We have been using the small yard sized black composter for the last few years to compost kitchen scraps. I have been trying to add “brown” materials as well. I make a huge pile of leaves in the fall and take leaves from there to add. I consciously put napkins and paper towels into the compost bucket unless they have oils on them. I shred paper and rip up newspaper.
We built this two section composting area this week.
It may not be pretty but it will be functional.
I emptied the compost from the black composter into the section on the right. The composter was about 2/3 full at the time. As you can see, it is soilish looking but I made the mistake of adding too much sawdust as browns last year and some of that is still in there in clumps. The other thing that did not break down were the peanut shells from all the peanuts I have shelled for the chickadees. Once the garden is done, I plan to add this compost to one or two of the beds and allow it to decompose a bit more in the soil.
It makes more sense to keep the active compost in an enclosed container to not encourage the squirrels, hares, coyotes and moose to dig in there when I add a bucket of kitchen scraps. I am not sure what I will use the center section for, but maybe that is where I will put the leaves this fall. It will be nice to have a semi enclosed area to keep the extra greens or browns.
I decided to start fresh with the black composter and create some layers. End of summer is the perfect time to do this with lots of “greens” on hand with flowers and vegetable plants that are done for the season. I covered the bottom with sawdust to keep the weeds down. Next I added some branches from my dead hedge nearby. Some even had some dry leaves on them. I took pea, radish and lettuce plants and cut them into about 1 inch pieces. For my next few brown layers, I used some shredded receipts (I am not sure what the black ink on them does but…) and torn up paper egg cartons. I emptied pots of flowers that were done and some transplants in pots that didn’t take. I sprinkled dry used coffee grounds after each soil addition which is supposed to induce decomposition and then gave the soil some water with the watering can. Browns, greens, soil, water and repeat. This is kind of how it was looking as I layered.
I was lucky to have a bunch of small mushrooms coming up in some longer grass. Adding fungi to a compost pile is also supposed to aid in moving things along quicker. I picked an ice cream pail’s worth and added it in between layers. I didn’t use all of them that I saw, leaving some of the larger ones for the squrrels. I did see a hare eating some in the grass a few days later so the squirrels may have been out of luck.
The other thing I added a couple of layers of was the dry grass that I had collected carts of in spring. It is piled to the right of the pallet enclosure and had already started to resemble soil under the top layer of grass. I am unsure, at this stage of breaking down, whether grass would be considered green or brown. I added it as an extra layer between a brown and green layer.
By the time I was finished snipping things into small pieces and layering carefully, three hours had passed and the compost bin was only about 1/3 full. When you add things in small pieces, it definitely does not fill as quickly.
The one thing I did not add yet but plan to is egg shells. I have been collecting egg shells for at least the last 15 months, since last spring. I add them on my soil under my tomato plants to prevent blossom end rot. I have been crushing them by hand and then storing them in the greenhouse. A couple weeks ago, I bought a small coffee grinder for the egg shells because I keep seeing comments that small pieces of egg shell take forever to break down and be effective. I gave the grinder a try this week and it was amazing! I had a bunch of shells in a bowl in the kitchen. I broke them up a little bit as you can only add 2/3 of a cup at once. It took only 4 three second pulses to turn the shells to powder!! Here are two containers side by side. On the left is the shells crushed by hand and it takes a long time. On the right, the shells turned to powder with the grinder in about ten seconds. I grabbed the rest of the shells from the greenhouse and turned them all into powder.
I will add a scoop of egg shell powder to my compost bucket of veggie scraps just before I take it outside to the black composter. A much better way to get calcium incorporated into the compost.
What else have I learned about researching composting. If you are lacking greens to add, perhaps in the fall when you have an abundance of dry leaves, you can add watered down human urine. It may also help to deter animals if the composter territory has already been marked.
It took less than 24 hours for the coyotes to come and investigate the changes around the composter. They tried to nudge the lid open but were unsuccessful. Aside from the few radish pods and mushrooms, there wouldn’t have been much in there for them to eat this time. They were very loud with their howling; I haven’t heard them howl like that close to the house in a long time.
We are expecting a week of 30° weather so the neatly composted layers should have a good chance to start breaking down before our real fall weather arrives. After about a month or at least before frost sets in, I will give the layers a good turning with the pitchfork. I don’t know if I will be able to use this new batch in the garden in spring but I am hopeful. I will keep adding browns and soil with my greens through the winter.
My goal is to create as much rich compost as possible to add to the garden beds and under the fruit bushes. It would be nice to not have to buy anymore triple mix to add to the soil going forward. If anyone has any composting ideas, feel free to share. I find that with most things related to gardening, people learn from experience and sharing ideas with others.
A friend of mine, uses her food processor to crunch the egg shells.
Your idea and hers are excellent ways to crush those tough shells.