Another compost question...

[Tussiemussies]

Our compost is coming along nicely in the compost tumblers. We oped up a seedless watermelon the other day and it was bad. Can I put this in the compost even though it has some white and some brownish small seeds. I think our compost works on a different method so it does not get really hot where it would kill the seeds. What do you think?

Thanks,

Chris

[CathyA]

I think it would be fine. I wouldn't worry about the seeds. They probably aren't even viable.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Cathy...

[CathyA]

You're welcome Tussiemussies! I occasionally have plants pop up that came from various seeds in the compost pile. (I don't think mine has ever heated up). They usually pop up where I haven't planted that kind of plant, so I know to just pull it out. And sometimes....I just let them grow.

[lessisbest]

As you get to the end of compost "season" using a compost tumbler, you may want to stop placing new compost in it and allow it to complete the cycle so you can dump the entire contents of the tumbler for fall. It takes about 4-6 weeks to finish a load of compost (depending on what you have in it, how large the pieces are, and what the mix of brown/green is). It takes a lot of internal heat to break down the material to compost. You shouldn't be adding any new material when you are ready to finish a load. When it's "done", the volume in the tumbler will drop by about 50%, the color will turn to a dark brown or black color (be sure to break up any large clumps), and it will have an earthy (wet mulch) smell when it is done.

You don't want to leave a load of wet compost in your tumbler if you have temperatures that drop to freezing and lower or it might cause the tumbler to crack with freezing and thawing.

I dump the compost tumbler by the time the leaves start to fall from trees. We fill the tumbler with crushed dried leaves and leave them over the winter to be used as the "brown" ingredient and usually add the first mowing to the tumbler to get it started in the spring. The balance of green and brown should be at least a 50/50 mixture.

It also helps to make sure the things you are composting are chopped into small bits the later it is in the season you are adding them. You can quickly pulse those tough rinds in a food processor, and I also like to break down egg shells in an old blender with a little water added. You need heat to break down compost, so once the temperatures get cooler, it's time to put the compost tumbler away for the season.

You should screen the compost to remove any whole seeds that didn't break down.

[Tammy]

So what happens with kitchen waste during the winter? It just can't be composted? I never knew that.

[CathyA]

I guess I'm lucky because we don't live close to anyone, but we just dump our kitchen waste on our compost pile out by the garden. There are usually a lot of leaves out there from the Fall, so we either cover it with leaves, or just let it lay on top of the pile.
Even if you don't have a composter, I encourage you to still collect your kitchen waste somewhere outside......maybe even in a sealed garbage can.

[SteveinMN]

So what happens with kitchen waste during the winter? It just can't be composted? I never knew that.
I think it can be composted. In fact, we do it. It seems wasteful to me to stop recycling kitchen waste just because it's below freezing (which it is for a good chunk of the year here). We draw down our compost bin (stack, not a tumbler) and then fill it over the winter with scraps. It stays largely frozen (not always, because thermal radiation and our very strong sun can make enclosed spaces surprisingly warm) and thaws in the spring. The challenge, though, is finding enough browns because leaves and dead plants are not available. So we will toss in newspaper pages, compostable food containers (after use), some dead leaves we keep in the garage for just this purpose, etc. It has worked for us.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks for all the replies and help. Lessisbest, thank you for the information. We just put in the watermelon, which tends to break down fast due to the water content. Do you think we should take it out? We don't have our garden set up yet. I will dump the compost into a pile on the lawn. Should I cover it with something? I plan to use it next summer in a garden we will be creating next year.

Cathy A that is neat that sometimes you get a stray plant in your garden!

[lessisbest]

[QUOTE=Tussiemussies;215192]Thanks for all the replies and help. Lessisbest, thank you for the information. We just put in the watermelon, which tends to break down fast due to the water content. Do you think we should take it out? We don't have our garden set up yet. I will dump the compost into a pile on the lawn. Should I cover it with something? I plan to use it next summer in a garden we will be creating next year.
QUOTE]

When you dump the contents at the end of the season will be soon enough to take out any material that hasn't broken down. That's why it's important to screen the decomposed material. If it can't get hot inside the compost, it won't decompose (outdoors). You can hold finished compost in 5-gallon buckets with lids to use in the spring.

For anyone who wants to compost during cold weather, you might consider having a worm farm indoors. I, for one, don't have an open composter because I don't want to have a "buffet" for wild life (you'll have a new appreciation for the back end of a skunk eating those orange rinds when you go to toss some scraps). We will dump the compost in our Garden Tower (http://www.gardentowerproject.com/) when it gets a little colder and move the worms to an indoor unit. Here's a how-to: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=indoor+worm+bin+composting&FORM=VIRE4#view=detail&mid=1F115C9CCCF28CF166F71F115C9CCCF28CF166F7

[CathyA]

Hmmm...our stuff decomposes over the winter........

[lessisbest]

Hmmm...our stuff decomposes over the winter........

Do you live where temperatures are mild? It gets too cold in Kansas. Those stacks of food waste just sit there and freeze/thaw with minimal decomposing. An open compost pile is much different than using a compost tumbler, and for the most part, they both go dormant in the winter with very little decomposing going on. Which type of compost do you have?

[catherine]

Ditto what Steve said. That's what we do, too.

[awakenedsoul]

Tussiemussies, I would compost it. I have had volunteer watermelon plants come up in my garden from my compost. I just pull them or leave them. I compost all year, and dig a hole very deep in the pile for my scraps. I keep the pile at least three feet by three feet. Right now I need more browns. Soon the leaves will be falling, and they will build up the pile. I tall leads back to compost...

[Tussiemussies]

Cathy, that is a good idea to still collect kitchen waste and put it a big garbage can. I was just going
Ing to cut up a canteloupe and really wanted to compost the rind somehow. This will work very well...thank you. Thanks Steve, Lessisbest, Catherine and awakenedsoul for all the great information you gave. I am so excited to finally have another garden next season at our newer house and to use compost for the first time. I always used dehydrated manue and it worked so great, but now we have well water so that is out of the question. Christine

[CathyA]

Another thing you can do Tussiemussies, is to add some leaves to the fozen stuff.....if you have leaves around. You could actually put some leaves to start with in a garbage can-type container, and mix the food scraps into it as the winter progresses.

Oh.....and I'm wondering why you can't use the dehydrated manure if you have well water?

[Tussiemussies]

Sounds good Cathy, I just though since it was manure, that I couldn't use it. My gardens will be very close to the well water...

I am going to try to keep the fallen leaves for next year's composting. We ran out of this year so my compost is not 50/50 so I don't want that to happen next year...thanks again.

[lessisbest]

Sounds good Cathy, I just though since it was manure, that I couldn't use it. My gardens will be very close to the well water...

I am going to try to keep the fallen leaves for next year's composting. We ran out of this year so my compost is not 50/50 so I don't want that to happen next year...thanks again.

For a compost tumbler --- an easy way to add something dry is to use a lunch-size brown paper bag for your scraps each day. I found a damaged bundle of these bags years ago for a couple dollars and have used them for scraps for 8-years. How to: I cut about 2-inches off the top of the bag and use it to reinforce the bottom of the bag so the bottom doesn't give way from getting soggy. I then place my bag in a stainless steel container and put a light cover over the top (a small elasticized plastic bonnet) .

Another way to have brown material in the summer is to dry new-mown grass. We do that on the patio on a small tarp. It helps to keep the grass from blowing off the tarp if you can lift each corner of the tarp a little (it's ALWAYS windy here in Kansas). I do that with cords and attach the cords to my umbrella clothes line that is at the edge of the patio. You can also just leave the grass on the lawn in an inconspicuous place and it will dry in a few days. Then you can rake it up and store it in a 5-gallon bucket. I also keep 5-gallon buckets of saw dust to use as dry material. (Hubby can get me all the saw dust I can use at work.)

[Gardenarian]

I guess I'm lucky because we don't live close to anyone, but we just dump our kitchen waste on our compost pile out by the garden. There are usually a lot of leaves out there from the Fall, so we either cover it with leaves, or just let it lay on top of the pile.
Even if you don't have a composter, I encourage you to still collect your kitchen waste somewhere outside......maybe even in a sealed garbage can.

Do you get rats? We have a large yard and "pile composting" would be the easiest method for us, but I'm worried about critters.

[CathyA]

Yeah, I'm sure we feed the coons, mice, deer, etc. I've only seen a rat once though.....and it was in the basement. YIKES!

Here's a pic I took of our compost pile in the winter. haha

I call this pic the highways and byways of my compost pile..........

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/compost%20highways%20and%20byways.jpg

[kib]

Lol. I love that! Maybe you won't need SS at all if you can continue in this vein. :)

[iris lilies]

Do you get rats? We have a large yard and "pile composting" would be the easiest method for us, but I'm worried about critters.

We don't get rats but we get mice.

last winter DH named the little mouse who lived I our warm compost pile. He would look up at DH when dumped the fresh compost into the bin.Mousie was not afraid.

[Tussiemussies]

Lessisbest, a question for you...is dried out grass considered brown material? I have read that freshly cut grass is considered green material...thank you...christine

[catherine]

Do you get rats? We have a large yard and "pile composting" would be the easiest method for us, but I'm worried about critters.

I wouldn't worry too much. If you have a large yard and can keep the pile a reasonable distance from your house you should be fine, just to be safe. Also, make sure you have an equal amount of browns vs. greens, which keeps it all from smelling and attracting pests. I have not had a problem at all.. although I have to say, I like the tumbler composter which makes organic stuff less accessible to mice. I've never had a rat problem in the suburbs.

[lessisbest]

Lessisbest, a question for you...is dried out grass considered brown material? I have read that freshly cut grass is considered green material...thank you...christine

Yep, dried grass is considered brown material.

[Tussiemussies]

Thank you lessisbest...