As I believe I mentioned previously (obviously, since we're on Part 4 here people), I am on a mission to compost.
So far, so good.
In fact, I even used some of said compost the last time I prepared to plant some flowers (which has been a few weeks now—I promise! I told you I am working on that addiction). Although there's not a lot of compost in my can in the backyard (you can see the can and what things looked like when I started here), it's not for lack of diligently hauling food scraps out back in my compost pail. It's because everything is breaking down so nicely that instead of being full of smelly food scraps, the can contains this:
Sure, you can see some eggshells and coffee filters that haven't full broken down yet. But that's because I'm adding to the compost every couple of days, so it's a constant process. Overall though, the can has a beautiful layer of rich black earthy matter just waiting to make my plants very happy. And it doesn't smell at all. Really. I'm not just saying that to convince Conservative Boy composting is OK. I took a big whiff just a few minutes ago and you know what it smells like? Earth. Good old-fashioned earth. You know, the stuff you walk on occasionally when you step off the sidewalk?
Now, I realize not everyone out there wants to stare at a picture of my compost. But when one of The Eleven (the Youngest, in fact) requests an update on my compost, I am more than happy to oblige. And the rest of you can just deal with it. So here's one more shot of my compost for the road:
Mmm. Delicious.
7.26.2008
Composting (Part 4)
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2 comments:
This time I'm not being critical just to be critical, I promise.
You may be jumping the gun a bit. Material takes some serious time to fully compost, and 2 months might not be enough.
Unfinished compost can actually be bad for your plants.
Also, yours looks a little wet. If the pile is too wet it can slow down the process and get smelly. You should try to bulk it up a bit, but I'm guessing you don't have a bunch of dry leaves laying around. Grass clippings would probably only exacerbate the problem.
Hmm yes. Well, this is my first attempt at composting, so I welcome the feedback. I am sure I probably was jumping the gun when I dug out the most composted looking bits to use. Fortunately, I only mixed in a small amount with my soil and the hearty little bushes I was planting look no worse for the wear. I knew better than to use it with all my planting but just couldn't resist!
The pile is a bit wet though actually not too bad. All this rain (and an abundance of "green" matter) has kept it on the damp side. But no smelliness yet. I've been avoiding putting grass clippings on because I agree they're probably not going to help, but I have been saving a random assortment of (non-diseased) leaves and grasses that have been ripped off the trees in storms or that I've pruned from plants here and there ... C.B. is going to kill me because they're laying around all over the place. But some are dried out pretty well so hopefully when I add them to the mix that will help.
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