Compost happens!
Earlier this month we held a hands-on compost workshop — back by popular demand. Click here for Photo essay
Since we talk about soil building at nearly every session of our free Organic Vegetable Class Series, and since the pile Gene created in our October workshop had matured and its material been added to our garden, it was perfect time for another workshop.
Gene is our “compost master.” Prior to Gene’s arrival we had been using the black plastic composters from the city. We weren’t maintaining them properly — the material was always too dry, or unmixed, or had exposed food material that drew swarms of fruit flies. The pile Gene created last autumn matured so quickly, during the coolest months of the year, and created such volume of compost, that it was absolutely amazing.
We began our hands-on workshop by tearing out some ornamental shrubs in the back of the site — a location where we wished to grow citrus trees. The old ornamentals became fodder for the compost pile. We stripped the leaves and light twigs off and separated them from the heavy branches. A few of the very heaviest trunks were too tough for quick composting, but just about everything else went into the pile, each in its turn, as you’ll see in the photo essay.
Gene had acquired a bale of straw that was somebody’s discard (”one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”). You’ll see us using that as the final layer in the pile. The straw serves to retain moisture in the pile, but also to make it look finished and nice for a completed approach.
Gene has counseled us to label the pile we built with a sign that marks it as “closed” or digesting. Any new material we generate (weeds, kitchen scraps, garden discards) will be accumulated toward a new pile we’ll make in a few months. Meanwhile, this new material for the new pile will be placed in a temporary “holding” pile beneath straw to keep away pests.
Thank you to Patricia and Jay Edie for creating a slideshow/photo essay (note text at top of each photo) that documents the whole process of building our compost pile.
Click here for Photo essay