Compost | Composting in a Big Way

Composting - Doing it in a Big Way
By Darrell Feltmate

Three is the magic number for a compost pile, especially in a quick compost system. In order for it to work well it needs to be three feet, three feet wide and three feet long. For most people this translates into a compost bin three feet on a side or a pile three feet in diameter. What about the times when you simply have too much material for a small pile?

You could make more bins but that costs time and money and will likely leave you with lots of empty bins once the wind fall of organic matter is over. Lots of little piles are a possibility but there is a much faster and simpler solution. Go long.

One of my first compost piles came after buying a new home. The back half acre of the property was hugely overgrown with weeds and grasses. There was no real time to deal with the problem until fall so I let them grow, mature and dry. Come fall I had a half acre of field about 3 feet high in half dried grass and weeds.

Basically I cut and raked all the material into small piles around the half acre. My wife was not impressed with the look so I began a compost pile. My aim was to be three feet high and wide, but as long as I needed. This turned out to be 20 feet. So I ended with a pile 3 x 3 x 20. The height and width are necessary but the length is a 3 foot minimum.

The pile heated well. After three days I turned it to find that it had started to break down. Grass has a tendency to form clumps of matter and this had, but they were reasonable to break up at this time. For a pile like this it is best to simply have room to one side and turn it to the side. Try to get the outer matter to the center of the new pile. It was still 20 feet long and a lot of work to turn.

The next turning was about four days later. Again the heat had been good and it was starting to cool down. Material was much darker and the grass was no longer 3 feet in length nor was it clumping as bad. I simply flipped the pile back onto its first footing, trying once again to get the outer material into the interior of the new pile. I had lost about 3 feet of length due to the maturing of the pile. It was a lot of work to turn.

Each successive turning was easier. After the fourth turning I had a pile about 15 feet long but still 3 high and wide. It had taken about three weeks. I sifted the compost leaving me a starter pile still about 3 x3 x 3. The rest went on what would be next spring's garden. These turnings were much easier simply because the matter was breaking down so well. It was hard to tell what had started as grass and what as weed. Clumps broke as the fork went through. Sometimes it is simply necessary to make a large pile and work it. Incidentally, very few weed seeds made it through the hot composting process.

Darrell Feltmate is an avid gardener who has been composting and gardening for over 25 years with gardens up to 1/2 acre and compost piles for each. His composting site may be found at Compost Central. You can be a master composter in no time at all.

Much of his compost uses wood shavings from his wood turning hobby. The site for wood turning may be found at Around the Woods.

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