Thoughts on kitchen scraps and composting.

For many years now, I’ve maintained a compost pile in the back of my house. The bin itself is nothing more than a plastic garbage can with holes punched in the bottom and sides. I’ve dutifully added kitchen scraps (no meat) that were collected in a small container by the sink for over ten years now and can attest to the effectiveness of such a system. It works pretty well as long as you make sure to add plenty of high carbon material like stray and a little bit of dirt each time you dump in the raw vegetables et al. However, things can go wrong pretty quickly if you’re not careful. If the holes become plugged, for instance, too much water can accumulate that will result in anaerobic conditions. This means you compost will putrefy rather than breakdown and that can result is some really bad smells. So, I got to wondering if there might be a better way.

One day, I had a bucket full of scraps and rather than throw them into the bin, I elected to dig a trench and place the scraps into the hole. It was then filled and the soil was mixed thoroughly with a shovel and then watered. I came back every few days to check the progress and was amazed when after just a week had passed that much of the material had disappeared. In its place were some of the biggest earthworms I’ve ever seen. Some approached half a foot in length! Thusly encouraged, I have begun a program of taking spare spaces in one of my four by eight foot raised beds and filling in trenches spaced about a foot apart to see if this system would work. I am hoping to increase the soil fertility and humus content while getting rid of all those scraps! Now before anyone goes running out doors to bury their scraps I want to you to read up this technique know as trench composting. One article I found does a pretty food job of summing the process up. It called ‘Why You Should Compost in Trenches’.