A new compost pile under construction. (Photo courtesy Doug Wright)
Only compost fertilizer goes into these gardens. (Photo courtesy Doug Wright)
This is the season to build a new compost pile. I like to dismantle the old one and build a new one right beside it. I seed the new pile with soil (bacteria etc.) to start the new one working. A compost pile, properly made, takes a little doing. Some folks throw stuff into a big pile and hope for the best. That is not the proper way to do it. Let me explain how I do it.
Soil that can’t be store-bought. (Photo courtesy Doug Wright)
I gather stuff all season long and make storage piles near my composting site out back of the chicken house. I save bags of leaves and spoiled hay, and when I cut weeds, I spread them out to die in the heat. I don’t use household waste in the compost; it attracts varmints. I feed my stuff to the laying hens, who will eat anything that will hold still.
When I begin, I make the enclosure out of poles. This holds the stuff together, but lets air and water into the pile to help the decomposing and cooking process. Cooking? Yes, folks, my compost piles, when assembled in watered layers, heat up. I climb on top and, using my crowbar, I make holes down into the pile to allow water and air to get in. It gets steamy hot, which cooks the weed seeds. Yes! So I think a pile that doesn’t heat enough to give off steam in the early morning isn’t worth the effort put into it.
When I build the layers, I add bone meal, lime, sand, whatever I want in the resulting soil. The only thing that needs doing after assembly is to keep it uniformly moist so the process can continue. After a few months I take off the poles and make a new yet slightly smaller one. This allows me to remix the pile, putting the outsides into the middle, thus moisturizing the whole pile. I hope you like the photos of my place.
(Doug Wright lives over Head Tide Hill in Whitefield. He welcomes feedback at douglas.wright22@yahoo.com.)
