bags), along with a few more unusual things (corn cobs, jack-o-lanterns, popsicle sticks, wine corks, pistachio shells, and disposable wooden cutlery). Wine corks take a long time to break down, along with sticks, pine cones, and avacado pits (the only thing in my pile that hasn’t broken down). The biggest surprise came when I threw in a few disposable forks made from potatoes (http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/10/15/spudware_biodegradable_cutlery.php). They were gone in under 2 weeks!
I don’t get the eggshell thing. I’m not going to eat my compost so why would I care if there’s a little spot or two of salmonella in there? I’ve been composting my eggshells for several years.
I had bad luck with corncobs mostly because the squirrels were MENTAL for them and spread them all over the yard.
I’ve heard the salmonella discussion related to compost tea, but not compost itself. Though I suppose if it’s in one, it’s in the other.
From an egg-producer standpoint, I’ll just point out that 1 in 20,000 eggs has salmonella.
I’m looking to start a compost pile this year, but I have no idea where to begin. Is there a good resource I can turn to for information on starting a pile? Do people prefer compost piles they buy or build themselves?
Michelle,
Take a look at today’s Home + Garden section (in print or online at http://www.startribune.com/homegarden). We have a how-to guide and a how-to video.
Good luck!
I have two large (5′+) piles going myself right now. I just need the grass to start growing so I can get some more greens in there. I have a swamp behind my house so the “neighbors” (wildlife) don’t mind the piles. It all started because I was too lazy to rake so I just used the mower to shred them. I was also too lazy to haul them away so I just started piling them in the back. Now one pile is getting close to done and the other is just starting.
We’ve been composting since we bought our south Minneapolis house in 2001, and I can’t seem to get the right system down.
First, we had a black one given out by the city for very little money. But I never turned it, and it was impossible to get the compost out from the bottom. It felt like a waste of perfectly good compost.
Then I got a tumbler. But it’s impossible to open and close, and it’s too big for all our compostable waste. It gets too heavy to turn and I keep adding stuff to it but never get anything out.
Today, I saw a smaller tumbling composter at Costco and thought about getting it. But I wanted to try it, and there was no way to try it there.
Anyone have suggestions?
I don’t crush the eggshells when we put them in the bin initially. When I turn the one bin and put it in another, I do try to crush them, but it’s hit and miss. I know this would help with my aesthetics, but I guess I don’t care enough to be more methodical!
I can’t wait till I can use my compost this spring–it will have to thaw first!
Remember last year’s extensive discussion about riddles—a tool to screen your compost? I looked in vain then, but found one at Gardener’s Supply Co: http://www.gardeners.com/Compost-Sifter/20708,36-000,default,cp.html
This is a rather putsy way to screen the compost, but I like the spring ritual and how fluffy the compost is.
Also, thanks for the article on composting. My neighbor recently asked if a friend of hers could make a lid for my bin, and the bin design link will come in very handy! (Squirrels steal stuff, making a mess and free, if unhealthy treats for her dog!)
Jeanne,
I have a compost tumbler too. It does its best qwork when the stuff starts at the same time and you don’t add to it daily. I have an imprecise system of putting the daily stuff in a small chicken wire ring, then when I have enough to do a batch I put it in the tumbler. A couple of weeks to a month (heat is the factor here) and I have compost. I am impatient so I don’t add anything that won’t go to pot quickly, therefore less sifting out the chunky stuff and I chop up things by running it over with the mower or snipping it to bits with the pruner.
[…] Greengirls – […]
“Do people prefer compost piles they buy or build themselves?”
I’m cheap, so I build. My big pile is a large loop of fencing material. That is about ready for use this year, so I’ve started a new ‘pile’ to let the old one finish. My 2nd ‘pile’ is in an old wine barrel planter (1/2 barrel). Once that filled up, I started using a large plastic pot (5 gal). I hope to use my big pile before I fill the small pot so I can combine the barrel & pot into one pile for this year’s compost collection. Typing all that makes it sound more complicated than it is.
I started composting a year ago with a bin purchased through Hennepin Cty. Unfortunatly, “composting just happens” has not been the case for me. After a year of adding food waste and various browns I have a small layer of compost at the bottom of my bin. It is difficult to retrieve, especially the stuff towards the center. Am I bettter off mixing this into the rest of the compost to encourage the process or just get what I can via the bottom hatches? Also, any recommendations for quicker composting (my gut tells me I need more greens and more water.) My compost currently looks like dried leaves and pine needles; little to no food scrapes remain.
Kara,
You can go ahead and dig out the completed compost thru the bottom hatches if you’d like to use it in your garden. It does sound as if your compost is too dry. I’d make sure you get it nice and moist (not soggy) and keep it moist thru the summer. If you don’t have greens, you can add a litle bit of aged manure, bloodmeal or cottonseed meal. I also sprinkle garden dirt when I add food scraps to cut down on bugs and smell.
Regularly turning your compost will speed its decomposition. Compost will degrade after a while — even without these things. But if you want to speed it up, you add moisture, nitrogen (from greens, etc) and stir.
I just “turned” my compost today–took everything out of the black plastic bin since the foundation contractors moved it last fall and it wasn’t quite fitting together any more. Big old kale stems from late last fall were a definite mistake–too big and tough to decompose–but kitchen scraps added 2 weeks ago were starting to decompose and there was no evidence of the 2 huge jack-o-lanterns.
My grandfather had the biggest compost bin I’ve ever seen. It had 3 sides, each about 10 feet long and 10 feet high. He’d fill it with all his leaves every fall. I was always fascinated by the heat coming from it when I was a kid.
To add to the eggshell conversation… I always crush them and put them in house plants. I read about it in a book a few years ago and also remember my grandma used to do that. also we feed them to our chickens.
Also just made 4 compost bins last weekend out of large shampoo barrels we got for free from a shampoo factory in st. paul. Drilled some holes in them (to let air pass through) and sawed off the tops. Then we put a bungee cord over the top lid, which is secured by a horseshoe like loop so the lids doesn’t fall in. we can then roll them in the alley to turn them. We were able to fill all 4 (!!) because we have been saving all the manure from the chickens in garbage bags in the garage all winter. i hope for the neighbors’ sake that the smell dies down quickly!
For Kara, Jeanne, and anyone with issues turning a prefab bin.
We use black plastic city compost bins since they were inexpensive and we have a small city lot without a lot of extra space. Our bins get turned about once a year - I should do it more often, but we still get plenty of compost from them. To turn these bins and get at all the finished compost, it works really well to lift the entire bin off your pile, set it down right next to its original place, and pitchfork all the unfinished materials back into the bin. That way you’re left with a bottom layer of finished compost that’s much easier to get to and the unfinished materials can keep composting. This method works much better if you have bins that are easy to lift off and you have to have enough room in your yard to move the bin 2-3 feet. Happy composting!
I use the system that my dad has had success with for many years. I bought a large a plastic garbage can, cut out a large hole on the bottom, drilled holes all over the sides to allow for air circulation and flipped it over so the larger opening is on the ground. I use the lid that came with, just inverted with a few holes so it collects water and drains onto compost and a large rock to hold it in place. This spring, I will lift the garbage can off the pile, place it next to the pile, shovel the uncomposted items back into the container and have the rich, beautiful compost on the bottom to put into my garden…
Chistina,
My brother-in-law also composts his chicken house contents. His solution to the smell is sawdust and lime. it dries out the ammonia (that is what the smell is) and corrects the Ph to be more neutral. Try that to see if it helps.
I’m thinking of starting a compost and found a great looking system on Costco.com. Just wondering if anyone has used this system or if any of the experts out there see any reason why this one would not be good to start with? All advice would be greatly appreciated!
I have to adjust my compost system to my physical limitations, so I keep my 4X4 bin about half full of brown and green and add green a few times a week. I am able to turn this all with a pitchfork every few days. I am bulding a second bin for brown which I seem to have either too much of or none at all when I need it. I’ll add the brown as I go.
We used to lift the bin and fork everything back in, but I can’t do that any more.
No eggshells for me. I chop even scallion stems before adding. I did ge tone of those little garbage pails for my kitchen which makes saving food waste very doable - better than an open bowl. Ugh!
connie-
i’m interested in knowing how you made your own tumbler- and how hight does it sit?
i live in a very small townhome with only a patio, facing s/sw. we can keep our garbage cans on the patio, and i’ve got several large holes in my large plastic garbage can from squirrels. so i opted for the “make your own” item too, but plastic wouldn’t do. i bought a 20 gallon aluminum garbage pail, drilled small holes all around and larger holes near the top, placed coir basket liners (flattened out) in the bottom and siliconed some old window screen over the spigot i installed to keep dirt from exiting if/when i have compost tea to harvest. i used some compost helper/starter i found at fleet farm on top of the first layer of stuff i put in there. mostly it’s going to be food waste, but also i am putting in the ashes from my bbq- does this count as nitrates instead of greens? i can probably rake my lawn after mowing day but my neighbors already think i’m crazy…
anyway- what wound up on top was eggshells, before i tossed in some compost helper, and then i dumped more food waste a few days later and looks like the helper’s doing a fine job with the eggshells, so far! the only trouble i foresee is getting the compost out of the bottom, as i couldn’t figure a way to make doors for harvesting without making a way for squirrels to get at it, too. the best part is the lid fits snugly so i haven’t had any critters in ther (yet). and no smell as of yet…
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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