The compost bucket |
In trench composting you don't need to worry about the temperature of the compost pile or ratio of the brown components versus green components or keeping the compost moist. Trench composting is easy. Simple. I like simple. I just dig a trench in the path between the garden rows like shown in the photo below:
Then I deposit the bucketful of household waste into the trench.
Then, I back fill the hole with the dirt from the hole and put my shovel at the end of the hole to mark the location where I'll put tomorrow's waste in the ground. Eazy-peazy, right? When I finish trench composting on an entire row, I'll fill the valley between the rows with leaves and hay. That fill will also decompose, becoming a barrier for weed growth, a haven for earthworms, a soft walking area, and will ultimately become soil. The neat thing is, you can see your soil getting better year after year.
When I reach an area where I've previously trench composted (months and months ago), I notice that the ground is not hard and compacted. It is easier to dig and work the soil. I also notice an abundance of earthworms. Earthworms consume the waste and aerate the soil in the trench. They love trench composting!
My goal is to rotate the row location each year, so that the rows this year are built up directly over the trench composting from last year. That enables the roots to easily locate nutrients left by the compost and earthworm activity. Over the course of a year, we've pretty much trench composted each pathway between every row. When we butcher chickens, we easily trench compost an entire 30 foot pathway between the rows in order to bury chicken heads, guts, and feathers. Also when an old laying hen dies, we trench compost her and she switches her productivity from producing eggs to producing vegetables. Heck, when I kick the bucket, I might get Tricia to trench compost me...
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