Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Composting: What does or doesn't work for you!, 1 by sallyg

sallyg wrote:
I get impatient with the compost. That's my problem. It isn't fast unless you work harder to set up. Too cheap and too many leaves and not enough free grass or manure for that.
The wooden bin helps things for me. The wood insulates the sides. Notches, Lincoln logs. Heavy but sturdy. With lots of fall leaves, I need the moisture retention and insulation more than air. I can lever the fork on the edge for more lift if it gets really dense to turn. This one got filled up last fall, and then topped with gourd plants for the summer. Now its ready. I'll break down and set up in a new spot.

I generally don't put any sticks or tough things in because they just get in the way later. I have a special place for them.

Sifting when I do it, is done with a three foot square of hardware cloth, edge turned, and nialed to a frame of two by's Frame doesn't have to be great. Make two of the sides long wnoguh that they can lay across a wheelbarrow, and you stand at th end and jiggle it front to back. There is a video somewhere Out There of a guy doing this, and the video quality is jerky, and it cracked me up! The way I feel when I'm sifting compost, when other Good mothers would be making kids make their beds.