A Compost Post.

Hello there composter!

It had been a long time coming but I finally got my composter yesterday!  Yes, on a sunny Wednesday, I drove to the City of Toronto depot, paid $15.00 and packed my brand new composter into the back of the car. (I had tried Craig’s List to try to find a used one for months, but no luck.) I gathered my 4 bags of garden waste (that have been sitting for almost 2 months), my Alys Fowler “Garden Anywhere” book that makes gardening seem like a brilliant adventure, the composting manual that came with my composter and started my mission.

The step-by-step instructions are simple. I actually read them. I want to do this right!

Pre-assembly.

The pieces pop together easily.

Add the little harvest door.

Attaching the composter to the ground. I thought this would be harder to do than it is!

Read before proceeding.

All set up. Time to do a bit of reading before I start mixing my compost. I need a combination of carbon rich material (stale bread, twigs, leaves dried grass) and nitrogen rich material (kitchen fruit and veggie scraps, flowers, plants and weeds from the garden). According to Alys Fowler this ratio should be 2/3 carbon to 1/3 nitrogen.

Some of the bags of yard waste.

Some of the bags had already started to decompose and the clippings inside had started to compost just by sitting there.

Started with a layer of Carbon.

Adding some nitrogen.

I really get into my work.

I still had some bags of carbon rich material left over, so I used some old blue and grey bins that I had, to store it. This stuff is good to have around to cover up your kitchen scraps once they are in the bin.

Old bins full of supplies.

This afternoon I am going to the hardware store to purchase a pitchfork or a compost turner. Turning your compost is one of the most important aspects of the process as it adds oxygen.  I’ll keep you posted.

Add the lid and let it begin.

Maybe late fall or next spring I won’t be buying my compost at the garden center, but harvesting the gold from my own backyard.  I know there is an art to composting-any comments, advice, funny stories are always appreciated!