Become a Master Composter

**Kimberlina** · 04-10-2005, 03:31 PM

http://www.mastercomposter.com/

On the left-hand side, under "Educational" there is a link to an online master composter course. Obviously, you are not on official master composter (does such a thing even exist in the US?) if you take this, but you might get a whol lot of info.

Also, there is a lot of REALLY great composting info available on the site. Just found it while surfing around and plan to put it in my gardening bookmarks.

**forestdale** · 04-10-2005, 04:27 PM

that's a great site, Kimberly. Thanks for the link.

**Mom23boys** · 04-10-2005, 05:59 PM

Thanks for the link. I am bookmarking it too.

**jlxian** · 04-10-2005, 07:14 PM

Great information Kimberly.

I actually sort of began a compost pile today and now see I didn't do it exactly right. As I get more stuff to put in it, I will be sure to do it in layers as the article says.

**Kimberlina** · 04-10-2005, 08:13 PM

Well, even if you don't do it in layers, it will break down eventually. (It is a matter of time- "good" piles will take maybe 6 months, while haphazard piles can take years.)

Some critter is getting into my new pile veyr night and unearthing thingss and messing up my layers. I had better get the wire around it soon- I hadn't intended to put chicken wire around the new pile, but they never bothered the old one so I guess I better do it!!!

**jlxian** · 04-11-2005, 10:31 AM

I used what used to be an old tomato cage my husband had made out of field fence -- it has about 6" square openings between the wires (maybe bigger!). And when I threw my leaves in yesterday they tended to blow through the openings -- we were have some good breezes. I think I'm going to modify this somewhat and use cement blocks or pallets or something else more solid. It will have to be something that is already on the farm, but surely I can come up with something.

I also don't look forward to having to remove the wire when I want to turn/stir the pile. How did you handle this with the chicken wire Kimberly?

I did throw on the last of a bag of manure -- hope that helps.

I hope you can thwart your beastie Kimberly! Is it after food scraps?

**Kimberlina** · 04-11-2005, 11:04 AM

As for moving the wire when turning- I put stakes at each corner of my pile, put chicken wire around it, and then overapped about a foot in the front, but don't "seal" it shut. Then I just open the overlapped area and turn.

And yes, whatever it is wants the apple cores and bits leftover after Maggie is done with them....

**chaptylerjack** · 08-30-2011, 01:34 PM

Squirrels love the apple cores and orange peels. Always sneaking of with mine.

**Durgan** · 08-30-2011, 04:46 PM

30 August 2011 Practical Composting 30 August 2011 Practical Composting
There is too much misleading information written about home gardening composting, which has more to do with selling silly containers than practical composting.

Composting is a simple process. If the garden is any reasonable size there is a fair amount of vegetation that must be removed each year, and disposed of in some manner. It takes a large amount of vegetation to make any reasonable amount of compost. I get probably less then four cubic yards of compost from about 0.4 of an acre of home garden vegetation.

The main process is to chop all vegetation into small chunks. I use a chipper/shredder but a block and a machete can be used. It is just a matter of expenditure of labor. The larger the chunks the longer the composting takes. Layering is nonsense, since often the suggested material is simply not available. It is totally impracticable. I never put materiel, which is attractive to insects, and rodents in the compost pile. The kitchen waste goes in the garbage.

Leaves are special case and I never compost them, since they are too much trouble for the amount of material obtained. Leaves are better centrally composed where the pile can be manipulated using machinery. Grass clippings are always welcome and do compost well. I get a neighbor’s grass clipping, since mine are left where they are cut.

I build as lattice container system using metal fence posts and plastic ties. It is readily accessible. The pile is rototilled when it is considered appropriate. It takes about eight months to get good compost using my simple non-intrusive method. I have a tarp to cover the pile if there is periods of too much rainfall.

The compost produced if insufficient for my needs, and each year I pick up about ten yards from the City each Spring.