The First Compost Pile of the Season

Saturday was a beautiful Spring day. In a burst of sun-induced energy, Orianne and I plunged into the garden. We stripped off the row covers to see what was alive, dug up the last leeks, cleared away the leaf mulch from the cover crops, tuned over a couple of small beds and made a bin of compost. 

We tend to collect a number of 5-gallon buckets of kitchen waste before I get round to composting them.  The buckets sit on our deck, slowly disintegrating into a stinky rotten mush.  This smelly decomposition is caused by anaerobic microbes that like a sodden acidic environment.  While this muck is not directly good for plants, it is high in nitrogen (the smell is ammonia, NH3) and makes excellent compost when mixed with garden waste.

I got the chipper shredder fired up - it is the secret to making quick compost.  I dumped alternating amounts of wet kitchen waste and dry leaves into the shredder hopper.  The ground mixture spewed straight into the 3' x 3' compost bay.  I turned the mixture, soaked it with plenty of water and covered the pile with a plastic sheet, a layer of carpet and an old comforter.  The next day it was heating nicely.

I managed to get stinking waste all over myself, so I smelled pretty bad afterward -- one of the many joys of composting.  

Any composting tips you would like to share?  Comments?