compost bin - A structure whose purpose is to contain organic material and to provide habitat superior to that provided by an unconstrained heap. Most bins achieve this purpose, but some do it much better than others.

compost - Noun: The byproduct of the interactions between the compost pile's ingredients, its inhabitants, air, and water.

compost - Verb: The act of converting organic matter into compost.

water - Noun: An ingredient vital to the compost pile habitat.

ideal compost pile - A compost pile consisting of organic materials that are small, completely dead, uniformly distributed, and thoroughly moist.

sifter - An effective tool for harvesting compost.

turn - Verb: To completely rearrange the ingredients of the compost pile.

The first step in making a compost pile is to assemble the materials to be composted and to assess the order in which they should be added to the pile, or if they even need to be composted. The most readily available, most suitable, and easiest materials to compost are fallen tree leaves. If you do not have enough leaves, your neighbors often do. Particulate materials, such as coffee grounds, sawdust, and grass clippings can be used as mulch instead of composting. Practically speaking, the compost pile can be viewed as a passive shredder, and if the materials are already suitable for spreading, and if you have a place to spread them, then you may not want to compost them. It is important to have air inside the pile. If it is too dense, then the composting process will be slowed or halted. For example, it would be impossible to compost a pile of sawdust or a pile of grass clippings because of, among other things, a lack of oxygen. Grass clippings can accelerate the decomposition of leaves, and they will cause the pile to heat up, but they can be difficult to work with. When wet they clump together, and when dry they can be hazardous to your lungs, as can sawdust. Particulates can be excellent for the pile though, if added properly. Add them in very thin layers to wet materials in the pile. The particulates will stick the the wet materials and their dissimilar properties will speed decomposition. Just do not make the particulates in the same thick layers that you do with leaves.

Dried and chopped perennial stems are excellent to mix in with leaves, as are sticks that are pencil sized. Of course, anything organic will compost, but you will get the best results if the pile contents are somewhat uniform. If you do want to compost branches or woody shrub trimmings, place them in the center recess that is described below. That way they will stay moist, and decompose more rapidly than if on the top or exterior where they will dry and the decomposition will halt.

Composting food scraps is a special case; I hope you find an article I wrote on that topic to be enlightening.

It is best if everything is dried up and completely dead before putting it in the compost pile. A loss of internal moisture is the first step in the biological decomposition process. Once material can absorb external moisture, the subsequent decomposition by micro and macroorganisms proceeds rapidly. Some plants will live and root inside the pile, especially vines. It is one thing for seeds to sprout, because these will perish quickly when exposed to air and dried at turning time, but you do not want vines to grow inside the pile. However, some people use compost piles as an actual rooting medium for growing crops.

The goal is to make a uniform pile, with all of the material moistened thoroughly. However, if you just want to store material and compost it later, or let rainfall start the process, watering in unnecessary. The pile will settle considerably even without water, and insects will start to move in and begin the composting process. Then whenever you have time, you can easily remove the PilePro from the compost pile and make a "compost pile proper" adjacent to the pile. This technique is covered below in Chapter 3 - Turning the Compost Pile".

The most practical way to build the pile is to make small layers and water each layer. A 30 gallon bag of leaves that have not been jam packed into the bag is about right for a layer. Approximately ten of these bags will fill the bin initially, and it should take about 45 minutes to fill the bin if you work alone. If two people work together, with one person loading and mixing, and another watering, the time required is much less.

The tools required for this task are 1) a hose with spray nozzle or even better, a high volume low pressure watering wand and 2) a garden fork.

The easiest way to load the bin is to invert the bag and place it on the ground inside the bin. Then remove the bag from the contents. If they have been in the bag for a while, the leaves will remain in a lump as shown in the photo. Spray the mass on all sides with water, and it will begin to fall apart as the water weighs down the material. After about 10 to 15 seconds of watering, gently rake the material into a flat layer, lightly mixing and patting the material down as you do, so that the layer is uniform. Take care not to catch the fork or rake on the bin wires. Water again for another 10 to 15 seconds. If the bag is larger than 30 gallons, or densely packed, then not all of the bag should be added at once. Rather, grab as much as you can with two hands, and make each layer several handfuls instead of an entire bag. If you do this with imported leaves from your neighbors, remember that there could be sharp foreign objects or thorns inside the bag, and proceed carefully. A large plastic container, such as a curbside recycling bin, serves as an excellent measuring cup.

At this point, all of the material should be glistening from moisture. To check on your technique, mix the material around some to be sure that everything is moist. If it is not, you will find out at turning time, when a dry pocket of fresh looking leaves expands from the dense pile as you turn it. The pile cannot really be overwatered, so don't worry about trying to make it moist like a wrung out sponge. It is better to overwater than to underwater. The area around the bin will get soggy, so a few stepping stones around the bin might be a good idea. Wearing old shoes is a good idea as well!

Once the layer is thoroughly wet, move the center material uniformly towards the sides. The layer will take on the form of a birds nest. The reason for doing this is that instead of just making a tall heap with the densest portion at the center, you will be making a pile with maximum density in a perimeter, and the center of the pile will be less dense, with a relatively airy center, and the pile will be able to breathe better. Also, by making the pile this way it will be more stable. After your PilePro is completely full you can gently rock it back and forth from the top center with your hand, and you will be able to see how stable the confined mass has become.

Continue making layers in this fashion and build the pile. The nice thing about having the recess in the middle is that it is a great place to put sticks and other bushy or brushy and difficult to compost material, or food scraps. Just realize that brushy materials and sticks will decompose much more slowly than leaves, food scraps, and finer materials. You will not want to spread this kind of material towards the sides, so simply cover it with other material. Once the layer on top of the bushy material is thick enough, you can spread that layer outwards until the bushy materials are no longer exposed. Confined to the pile interior, the bushy material will decompose at a rate closer to the rest of the pile. The idea is to get everything in the bin to compost at as close to the same rate as possible.

A topic related to making a compost pile is that of ventilation tubes. I have experimented with several, and wrote an article about my experiences.

CHAPTER 2 - Maintaining the Compost Pile

The only thing you will need to do to your pile is to occasionally add water to it. Since the exterior dries quickly, it is probably best to water on a weekly basis. Rainfall wets the top of the pile, but not the sides. If possible, water the pile on all sides, especially the south side if your pile is in a sunny area. Watering takes just a minute, and can be done when you are watering other plants. Make it as convenient as possible.

That's about it. As the pile decomposes and settles, you will be able to add more material. It is best to add small amounts of aged matter if possible, for example, leaves raked from a curb or bed, to keep the age of all the contents about the same. But if you want to add fresh material that is fine. At turning time, the fresher material will form the bottom layers of the new pile where they will undergo rapid decomposition.

It is fine to add food scraps, as these decompose more quickly than yard waste. Dig out a spot in the middle of the pile, add the food, and then cover it. Or, if the food scraps are vegetative and can dry quickly, it is OK to place them directly on top of the pile. Discretion is best here. If you place thinly sliced fruit you will probably see birds appear to feed, leaving just the peels!

Be proud of your compost pile, and enjoy it. Birds will visit frequently, as it quickly becomes a food and nesting material source for them. Dig around some and look at the different creatures that use the pile as their habitat. The compost pile can be a wonderful way to educate children about living things.

How long to let the pile sit is up to you. I let my piles sit for two months before turning them. The most practical duration might well be one year, harvesting when new materials become most abundant. For example, if most of your material is autumn leaves, you could just let the pile sit until next autumn, when you have a large amount of new material. By that time, the original contents will most certainly have decomposed completely.

If you want to make multiple piles, let the contained pile sit for a month. By then it will have settled sufficiently to remain intact when the bin is removed. That is a great feature of you PilePro. You can make another pile somewhere else in the garden.

Chapter 3 - Turning the Compost Pile

In general, turning a compost pile is the most difficult, and least enjoyable part of the process. The superior design of the PilePro Compost Bin makes the task easier than with any other bin.

With heavy, stationary bins, you have to lift all of the material out of the bin to turn it properly. Simply stirring the material inside the bin is ineffective. With other circular bins, the closure mechanisms are not nearly as easy to use as the PilePro's.

With the PilePro, turning the pile is easier than with any other bin. Remove the closure rod and gently peel the PilePro away from the pile, and set it up next to the original pile. Turning the pile really means deconstructing the original pile and making a new pile from it. What was on the top goes on the bottom, and if possible, what was on the outside goes on the inside.

To accomplish this you can use a garden fork and your hand to remove a chunk of the original pile at a time and make a new pile. Or you can just use your hands, perhaps with gloves, because there may be thorns, and you may not want to touch your compost. It is up to you. Just be on the watch for any insects that could bite.

Use the same procedure as described in Chapter 1above to make the new pile. The only difference is that you will not have to add as much water. If the pile was made properly, there will be a dark, dense, waterlogged core that needs no additional water, and will in fact benefit from drying some. There will likely be a swampy odor from anaerobic decompostion, but don't worry - the odor will disappear quickly, and it's not the bad kind of odor that most people fear when they think of smelly compost piles. If you have a lot of dry material, place this in the recessed sections of the pile and add water to it. If you have fresh material, add it in the recessed sections as well, making sure to moisten it thoroughly.

When you are done, your new pile will be much darker than the first one, and probably smaller, unless you added fresh material. In another two months it will be ready to harvest.

During the turning you will undoubtedly encounter many earthworms. Try to harvest gently, in an occupant friendly manner, so that you don't kill too many of them. I generally collect the worms and toss them in a well mulched bed so that they can make their way into the earth and start to enrich the soil. To learn more about earthworms, you can read an article I wrote. On this note, be aware that other less desireable inhabitants may have taken up residence in your pile. My piles are at times inhabited by the dreaded fire ant. Once they start boiling out of the pile it is time to walk away. If you are not careful, they will crawl right up the fork and bite your hands. This is a good reason to never plunge your fist inside a pile to see if it is warm! I followed that bad advice once and regretted it! Since then I have not had a problem with the ants. As the pile is turned, they recede deeper inside, and eventually go away.

CHAPTER 4 - Harvesting the Compost Pile

If you made your pile properly, turned it after two months, and waited another two months, it should be ready for harvest. The time frame can vary some with the season, as the pile will obviously decompose more rapidly in the summer than in the winter, because its occupants are more active in warmer weather.

To the right is a pile that has been turned one time, and after two months, is ready for harvest. It is difficult to see in the photo, but the core of the pile is completely black. As long as the pile contents were not woody or brushy, then the pile is ready to harvest. To the left and right are the dry, unfinished outer portions that have been scraped away. The interior is ready to spread out in thin layers, where the compost will dry, fall to pieces, and gradually become part of the soil. You can remove it chunk by chunk with a garden fork and spread it wherever you like. After it has dried, you can accelerate its incorporation into the soil by using a grading rake to help break it up and mix it in with the local topsoil. But if you want a really high quality product, you will make a sifter and sift the compost after it has dried.

Depending on your needs, you may or may not want or need to sift the compost. If your goal is simply to enrich the soil in the immediate vicinity of the bin, by all means just knock the pile down, let it dry, and spread it around. If there are big pieces they will be easy to rake up when everything has settled. I like to sift mine because it is then so easy to spread uniformly, it makes a beautiful mulch, and it virtually disappears when broadcast into planted areas. Plus, my neighbors always like it when I offer them a few buckets for their own gardens.

Even after the turning, drying, and pulverizing, it is unlikely that all of the pile contents will pass through a sifter. What does not make it through can be used as a mulch in out of the way areas, or it can be used as an outstanding catalyst in a new pile. Layer it in with the fresh materials, but not as thickly. Or, if you only have a small amount, use it as the final layer of a new pile.

To the right is a photo of a simple but effective sifter setup. The large round container catches the sifted compost, and is a tree pot that I obtained from a local nursery. To the right is a 30 gallon Rubbermaid container into which I dump the coarse material that did not pass through the sifter. Using this sifter is good exercise, because you have to move the sifter back and forth in order to make it work. It is best to sift the compost when it is completely dry. Wet compost is heavy and it sticks together. It has been pointed out to me that dry compost doesn't have the same quality as fresh moist compost, but sometimes you have to compromise. I believe that the dry compost will quickly come back to life when it hits the soil and is moistened.

To the right is an improved collection setup, with 5 gallon buckets inside of the tree pot. The buckets make transporting the sifted compost much easier. The buckets are thrown out all the time, especially by drywall finishing crews and restaurants.

The sifter in the photos is fairly easy to make, and plans for it are here. Note that the screen in the photo is 1/2" hardware cloth. After using it, I have decided that 1/2" is too fine for a first pass sifter. Now I use a sifter with 1" poultry netting (chicken wire) to sift compost the first time. Then if I want to, I use a 1/2" sifter, and finally, if need be, a 1/4" sifter. But for most people I think that the 1" sifter is just fine. Again, composting is an individual endeavor, so you can decide which is right for you, or if you even need to sift at all.

CHAPTER 5 - Spreading the Finished Compost