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Re: Compost

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

OOOOOHHHHHHHH i like your idea adn even i can do that since our lumber
stores will cut the lumber to size for me.  Than all ineed is my trusty
hammer or screwdiver  to put the peices togeather.  Tie the sides with
baling twine (thick ornage plastic "twine" here ) that is one nice thing
about living in Wyoming suburbia is ornage baling twine is considered part
of the landscape lol.  Even better is the fact  i can build a box at a time
as i get the cash available. That lets me get started with one box than grow
to three  plus they will look nicer than my simple heap on teh ground and
les trouble with the  dogs
I mean my dogs running through the pile while playing not digging  in them
lol.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Teuton" <fteuton@total.net>
To: "Square Foot Gardening List" <sqft@listbot.com>
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 7:47 AM
Subject: Re: Compost


> Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>
>
>
>
> >Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
> >
> >I was reading old messages about compost and the number of piles you keep
> >going. Are any of you smack in the middle of suburbia? I've got a third
of
> >an acre (including the house) and all the back yards are just a sea of
> >lawn, separated by the occasional chain-link fence.
>
> Lucky you, I have 6,000 sq ft of suburbia....only about 1/7 of an acre.
But,
> I live in Canada, where lawn fascism is somewhat less prevalent,
perhaps...
>
> And my neighbors are happy to donate leaves, grass clippings, hedge
prunings
> etc to my composting activities.
>
> Composting is supported by municipalities here, and black boxes are
> subsidized. Here a Soil Saver can be had for 25 Canadian dollars from the
> city of Pointe Claire, and other nearby cities have similar deals
available.
> Check with your local County; I know Montgomery County has a program down
> yonder, and others may too.
>
> A well managed black box can process all the kitchen wastes and some of
the
> yard wastes for an average family. If you need more capacity and have the
> space, yet want to keep in step with neighborhood aesthetics, look to the
> designs in Easy Composting, Robert Kourik and Jeff Ball, which has the
best
> photos of all the composting literature I know of and will give you some
> useful ideas.
>
> If worm composting catches your fancy, commercial bins like the Worm
Wigwam
> can process a surprising amount of materials. The ones at NIH are supposed
> to be processing several tons of compostables each year, which is
surprising
> for such a small (3 foot high 3 feet in diameter cylinder) container.
>
> See www.wormwigwam.com for the scoop on these.
>
> As I noted, my own aesthetics are strictly pragmatic and doubtless I am a
> Fing shooey failure and an art school reject, and indeed, could never
color
> inside the lines as a kid. I am fortunate or well placed in a neighborhood
> with clotheslines, composters, cars being repaired, boats, etc....although
I
> must say that 'primer' is not the most widespread car color....LOL!
>
> Anyway my neighbors tolerate my ugly 'Great Wall of Compost', which
> disappears behind 12' high Bloody Butcher corn and various heirloom
tomatoes
> and sundry other vegetables in summertime. If I had more land, I could
grow
> hedges and obscure everything from view; my next door neighbor has a cedar
> hedge started for that purpose and I have Jerusalem artichokes on that
side
> also.
>
> In short, you may find you 'don't fit in' being a gardener and composter,
> but I just want to tell you, not fitting in has an upside especially when
> the others are all doing it wrong...LOL!
>
> I do have a neighbor who is a rose judge and she makes tons of compost
every
> year, tucked away in a corner of her yard, not strictly hidden, though.
>
>
>
> No hiding places for
> >unsitely piles. Even building the raised beds caused a lot of comment.
> >
> >So I haven't started composting yet but have been collecting some
> >materials. But in this pristine environment I was thinking about buying
one
> >of those $80 black plastic bins. Is this just a waste of money? Is it
silly
> >to do it at all if I can't do three piles? (And 3 x $80 is far too much
> >money.)
>
> If you want cheap aesthetic composting, you might try a simple design I
> made. Take four foot lengths of 2 x 2s and four foot lengths of 1 x 6s and
> make walls. You will need four walls for a simple 4 foot cube of compost.
> Use two 2 x 2s as the posts, and nail or screw the 1 x 6 boards flush to
> them;  you'll need about seven 1x6s, with some space in between.
>
> These walls can be tied together for easy take-down and pile turning, or
> removal of the finished product, and can be moved about or stored when not
> in use. You can stain them, paint them, or linseed oil them. Materials up
> here cost about 40 bucks, mine have lasted six years so far, aging to a
> graceful gray color ( I don't believe in the evil paint, neither buying
nor
> applying, around a composting operation, but if you think you must, you
can
> paint the outside of the bin....dang fussy neighbors anyway, eh? :-)
>
> This bin is more than five times larger than a black box and will process
> oodles of stuff, especially when you get the worms going....and start
> hitting up Starbucks!
>
> Another way to go is compost fleece, which is essentially thick landscape
> fabric, available in black and green, that you could use to cover compost
> piles to make their unsightliness invisible. This stuff is somewhat
> permeable to water and very permeable to air, and so allows you to compost
> aerobically and invisibly, as it were. 80 dollars worth of this would
cover
> a lot more compostables than a black box, as well.
>
> Finally, consider deep mulching as a compost method. Popularized by Ruth
> Stout, this method lets you compost in place, right where the plants are
> growing. This is both space and labor efficient, and largely invisible.
>
> So there are options out there.
>
> Good composting and courage,
>
> Frank Teuton
>
>
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