Kitchen Gardeners International: Building a simple compost sifter
By Barbara Damrosch
If compost is the holy grail of organic gardening, what's holier than thou? Sifted compost.
What you want in a perfect mature compost is, of course, organic matter so fully broken down that the original ingredients -- whether straw, weeds, kitchen scraps or goat droppings -- are no longer recognizable. Finished compost looks like very rich, dark, fine soil. But even the best soil contains stones, twigs and the like. Sifted compost doesn't. It is the 400-thread-count soil amendment.
Grade-A sifted compost has many uses. Let's say you want to renovate the lawn in the fall. Using a shovel, you scatter sifted compost over the worst patches, rake it into the iffy grass growing there (if any) then sow seeds and water it thoroughly. The fine-textured compost provides an excellent seed bed. In fact, it is a good seed bed for anything, especially small, hard-to-germinate seeds such as carrot and onion. One trick is to dig a planting furrow, then fill it with sifted compost. You can even use it to start seeds in flats -- although compost must be completely mature and mellow for this purpose -- too much high-test nitrogen can burn tender seedlings. It is also a wonderful top-dressing for a vegetable garden, a luxury mulch that provides a good nutritional multivitamin while making your garden's soil look as dark and lustrous as a mink coat.
Sifting compost is laborious if you need a lot of it (and in a dry year your lawn probably falls in that category). But a sturdy homemade compost sifter will make the job easier. Simply attach four 2-by-4-foot pieces of lumber together to make a frame that fits comfortably over the top of your wheelbarrow or cart. Then lay half-inch hardware cloth -- rugged wire mesh -- over it, attached securely with fence staples. Place the frame over the wheelbarrow or cart with the mesh side down, and it will hold several generous shovelfuls of compost. Then rub the material vigorously with gloved hands (I use heavy-duty rubber gloves) to make it fall through. Toss the less-decomposed debris that remains back into the compost pile for another go. Since frequent downward pressure can often loosen the staples, you can make the sifter better at the start by fastening inch-thick wooden strips over the mesh, making a hardware cloth sandwich. A variable-speed drill and drywall screws make a solid job of it.
A large bag of sifted compost is the perfect gift for a favorite gardener. And if you really love her, empower her with her own frame.
Compost sifter construction plans are available here
Article copyright of Barbara Damrosch. Reprinted with permission.
Photo credit: Dmarrva
Posted by KGI on August 16, 2007 7:09 AM to Kitchen Gardeners International
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