You might wonder what coffee and compost have to do with each other, but after learning more about healthy soils last year, I have been experimenting with making more compost, and after adding more dry ingredients to my three bins over the summer, I was anxious to see the results. All week I had been looking forward to turning my compost, not because it was such a fun activity, but because I thought I would learn what was working. I started with an early morning cup of coffee in the garden, one of my favorite activities. As I sat there watching the bees and birds and surveying the plants growing, I anticipated seeing all that rich dark soil that my friend Kara calls "black gold". After sipping and wandering around taking photographs, I got down to business.
Above is a "before" picture, which looks like kind of a mess. I had pulled a bunch of dead flowers, and they had dried out nicely over time but were piled on top, preventing me from shutting one of the bins. Over time the boards that hold the compost in have deteriorated, and one or two need to be replaced. I have a candidate board to use but it needs to be trimmed to the right size. So I started by pulling out the dry ingredients on top.
As you can see, the dried flowers had stayed on top for over a month, and were not really "making" into compost. First learning: dry ingredients on their own don't "make" into compost very quickly.
So I started by pulling those out and piling them in the wheelbarrow. The good news is I now had an additional source of "dry" materials to layer in.
I had gathered a bunch more "dry ingredients" to layer in as I turned. One of those was from my friend Saill, who raises goats. I donated a bunch of blackberry brambles to her goats, and she dropped off containers of goat manure/organic straw. What a deal!
I saw last year how much the worms loved that manure/straw mixture, and it breaks down fairly quickly. So my starting point for dry ingredients was the barrow full of dried flowers and cardboard that had not broken down, and the goat manure/straw mixture.
One of the things I read in the John Jeavon's book was the importance of carbon, and how typical techniques for soil health like growing "green manure" as a cover crop don't put nearly enough carbon back into the soil. He actually recommends that 70% of your garden space should be dedicated to growing compost crops!!! I had two beds empty that I planned to use for growing donated foods, so I set aside one of them to grow compost crops. I had read that the following crops are good for sustainable soil fertility: corn, millet, wheat, oats, barley, cereal rye, and amaranth. I didn't get my act together early enough to find these seeds in bulk at the nurseries, so I took advantage of our seed exchange last year to acquire some barley seeds, and planted several rows of that. They grew well, and I removed most of the seed pods and had the "straw" ready to layer in.
Una Vida volunteers kindly saved flat boxes for my plant sale last year, so I had a whole bag of those left. I have learned that worms love cardboard and it makes a good place for them to hide, so I planned to layer that in.
Another one of the things I read was the importance of adding soil to your compost. I always thought that was kind of crazy, add dirt to make dirt? But reading how the microbes in the soil will help your compost break down, and how worms need dry, gritty ingredients I was newly motivated. Typically I add "old" pot dirt as I change out houseplants, or dirt that I've dug out of an area that I don't need to put back. This time I planned to use the partially finished compost to layer in, thinking it would give the rest of it a head start and finish more quickly. Plus I've learned that hauling dirt that you've stored in large containers is nearly impossible, so using the partially finished compost in the next bin over is much more convenient!
As I started digging and turning, my excitement turned to disappointment. I was really hoping to have a higher volume of "black gold" to put into my garden, but instead, what I had was a bunch of dry ingredients. Even the worms I added last time were nowhere to be found. What the heck? Take a look at this video to get a feel for what was in there - it literally looked like the earth was moving!
Instead of worms, the insects that I found in very high quantities were what we called growing up "ball bugs". Other people call them sow bugs or pill bugs. I had never seen such high quantities. I read up on what they do in compost, and although they do break down ingredients, they prefer dry areas, so that was my first clue, the compost was too dry!
One of the downsides of the compost bin design is that the boards that slide up and down in front provide a great hiding place for earwigs! Over time, I have learned that they prefer tight, dry spaces, like the area where the gates connect to the fence when closed, or these sliding boards.
These little guys seem to have a real talent for running for good hiding places the minute they are discovered. What instincts! I notice that when I knock them out of stacked pots or similar hiding places in the driveway they unerringly run for the house side of the driveway to find a hiding place vs. further out in the driveway.
While I have taken to using the jars of soy sauce/oil in the garden to trap them during "high earwig season", when I placed those same traps in my compost bin they didn't seem to work. Maybe they are having too much fun chewing up my compost! My solution for now is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth down the sides of the boards as I take them out, since that does kill them. I will never control them totally, but they do help chew up stuff in my compost and my goal is to keep them there vs. let them out in my garden! Second learning: Water your compost to keep worms vs. other insects happy! Plus I'm confident the compost would have broken down more successfully if I had kept it moist.
Other learning from this session:
It helps to put down cardboard or something in front of the bins as you begin to turn them. Our paths are made of decomposed granite stones, and inevitably some dirt/compost spills out as I am turning it. This helps keep things neater.
Dry ingredients, even layered, don't break down quickly if they are too thick. Last year when I layered in compost I put in my lavendar stems after I pulled off the lavender buds. I was so proud of myself for finding a good source of dry ingredients, but they were all still there in a bunch.
Some things never compost! Even the "compostable bags" which I was using for awhile in my compost bucket, take several years to break down and in the meantime, they greatly impede your ability to turn compost. And those little plastic labels that they stick on fruit or avocados? Never break down! Also those really fancy teabags in little sacks? The tea disappears but the sacks never do. As usual, I find a variety of things that were not supposed to be in compost, like plant pots, plant labels, and occasionally, garden tools or knives.
Other things that don't compost well are big sticks or in my case, 4 o'clock tubers. They were actually growing, so, being unable to throw away anything green, I potted them up! I've seen 4 o'clock seeds for purchase and they're expensive, so hopefully if these survive I can sell them at my next plant sale.
We had recently been dealing with a power outage in the garage, and some of the liquids stored in the garage there were going to be tossed. I figured that "green" juice that's so good for the body must be good for compost! And pomegranite juice that we didn't use up, ditto! I kept out the acidic lemon and lime juice though.
Last but not least, gophers are unstoppable! A few years back I found out that my compost bins were a salad bar for gophers, they were tunneling up and dining quite happily on the pumpkins, etc. that I dumped into the compost bin. At that point I laid down pavers on the bottom of my compost, thinking "surely this will stop them". Nope! They tunneled in from the side and the front, finding space between the wire or the front boards. This time I added more pavers to those spots, hopefully the weight will keep them out.
Last time I turned the compost, I had added worms from my bins. This year I wanted to do more of the same, so I went and grabbed the bottom bin of my commercial round worm bin. Turns out I hadn't fed those worms in awhile, so they were very hungry and some were even migrating down to the lowest level which contains water. I added them by the handful as I layered in dry ingredients and green, wet ones. Hopefully next time I turn the compost they will still be there, dining away!
As I was patting myself on the back, happy with all that layering, watering, and worm feeding, I thought to myself "what happened to the full compost bucket that I brought out this morning?" Turns out, I had left it on the table near where I was enjoying my coffee! Needless to say, I added it in and covered it with dirt (another learning - raw compost attracts flies!). Stay turned for next time I turn my compost and the learning that results.
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