Oct
Compost Maker - You & Your Equipment
Compost makers are where you find them. They may be either the people who make the compost or the equipment they use.
On a municipal or commercial level, compost makers will usually be large machinery. They may be something as simple as the bucket on a farm tractor that is used to pick up compost material & slowly slip it over the edge so as to mix & pile it or they could be as specialized as compost rotators that are essentially open ended tubes. There is more. There is more. The tube is set at about 5? off horizontal & material is dropped in the top. The tube slowly rotates & the the material is continually aerated & beaten smaller. Moisture content is closely monitored & the compost may be finished in as little as five days.
On the more practical home level, compost makers tend to consist of one or more bins & hand tools to manipulate the materials. Some home gardeners begin with a shredder, either gasoline or electric, & break the compost materials down as fine as possible. Others use a lawn mower to reduce materials, especially fall leaves, in size. Still others simply make the piles & count on the decaying practice of the microorganisms to reduce the materials in size.
If compost bins are used, three is a good number even though it is very possible to compost with one & certainly with more than three. With three, one is used to gather materials. I tend to have pile of wood shavings for brown material outside the bins & toss a forkful of shavings over a bucket of kitchen waste. A fourth bin would be handy here. Once bin one is filled with materials in a volume ratio of two parts brown to one part green it is then turned into the next one. For this & subsequent turnings a fork, rake & shovel are sufficient tools.
The fork should be a manure fork or a pitch fork, preferably four or five tined even though a three tined pitch fork will work well. With this move the material on the top & sides to the center & bottom of the new pile in the next bin. Work down the pile. If you encounter long materials such as cornstalks, it is easier to move them if they are in smaller pieces. Cut straight down with a well sharpened shovel or the blade of a mattock. As you get near the bottom of the pile you will find the smaller materials, especially in later turnings. There is more. There is more. They seem to sift their way down as the pile is moved. Rake them into small piles & move them with a snow shovel. An ordinary shovel works but is less efficient.
Each turning of the pile moves it from one bin to the other while the first acts as the collector for the next pile. When all is said & done, the compost maker is the gardener with a few simple implements, nothing fancy needed.
Darrell Feltmate is an avid gardener who has been composting & gardening for over 25 years with gardens up to 1/2 acre & compost piles for each. His composting site may be easily found at Compost Central. You can become a master composter in no time at all. Compost is a great addition to any garden & is not very hard to make. For lots more information & instruction refer to Compost Central.
