Ten Pound Tomato Grow Organic – Eat Better

July 6, 2010

How to Fix a Stinky Compost Pile

Filed under: Composting,Newsletter Archive — Tags: — Perry Droast @ 11:27 pm

[ad#Adsense top left post]
By Perry Droast
The Backyard Gardener
Newsletter #1

About two weeks ago, I added quite a bit of new material to my working compost pile. I trimmed the star jasmine on a trellis near the swimming pool. I shredded all the trimmings along with a healthy pile of old dry leaves I collected from the area. Believing I had a decent mixture of brown and green materials that would balance each other out, I layered the material in and then proceeded to ignore the pile for over a week.

That was a mistake.

When I got around to adding the kitchen scraps for the last week to the pile I discovered my pile had developed a non-healthy stench. Sort of a cross between ammonia and something entirely more foul. Not only that, there were large patches of a white substance mixed in.

If you’ve never experienced either of these phenomena in your own compost pile, you haven’t composted long enough. Or maybe you just don’t ever get enough green material high enough in nitrogen to take the pile out of balance. Or even better yet, you balance your pile properly all the time. Any hints or tricks you use to better balance your pile between green and brown, let me know and I’ll share them with the entire TenPoundTomato family. And I’ll credit you properly too.

Embarrassingly enough, the ‘stinky pile’ syndrome has happened to me many times in my 28 years of composting. I’m not proud of it. I do accept it as just being part of the organic gardening experience.

Fortunately, I’ve developed a strategy sure to bring the pile back into balance quickly when this happens. Before we get to the solution though, I’d like to explain briefly how and why a compost pile gets out of balance and starts to stink in the first place.

Three main reasons a pile gets stinky...

  1. Not enough air: The inside of the pile literally runs out of oxygen. The healthy aerobic bacteria that help speed the decomposition process require a lot of oxygen to thrive. That’s one of the main reasons to turn a pile inside out regularly.
  2. Too much green – not enough brown: The pile has too much nitrogen and not enough carbon based materials. In plain English, that means too much green stuff got mixed in without enough brown stuff to compensate. For instance, if you mow the lawn and add the clippings to the pile without also adding some compensating brown materials, like long dead leaves or shredded paper, your pile often heats up too fast.
  3. Anaerobic bacteria take over: When that happens, one of two scenarios plays out rather quickly. Or in the case of my pile both happened at once. The pile got so hot, in some areas the aerobic bacteria start to die in large numbers, creating the white areas in the pile. It also turned anaerobic (decomposing in the absence of air) and the pile started to stink. It smells so bad because the anaerobic bacteria release very smelly gases trapping them into the pile. These gases aren’t released from the pile until you decide to turn it.

The longer it sits, the worse it stinks by the way. One of the least agreeable aspects of this, at least for me, is that it seems like all the flies in the county descend on my pile as I turn it. It’s a good thing this only happens once every few years. If the neighbors come over for a visit during this turning process, they’ll probably question your sanity and the legality of having a compost pile in your backyard too.

Compost piles are legal…even if they do stink once in awhile

Thank God compost piles are legal, and the flies leave once the outside of the pile dries out a little bit. After the outside dries out, the stink is only on the inside of the pile and not floating over the fence into your neighbors backyard.

Here’s how to fix a stinky pile

The strategy I’ve developed through the years takes a little energy, a little shredded paper, and a little time. The easiest and fastest way to help your pile regain it’s aerobic balance is to add air and brown materials high in carbon and low in nitrogen. There’s really only one way to get some more air in the pile. That’s to turn it inside out. It’s a lot easier to do this than it sounds. Grab your gardening fork and dig in.

As you move your pile from one bin to the next, or one spot to the next, fluff all the materials by breaking up all the clumps. Once you get a layer fluffed up spray it down with some water unless it’s too wet already and then spread some shredded paper on top of the new pile and wet it down too. Repeat in thin layers of no more than an inch of old material mixed with some dry leaves, shredded paper, or sawdust. I spread the paper shreds in very thin layers, barely obscuring the layer below. Repeat until the entire pile has been turned and re-layered.

Essentially, you need to get a lot of oxygen (air) inside the pile along with some brown material to offset the nitrogen.

So how often do you need to turn the pile, once it gets stinky?

I would recommend no more then three days apart. Better yet, turn the pile again in two days, at least the first time. Then every three days for the next couple weeks. As long as you add some brown material each time you turn it, the pile should re-balance quickly. Who knew you’d actually hope more junk mail would show up in the mailbox so you can add the shredded paper to your compost pile. You’ll know the pile is rebalanced and aerobic again when it doesn’t stink when you turn it. A properly active compost pile will smell earthy without being offensive. Your compost is almost finished when the pile stops heating up so much after you turn it.

Once it stops heating up, keep the pile moist, although you don’t need to turn it anymore. By keeping the pile moist, you keep the bacteria alive within the pile. After the pile sits for a couple more weeks, I recommend finding a spot in your garden to use it right away. The active bacteria help continue the decomposition process and make the nutrients available to the plants in your garden.

If you must keep it for a while without using it, continue keeping it moist and keep it covered. Covering it serves two purposes, to help it stay moist and to keep the rain from washing the nutrients away.

My pile is back to normal now

By the way, my pile is almost back to normal, not smelling bad when I turn it, yet still heating up nicely. And I can’t tell what most of the contents were originally, so after it sits for a few weeks, I’ll find a nice planting bed to fertilize.

As always, if you find any mistakes, have any comments to add, or just wish to share your thoughts, please email me and I’ll be sure to respond.

Happy composting and gardening,

Perry Droast – The Backyard Gardener

July 4, 2010

Can you really fertilize your whole garden without spending a dime?

Filed under: Composting — Perry Droast @ 11:09 pm

Yes you can.

By making your own organic compost you can actually feed your whole garden without spending any money at all. I did it last year. Although I did fudge just a little. I had leftover seaweed extract in a gallon jug so I didn’t have to buy any. I usually make it last a couple years and last year I had enough to go around.

Why bother to make your own compost?

The most important reason to make your own compost is so you know exactly what materials went into it. This way you maintain control over the organic integrity of your garden.

Even though you can buy organic compost at your local garden center or home improvement center, you can’t be entirely sure all the ingredients that went into the compost were organic, or at least not contaminated with pesticide, herbicide, or other toxic residues. When I collect the leaves from my own trees, I know they’re organic.

When I collect the leaves from the pile in the street in front of my neighbor’s house, I know he at least didn’t spray the tree with any pesticides. So although his leaves may not be completely organic, by the time they’ve been through the composting process I feel good about putting the compost in my garden.

By making your own compost, you’re following the government mandate to reduce the waste stream going into the local land fill. In California where I live, the state passed a law mandating the waste stream be cut in half a few years ago. Most cities and counties in California now separate the green waste and wood-type materials from the main garbage, shred it, and compost it. Then they sell it back to the people that paid them to haul it off in the first place.

It’s not likely you’ll reduce your garbage bill by not sending your yard waste out in the green can, although at least you know you’ve done your part in helping to preserve our landfill space for future generations.

Better yet, making your own compost becomes an almost zen-like activity that feeds your soul as you also make the magical product that feeds your garden later. Personally, I find the activity of building the pile, creating finished compost, and then later feeding my garden with the finished compost very fulfilling.

My grandfather showed me how to compost before I even went to kindergarten and I’ve never forgotten the lessons even though he died while I was still quite young.

How do you make compost anyway?

There are four basic methods of making compost.

  1. The cold pile – the least work and the slowest way to make compost.
  2. The hot pile – more work, sometimes lots of work, the fastest way to make compost, and the most weed-free and disease-free end product.
  3. Compost tumblers – a little more work than the cold pile, typically the fastest way to make compost, kills weed seeds and diseases too.
  4. Worm bins – this is really a sub-method of composting your kitchen scraps into a very concentrated form of garden fertilizer consisting of worm castings and occasionally liquid off the bottom of the bin that is also highly concentrated nutrition for your plants.

So let’s get started.
Getting started making your own compost can be very simple, or you can make it into a complicated project. When I first got started, I composted in piles almost anywhere I could. You can start this way too and you’ll still make great compost.

You can make a compost bin out of a wide variety of materials. People use old wooden pallets, bales of hay, cinder block, scrap lumber, chicken wire, and just about anything else you can think of to confine the pile.

My wife makes me keep the pile out of view of the back patio. Fortunately our yard has a good spot hidden from view. I suggest you do the same in order to keep the peace within your household. Or at least agree on a spot before you start building.

Once you’ve picked out the site, either build the bin, the bin system, or move your tumbler into position.

I highly recommend you shred your materials before tossing them into the pile. There are several methods of shredding or chopping up the materials before adding them into the pile.

You can...

  • use a chipper/shredder if you own one or can borrow one.
  • run the pile over with your lawn mower
  • cut things up by hand
  • let the dogs chew them up – of course this takes time and then you have to pick it up all over the yard
  • put it in a spare trash can and use your string trimmer to chop it up. This works best with leaves and small clippings.

Layer it in or toss it in
If you are going to build a traditional compost pile on the ground, you can start building the layers now. It doesn’t matter if you have a bin, or a wire enclosure, or nothing at all, just start building the layers.

Try using a layer of brown and then a layer of green material. Make sure to spray each layer with the garden hose to make it moist. You don’t want it soaking wet, but it needs to be moist.

If you own a tumbler, then just toss it in, spray a little water in behind it, close it up, and give it a few spins to mix it up. With a tumbler, you need to check it each day to make sure it’s moist enough and you need to give it a little spin to mix everything up again.

This is the easiest way to compost as long as you can afford the tumbler and you can give it daily attention.

If you build a hot pile, you’ll need to check and turn it regularly. Only experience will tell you how often you need to turn it and what you may need to add to make the pile work properly.

A cold pile is really one of the easiest ways to compost, although it can often turn hot depending on what types of materials you add and how much you add. In a cold climate, you may have no choice in the matter for the cold part of the year. It can be more difficult to build a hot pile when it’s well below freezing outside.

Congratulations, You’ve done it
You’ve now gotten started on one of the most rewarding activities and one that pays good dividends year after year. Organic compost helps protect your plants from disease, feeds them slowly and well without burning the roots, and best of all, it’s free.

Last year, I didn’t spend a dime on fertilizer for my garden. Next year, your fertilizer bill can be the same. Anyway you look at it, you’ll have to admit that spending next to nothing to fertilize your whole garden sounds pretty good.

Get started now so you can have a nice pile of compost to feed your garden with next year. Or even sooner if you choose.

If you’re interested in learning more about making your own compost check out my new ebook that contains pretty much everything you need to make your own compost.

July 29, 2009

A Garden Spade By Any Other Name Still Isn’t a Shovel

Filed under: Garden Tools — Tags: , — Perry Droast @ 2:20 pm

[ad#Adsense top left post]
By Perry Droast
The Backyard Gardener

Every gardener has their favorite tools. Some are used daily or at least weekly, while others are only used occasionally for more specialized tasks. The garden spade is one of those specialized tools.

While growing up, I sort hated the spade. Specifically, I hated my father’s spade. When my father handed it to me, it only meant one thing. Edge the lawn.

Either edge the outside of the lawn along the dirt edges, or along the driveway and sidewalks. And I didn’t like it one bit.

Once a year…
…starting at the age of 10 and ending when I went away to college, I edged the lawn along the dirt edges in the spring. I had to dig a narrow strip of grass out along the edge of the driveway in the front yard and along the concrete sidewalks in the backyard twice a year. This was necessary because we had Kentucky bluegrass lawns and it spreads and grows out from the edge. Fortunately, Kentucky bluegrass spreads slowly and it’s much less invasive than bermuda grass.

Even though I hated edging the lawn, those early years of child slave labor (hey, I did get fed, clothed, and sheltered along with an allowance) instilled a love of gardening in my very being, and I’m thankful my parents made me do it.

Then I bought a spade
Once I grew up and needed my own yard to look good, one of the first tools I bought was a garden spade. I’ve found several new uses for the spade, none of which includes edging the lawn. In fact, I don’t need to edge the lawn at my house with a spade at all. I use a string trimmer. I’m very thankful to whoever invented the string trimmer.

That said, I now consider my garden spade an old and valuable friend.

Here’s a list of uses I’ve found for the spade…

  • Trenching – I’ve dug many a trench for PVC pipe used for garden irrigation and sprinklers with my spade. It’s especially useful for a trench that will have multiple pipe runs.
  • Double-digging garden beds – the spade is especially suited for this job as it allows you to actually dig at an angle under the edges of the bed allowing for more root spread along the edges.
  • Cutting out blocks of turf – this is usually done when you need to repair broken sprinklers or pipes in the lawn. Or if you need to dig a trench for some electrical conduit through the lawn and you want to reuse the same turf when you’re done.
  • Scraping areas flat – generally I only do this when I’m going to lay some concrete for a new sidewalk or before I spread sand and gravel to lay concrete pavers on. Any time you need a thin layer of dirt scraped off an area, try a garden spade.
  • Cleaning footings – a spade works great to clean out all the loose dirt from the bottom of trenches used for footings along the edges of driveways and foundations.
  • Digging a square hole – any time you need to dig a square hole, maybe a series of holes to pour concrete into to support a deck, or to support a mailbox, or a lamp post in the front yard.

…you may be able to think of even more uses. If you’ve found some other uses for the garden spade, leave a comment below so we can all learn something.

I’ll cover some more garden tools in future articles. If you have any suggestions for tools you’d like to hear more about leave a comment below.

Want Great Tomatoes? Double-dig Your Garden Plot.

Filed under: Garden Preparation,Garden Soil — Perry Droast @ 2:02 pm

The activity of building the fertility of your garden soil does more to improve yield, taste, and nutritional content than any other two activities combined.

You’re about to learn one of the most important things you can do to improve your soil and your garden. Once you do this to your garden, you’ve taken a big step towards producing more and better tasting tomatoes. Better yet, you’ll improve all the other fruits and vegetables you grow at the same time.

Double-dig all your garden plots and you’ll grow the best garden you’ve ever grown.

So what exactly does the term “double-dig” mean?
Double-digging your garden soil means loosening the soil thoroughly to a depth of 12 to 24 inches. The closer to 24” the better. Typically, the first time you do this, most gardeners are able to get 18 inches deep. If you already have good soil structure in your garden, you’ll see improved growth and yield in your garden. If your soil is compacted or hard clay, double-digging makes all the difference in the world, and you should see some really good gains in productivity and growth in your garden.

This is probably the most strenuous activity you’ll undertake in your garden. Fortunately, you can do it in stages, and it pays big dividends for years to come.

Warning: Check with your doctor before undertaking any strenuous activity including double-digging your garden plots.

In order to double-dig properly, you’ll need a garden spade, a d-handle garden fork, and a wheelbarrow or a few 5-gallon buckets. A tarp could substitute instead of the wheelbarrow or the buckets. Just as important, you need some organic compost to dig into the soil as you go through the double-dig process.

As a side note, I don’t recommend using a rototiller to try to bypass the hard work. They churn the soil so completely, they tend to ruin the soil structure actually hindering maximum production in the long run. Beyond that, they can also hurt the earthworm population in your garden as well. Regardless of what you heard as a child, when an earthworm is chopped in two, it does not  grow into two worms.

How to double-dig the right way
First, you should lay out the boundaries of the garden plot or bed you’d like to start using. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new spot you’ve never gardened before or an established growing bed. Either way, start by laying out a garden hose around the outside.

I recommend building garden beds or plots no wider than 5 feet across with access on both sides. This way you never have to walk on the growing portion of your garden, except during the double-dig process. During the double-dig you do need to walk on the portion you haven’t yet dug. Fortunately you thoroughly loosen the soil you’ve walked on as you go. Walking on the garden compacts the soil like driving a tractor on a field does, except not quite as much.

First step
Water your new garden bed thoroughly for a couple of hours. Then let the water soak in for 2 to 3 days before digging.

Start by digging a trench roughly one foot wide and one spade deep, along one edge (preferably the short side) of the garden bed. Place the dirt in a wheelbarrow or some 5-gallon buckets so you can move the dirt to the far end of the bed during the last step in the process.

Next, lay a 2 to 4 inch thick layer of organic compost in the bottom of the trench. Now pierce the dirt in the bottom of the trench you just created loosening the dirt and partially mixing the compost in by using the d-handle garden fork. Your trench should now be approximately 9 inches to one foot deep with another 9 inches to one foot of loosened dirt and compost mixture in the bottom.

Before doing any more digging, spread another 2 to 4 inches of organic compost on top of the rest of the garden plot.

The magic begins
Here’s where the real magic of double-digging takes place. Move over to the next one-foot wide section.

Using the spade, take the dirt from the second one-foot wide row and fill the trench you just created, mixing in the compost as you go. Next, loosen the soil in the bottom of the second trench, just like you did in the bottom of the first trench, after covering it with 2 to 4 inches of compost.

Now repeat the process until you end up with an empty trench, one-foot deep, at the other boundary of your garden bed. After composting this row and loosening the soil in the bottom, move the soil you removed from the first trench over to this last trench and fill it using the soil from the first trench. Cover this last one-foot wide row with compost and dig it in using the garden fork.

You’ve just created something your average gardener probably doesn’t realize they need. A new garden bed full of loose soil 24 inches deep. Because you’ve now injected air deep into the soil, your plants roots will now grow quickly, easily, and much deeper than ever before. The air helps plant roots grow very quickly, encourages soil microbes to multiply, helping to create good soil structure and improving nutrient uptake in the plants at the same time.

Magical garden soil created
By loosening the soil so much deeper than most gardeners ever do, you’ve created conditions where plants can be placed closer together, where they’ll produce better due to more available nutrients, and the soil won’t require as many amendments or fertilizers like required in a more conventional garden.

You are now one step closer to a highly productive garden or micro-farm. Fortunately, you won’t need to double-dig again for 4 or 5 years unless you walk on the garden bed itself, re-compacting the soil. You will need to loosen the soil each season and add organic compost, however this will go much faster and easier than the initial double-dig process you just completed.

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress