Recently I put together a second compost pile in my backyard, and I took a few quick photos as I started adding material.
I want your pile to work the best it can while not giving off any odors or attracting local pests. These two concerns are super easy to prevent- all you need to do is add a layer of browns over each and every food scrap deposit, and make sure you have two to three times as much brown material as food scraps.
1.) Start your new pile with browns first. I added straw first to act as a sponge for any excess moisture, then my first deposit of shredded leaves. This totals a little over 6″, but I would have added more material if I had it.
To be sure, your compost pile will barely leach any liquid if at all. Compost piles crave moisture as they need it to work…it’s really hard to over-saturate. Use a watering can to dampen the pile.
2.) Add your food scraps. For a large compost bin with at least 3’x3’x3′ in capacity, be sure to add ALL food. All food composts just fine…the reason you will often hear that certain items “don’t” compost is that the composting system being used does not achieve hot composting temperatures so the material sits there. This is mostly due to lack of capacity which is a key factor to spark a thermophilic reaction.
For fun, I threw in some chinese take-out containers. It’s quite possible that they have a thin plastic lining, although I’m not totally sure. I personally don’t care about having to pick out some remnants of plastic at the end of the composting process. Maybe if I was growing veggies I would; but since I’m not, I’m happy to experiment and screen the finished product…I do it anyway.
3.) Lastly, add another layer of shredded brown materials and dampen it with water. That’s it. Go back and forth. Always cap off your pile with a layer of browns, NOT food scraps. Leaving food scraps sitting on the top uncovered will result in odor and/or pests.
At the end of each week, I empty my kitchen food scrap collector into my compost pile and then cover the deposit with a quick layer of shredded leaves. That’s all there is to it.
Any questions?
