Its leaf fall time

I love this time of the year!  Cool and crisp air - the best weather for doing jobs that work up a sweat. 
My first job of the day is to get the big leaf rake and sweep the paths. Rotted leaves are garden gold, so me and my mate, Doug, have made a new compost bay to take full advantage of this season's bounty.

New compost walls - now what to put in?

Sticks and apples 

The base of my new compost - sticks and apples! The apples are windfalls from a local garden and the sticks will stop the apples just turning into a mush. Next up is all the leaves and dead stuff from around my garden.  Before I finish for the day I will cover this with an inch of soil to stop it smelling

The first days stuff - this will have gone down by 50% by next week

I love making my own compost, I already have two full bays made just like this. Both full and slowly rotting down to give me fantastic and free food for my garden soil.

Most years I make about two square meters (6 square feet) of compost and I can usually fill one of these bays in a year. All the green waste from my kitchen, the house garden and the veg garden goes on. Everything. Including sticks. As well as anything green from the neighbours gardens (I'm the local free and friendly green waste service). It saves me a fortune and makes my garden soil easy to work with and super fertile. 

This is my compost bays last spring, the two right hand ones are both full now, and I should be able to use them this coming spring. The left one is empty, but the pallets are rotted so I am going to replace them all sometime next year.

There is a lot of bulshit talked and written about composts - so here is my no bullshit guide to making great compost.

Pallets make fantastic compost bin walls. They let in some air and rain, keep the heap from falling over, and are generally free or low cost. Stand them on bricks so they don't touch the wet soil and they should last 4 or 5 years. Wire them together and keep them from falling over by driving a few metal garden stakes on the outside. No need to be too precise about it - the compost won't care.

The more sun your compost gets the faster it will "cook", but anywhere will do. All my composts are all in places where its difficult to grow stuff. Be prepared to water your heap it if you place it under a tree or it will take a very long time to rot down.

I use mine as a boundaries between me and my weed infested neighbours!

Size is everything! This size (using four pallets) makes the best compost. It allows me to put in loads of anything without totally filling the compost. Its a very stable shape and has enough mass to cook quickly, weather permitting - within a year.

Make sure your compost touches the soil (No brick or concrete base). All the creepy crawlies that you need to make the compost for you will magically appear on their own if your compost touches the soil.

Fill from the front. First make a wall about a foot thick in the front of the compost with whatever you are putting in. Compact it well by standing on it or hitting it with your spade. Then fill the back until its level with the front. Repeat. 

Everything will rot - so don't worry about putting in woody stuff. I put in all woody stuff that I can snap by hand, I break it up as small as I can be bothered. 
If your branches are too big to snap,  then put them in a pile on their own and then when they are totally dried out (takes about a year),  put a big piece of carpet on them and jump up and down to break them all up. Then they are ready to go in!

Firm it up, get on top and stomp it down. The compost will dip where some areas are rotting quickly and you can fill them up again.

Remember to water well in dry weather or all your worms will leave! A good compost, like the rest of the garden, depends on the weather. A good year with plenty of sun and rain will give a quick result! I water mine in the summer as if it is part of the garden. I put the hose on a small sprinkler and leave on the top for 15 mins.

Cover with a carpet, over the top and all the way down the front.
This stops weeds growing in the compost and keeps the moisture and the heat in.

One side of the compost will always "do" before the rest. Thats just how it is, and I've learned to relax about it. This is caused by the direction of the prevailing wind and rain and where the sun is the hottest. If some of your compost is not properly rotted, never mind. Just chuck it straight in your new one.

Take it easy - take the long view. I never bother to turn my compost. Its just too much hard work. I just wait longer and throw the unrotted stuff on the newer compost.

The key to worry free compost is to fill the compost as full as you can. Size matters, the bigger the heap the better it rots. Once its full, relax and wait. 
When it is down to a third of its full size, then most of it will be ready. Sometimes it will take a year, sometimes two! If its really dry and you don't water it - may be longer......... but in the end, you'll have a free heap of garden gold.

Free compost starter!  I invite all my male friends to pee on my compost. (if you are a woman, consider investing in a "she wee".)  Urine contains an organic nitrogen and all the trace elements and salts that plants need to grow well.  (You got a lot of them eating veg) Using  pee to seed your compost with nitrogen will rot it faster and save you flushing the toilet! 

I've learned not to worry too much about large bits in the compost. 
I only dig it into soil  where I am growing "above ground" crops (not root veg) Unlike root vegetables, these plants don't mind a few lumps in the soil.
Most of my soil will get one lot of home made compost a year. A layer two or three inches thick, depending on how much is made. 
Trees and fruit bushes get a few buckets full around the roots in the spring.

For those really keen gardeners - my organic matter is up to 7%. Which makes my heavy clay soil much lighter, well drained and moisture retaining. Better still, I no longer need to dig with a spade!  Instead I can turn the top 10 inches over easily using a fork. 

ps apologies to those gardening in a desert - I know from friends that this method doesn't work in very dry conditions with termites.


For those keen souls who have read this far :-) 
Here is a photo of my new compost after three weeks of leaves and garden clearing. When I get on top and firm it up it will compact by a third. It'll be full by the end of December and I'll put a carpet on top in late spring.