The far-left cylinder is the current compost pile, the other cylinder is last year’s pile, and the dark patch to the right is all that remains of the first year’s compost.
waste (no animal products) in a 2-gallon bucket and periodically dump it into one pile. I roughly chop the waste into smaller chunks with a machete, then cover it with an inch of straw. I also throw in chopped, non-diseased garden waste. That’s it: no wetting, turning, or any other bother. Rain and time compact the contents so it never overflows. At the end of autumn, I stop feeding the first pile and begin on the second. I build it for an entire year while the first pile is slowly composting. In the spring, two years after starting the first pile, I remove its
cylinder to start my next pile. The contents are now beautifully composted and ready for the garden. It took two years, but it’s so easy. Now, I get a cubic yard of fresh compost every year and throw very little food waste into the trash. • This is the first in a new quarterly feature series from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of Columbia County. We will feature a different gardening topic every edition, from a variety of Gardener guest experts.
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