I tried to think of an amusing, slightly naughty title for this post, but I’m sure they’ve all been done, so I gave up and went for reality. Furthermore, I found it quite impossible to get a good picture of a pile of waste so asked my dog to pose and he agreed and was quite accommodating, although a bit squinty.
This weekend is a good time to start composting if you haven’t already got a big pile of steaming yard debris. At least here in Portland the weather looks like it might cooperate and we’ll be able to spend some time in the yard. I’ve got a few bags of dried leaves saved from last fall to mix into the green lawn clippings that will hopefully come with the first mow of the season.
There are loads of websites dedicated to teaching the science of composting so I’m just going to encourage everyone to try it and offer a few tips.
- The recipe is simple; greens for nitrogen and browns for carbon. Layer, mix, repeat. The layering of the greens and browns is the first step but it’s necessary to mix or stir it often and keep the pile moist. The more you mix the faster it happens.
- Another suggestion is to spread those dried leaves out on the lawn, mow over them and when the mower bag is full dump the whole blend into the compost tumbler or onto the heap. The layering is done. All you have to do is stir every few days and make sure it doesn’t dry out.
- We are lacking trees in our yard so last Fall I headed down to the park and raked and bagged leaves and took them home to the pile. No one paid much attention to me except for the lady who thanked me for raking the leaves off the bike path. I filled about 10 bags in 30 minutes.
- The green plastic thing in the picture is called a tumbler. It’s for faster action and works pretty well. You load it up with the mix, wait about 3 days for it to heat up, then give it a spin every day for 30 days. Viola! Compost!
- You need more browns than greens so it can be kind of tricky in the spring when the lawns are lush and need lots of mowing. Besides raking at the park, Starbucks, along with probably any other coffee shop offers their leftover coffee grounds to anyone willing to take them home.
Making compost won't stink if you do it correctly. Stir often to get oxygen in, make sure it doesn't dry out and don't overdo the grass clippings; find some brown. Give it a try. I like it because it involves a little work, great rewards and it’s free dirt!
Well clearly I love your picture. Raleigh makes that compost pile look good!
Posted by: Morgan Brown | 03/12/2011 at 10:28 AM
Awwww! Raleigh! What a cutie-pie! One thing I learned about composting when I lived in my little bungalow with a wee yard on NE Siskiyou is to not dump left-over Chinese herbs (from making medicinal teas) into the pile (just a pile...not bins at that time, though it did render surprise pumpkin patch for my neighbor and me when a year had passed). Auggie the 27 lb. Border Collie/Springer mix decided unbeknownst to me to EAT them all up, and came in the house staggering and stuporous. I thought she had been poisoned and my BF of the time and I jumped into my truck, me riding shotgun with her on my lap. Halfway to the all-night vet's (of course dogs get sick at night, usually on a Sunday to boot) she started that unseemly head-bobbing that dogs do before a gastrointestinal eruption and I hollered for the driver to stop NOW, and dumped dog and self out in the middle of the street Just. In. Time. Chinese herbs were revealed on the street. Vet later could give us no advice, but Dr. Cheung LAc from whom the herbs had been obtained in his Chinatown clinic reassured me with this comment: "Dog is not hurt; dog will be very tonified".
Posted by: Molly | 03/18/2011 at 03:43 AM