Living Green in a Tin Can: #2 Making Compost

To make our compost bin we followed the directions, with a bit of ad libbing here and there, from an article in the current issue of "Edible Grande Traverse" titled Recycle: A Tomato in Every Pot and Compost in Every Backyard by Angela Stricker.  The article is about Robert Allen, gardener extraordinaire, who developed his innovative method for use on his property in Leland, MI as well as for use in the gardens at his local elementary school.  I have read about and used, in the past, many different methods for composting none of which worked as well as I would like. We will now give this method a try and see how it goes. I am planning to contact Mr. Allen as he, according to the article, willingly gives tours of his gardens, small orchard, and composting system.

In the first three pictures Doug is taking Mr. Allen's plan and changing it just a bit as he builds it into the ground rather than right on top of the ground.  Doug began by scraping and then digging the area where we will place the eight bales of straw.

Is the hole big enough for the eight bales?

The hole is just about right and so just before we put the bales in we covered the area with sheets of cardboard recycled from a few of the boxes left from our move.  As you can see in this picture, the space Doug dug out is deep enough so the bales of straw are level with the ground. Time will tell if this method will work as well as Mr. Allen's method of laying the bales on top of the ground. One thing for certain , digging a hole for 8 bales is a lot more work.

In following pictures I am adding the beginning ingredients to the brand new composting system.

Dumping the first load of veggie scraps and bits of paper into the compost bin.

Here I am adding a bit of damp sand to lightly cover the "mess".

A nice thick blanket of wet leaves which had been decaying under the snow since fall is layered over all.

It has been raining quite steadily and the compost and sand pile are very soggy at this point.  That's Daisy leaving the area following her daily inspection to see who might have visited during the night.

I will continue to add green (veggie scraps) + brown (leaf matter) material to the compost until the "bin" is full. When it is full it will hopefully heat up enough to turn this wet and soggy mess into a nutrient rich compost/fertilizer for use in our yet to be built gardens.