Starting the Fall Compost

One of the big chores every fall is dealing with the compost. It isn't a chore that is done in a day, but takes a while. And won't be done until my leaf bins are filled in November. I have two black plastic bins. The first is where our kitchen scraps go. When we add scraps we cover them with leaves to keep the flies away. The leaves also add carbon to the nitrogen rich scraps. The second plastic bin is for any finished compost at the end of the year. I have a small bit in there now, but I hope I have enough to fill it up when I'm done.

Then there are four pallet bins. The first two on the left are for making compost. Mostly with garden waste, lawn clippings, and leaves. The second two are mostly empty right now but are filled up every fall with leaves. Most of them will be used to add to the other bins as compost is made, but the excess is often broken down by our worms. At my last house this process would take about two years, but here it only takes one year. Technically it is leaf mold, but I use it just like compost. It won't have the mix of nutrients real compost has but it still is good organic matter. I don't make enough compost for all my beds, but with the extra leaf mold I can get close.

So I have a lot of different bins that have compost in them that have to be sorted through. Many people screen their compost, but I tend to just pick out the large pieces of undecomposed sticks or leaves and toss those back into the bin to be composted some more. I've already gone through the second pallet bin. Once the second bin was empty I started to turn over the first bin adding water as I went. Much of the bin was too dry as we haven't had nearly enough rain this summer or fall. I also added the top of the kitchen scrap bin in layers. The kitchen scrap bin is very wet as it has a cover and kitchen scraps are very moist. And the bin is always just filled with worms. It doesn't compost as much as it gets eaten by them. I don't add worms or anything in the spring. They just live here and multiply once it gets warm enough. So I layered that through the pile. I'm hoping the worms will take up residence in this bin now that it is wet enough. And then they will start to break it all down.

I didn't get it all done today. Right now I have four 4'x8'beds spread with compost. I've turned over most of that huge towering pile. I think it is supposed to rain tomorrow, so hopefully the rest of the pile will be turned on Saturday. Then I'll just have the leaf mold pile to sort through. As I put compost on the beds I clean them up. Many still have plants growing in them so that last pile will take a while to get all cleaned up. Occasionally I need to make a pile somewhere else in the garden to hold the compost. Because it all needs to be empty when the leaves start to fall. In the past I've found the best times to collect leaves from the neighbors are the first two weekends in November. So timing is always an issue since not all my crops will be out of the ground by November. Some crops even over winter. But their compost will be stored in that second plastic bin.

I knew I'd be adding compost to the two sisters beds. So the first one was picked and laid out to cure. It was nice and dry earlier this week but I had to bring them in this afternoon as we are getting rain. Where to put them is an issue now. I used to just put them on the floor of the dining room to cure. But the dog is too interested in them. So I've got them on the edges of the counter and my mantle. I'll need more space when I pick the second bed of squash.

And did you see the spinach in my overwintering bed? I've never gotten such nice fall spinach before. Ever. I planted earlier than usual. I hope it isn't too big and still overwinters well. But I'll be out picking that spinach soon. It looks so yummy. I do have gaps in that bed. I filled them in with some later planted seed. That is all up and I'll need to think the little plants out before they get much bigger.